NEWS ITEMS
Dr. Chas. W. Ramsdell, Adjunct Professor of American History in the University of Texas, has been granted leave of absence for the fall term. He will investigate certain phases of the history of the Confederacy, using chiefly the collections of material at Washington.
Mr. E. I. McCormac, Assistant Professor of American History in the University of California, has a leave of absence for the first semester, which he will spend in Washington, gathering material for a life of President Polk.
Mrs. Novaline A. Lockhart died at Corsicana on May 31, 1914. Her father, Judge Shelby Corzine [Crozine], settled near San Augustine in 1835, when she was five years of age; and his family was one of the numerous participants in the “Runaway Scrape” of the next year. She was educated at the old “San Augustine University,” was married in 1846, and had lived in Navarro county since 1854.
Mrs. M. Bowie Burns, a niece of James Bowie, died June 22, 1914, at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and was buried at Dallas, where she had lived for many years. Mrs. Burns was 78 years of age.
A. M. Kennedy, for many years a member of the Legislature and one of the best known public men in Texas, died at his home at Kerrville July 19, 1914.
The State Library has recently acquired files of The Harrison Flag, published at Marshall, Texas, covering the period from July 10, 1858, to January 12, 1861, when the paper suspended, and from November 15, 1865, to October 14, 1869; also a file of the Southern Mercury, Dallas, from January 3, 1895, to April 17, 1902.
A monument to the memory of those Confederate soldiers who served under Captain Giesecke, of the Fourth Texas Cavalry, was unveiled at Shelby, Texas, August 30, 1914.
The Texas Division of United Daughters of the Confederacy has adopted the following resolutions of appreciation for Major George W. Littlefield's gift of $25,000 to the University of Texas for the collection of material on Southern history:
“Having learned that Major George W. Littlefield, of Austin, has given $25,000 to the University of Texas to be used in producing a correct history of the United States, in which may be learned the South's part in the building of our Nation, and from which posterity shall be taught the indisputable truth regarding the secession of the southern states from the Union and subsequent facts relating thereto with refutation of false allegations and prejudicial misstatements; be it
“Resolved, That the Texas Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy, appreciates highly the wisdom, generosity, and patriotism of Major Littlefield, reveres the cause to which his benefaction shall be devoted, and does most earnestly commend Major Littlefield's action for the emulation of others who would do the Southland invaluable service which will rectify misapprehensions detrimental to the honor of the South and to the accuracy of historical record; be it
“Resolved, That the Texas Division, U. D. C., will use its utmost endeavors to the end that Major Littlefield's gift may elicit satisfactory information and secure results commensurate with the lofty standards, traditions and principles for which our fathers fought and for which our mothers endured the horrors of a war whose survivors bore the consequences with a courage and recuperative energy unequaled in the annals of protests and readjustments; be it
“Resolved, That each member of this organization who realizes the value of Major Littlefield's initiative, and who comprehends the imperative need of setting aright and keeping straight the story of our heroic defenders, shall consider it her personal duty and privilege to collect for reference and preservation statements and descriptions of facts, conditions, experiences, episodes, incidents, and all such authentic data as may throw light upon any phase of Southern history from the beginning of the Republic to the present day, especially that which relates to happenings within the past sixty years in which we have been weighed in the balance and have proven ourselves worthy of our ancestry; be it further
“Resolved, That these resolutions shall be read in the Annual Convention of this Division and recorded in the minutes; that copies be sent to the State University, The Confederate Veteran, the daily press of Texas, and to Major Littlefield with a personal letter of grateful appreciation.
Louella Styles Vincent, Dallas
Mrs. Corinne Nunn Corry, Crockett
Mrs. A. C. Johnson, Corsicana
Mrs. G. I. Goodwin, Brownwood
Committee on Resolutions, Texas Division, U. D. C.
Mrs. Lipscomb-Norvell, Chairman of the Texas Old Trails Committee, Daughters of the American Revolution, asks the assistance of all members of the Texas State Historical Association in marking the course of the Camino Real or Old San Antonio Road across Texas. Service can be rendered in two ways, — by financial contributions, and by historical research to determine the exact route of the trail. In a letter to the President of the Association, Mrs. Lipscomb-Norvell says:
It is the desire to erect a chain of monuments across the state, which the early argonauts and trappers and explorers traveled toward the setting sun, and which will not only point the way, but give you the history in detail for which the trail was noted: the places of battle, the well known stage stations, the scenes of massacres by savages, the forts and noted crossings o fthe rivers, and known graves of the dead that lie along the way, and the boundary of the Empresaio grants when the land was first opened up to colonization. These and many others to be chronicled in stone, commemorating the brave deeds of those bold pioneers who pushed out from the beaten paths of civilization into the untrodden paths of the wilderness and braved the unknown in all of its impending danger.
We are calling upon those who have any tie of blood, or association with Texas history or its people to assist by any contribution that their judgment may deem best. We are giving every true Texan an opportunity to show his patriotism, by lending a hand.
We have a fund of $1500 and hope to have as much again by the November conference of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mr. Robison of the land office has kindly sent us maps showing the old San Antonio road, and from these maps and the resources I have for studying the Camino Real, I find it is one and the same from the Sabine river to the Brazos river. But I have never found a record of the Camino Real from the Brazos river to New Braunfels. It is like the quest of Sir Galahad, the bridges all seem to have taken fire and vanished.
Doctor Bolton has in the past published a map of the Camino Real in eastern Texas show its windings from the Sabine river to the Trinity river. The late Judge Terrell, of Austin, I find makes mention of the old road having changed its course through the Colorado valley in the last century.
To make permanent our work for all time, and that it may be under the jurisdiction of the State, the Daughters of the American Revolution will again ask the State of Texas to make the survey and appropriation to finish the work. A commission should be appointed, comprising the State Surveyor, President and Secretary of the Texas State Historical Association, with Regenet and Vice Regent and Chairman of the Texas Trails Road Committee, D. A. R., to carry out the project. Prices submitted for regulation markers of granite, 5 ft. high by 2½ ft. wide, enscribed, is $28.00.
How to cite:
"NEWS ITEMS", Volume 018, Number 2, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 226 - 228. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v018/n2/back_8.html
[Accessed Sun Nov 23 2:58:06 CST 2008]
