VOL. XLIX JULY, 1945 NO. 1
TEACHER AND HISTORIAN
EUGENE C. BARKER
Lester Gladstone Bugbee John A. Lomax
Forerunners of Baylor Dan Ferguson
Baylor University, 1851-1861 Jefferson Davis Bragg
The House of Barr and Davenport Villasana Haggard
Check List of Texas Imprints, 1857
(Continued) Edited by
E. W. Winkler
Notes and Documents: Dr. John
Sibley and the Louisiana-Texas
Frontier, 1803-1814 (Continued) Julia Kathryn Garrett
Texas Collection H. Bailey Carroll
Affairs of the Association
Book Reviews
Book Notes
Contributors
PUBLISHED BY
THE TEXAS STATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
AUSTIN 12, TEXAS
PRESIDENT:
L. W. Kemp
VICE-PRESIDENTS:
Herbert Gambrell
P. I. Nixon
George A. Hill, Jr.
Earl Vandale
DIRECTOR:
Walter P. Webb
ACTING DIRECTOR:
H. Bailey Carroll
COR. SEC. AND TREAS.:
Mrs. Coral Horton Tullis
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL:
Vice-President George A. Hill, Jr.
President L. W. Kemp
Ex-President Harbert Davenport
Vice-President Earl Vandale
Ex-President W. E. Wrather
Vice-President P. I. Nixon
Vice-President Herbert Gambrell
Director Walter P. Webb
State Librarian Fannie Wilcox
Members
Frances Donecker (1946)
J. Evetts Haley (1947)
Amelia Williams (1948)
Claude Elliott (1949)
Merle McClellan (1950)
FELLOWS
Members
ANNA Powell (1946)
JR. L. Biesele (1947)
Eugene C. Barker (1948)
de Zavala (Life)
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE:
L. W. Kemp
Eugene C. Barker
Charles W. Hackett
E. W. Winkler
Rudolph L. Biesele
Walter P. Webb
J. L. Clark
H. Bailey Carroll
Herbert Gambrell
THE SOUTHWESTERN HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
EDITORS:
Walter Prescott Webb
H. Bailey Carroll
ASSOCIATE EDITORS:
Charles W. Hackett
Rudolph L. Biesele
EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS:
Betty Brooke Eakle
Llerena Friend
The Association was organized March 2, 1897. The annual dues are three dollars. The
Quarterly is sent free to all members.
Contributions to The Quarterly and correspondence relative to historical material should
be addressed to H. Bailey Carroll, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas.
Other correspondence may be addressed to The Texas State Historical Association, Austin,
Texas.
The publication committee and the editors disclaim responsibility for views expressed by
contributors to The Quarterly.
Entered at the post-office, Austin, Texas, as second class mail matter.
Contents
Lester Gladstone Bugbee, Teacher
and Historian Eugene C. Barker 1
Lester Gladstone Bugbee John A. Lomax 33
Forerunners of Baylor Dan Ferguson 36
Baylor University, 1851-1861 Jefferson Davis Bragg 51
The House of Barr and Davenport J. Villasana Haggard 66
Check List of Texas Imprints, 1846-1876
Continued Edited by E. W. Winkler 89
Notes and Documents: Dr. John Sibley
and the Louisiana-Texas Frontier,
1803-1814 Continued Julia Kathryn Garrett 116
Texas Collection H. Bailey Carroll 120
Affairs of the Association 174
Book Reviews: Shippen, New Found World; Patrick, Jefferson
Davis and His Cabinet; Cook, The Conflict Between the
California Indian and White Civilization; Marriott, The
Ten Grandmothers; Harper, Cordova, and Oberg, Man and
Resources in the Middle Rio Grande Valley; Borah, Silk
Raising in Colonial Mexico; Steck, El Primer Colegio de
America, Santa Cruz de Tlaltelolco 179
Book Notes 190
Contributors 192
The constitution of the Association provides that "Members who show,
by published work, special aptitude for historical investigation may become
Fellows. Thirteen Fellows shall be elected by the Association when first
organized, and the body thus created may thereafter elect additional Fellows
on the nomination of the Executive Committee. The number of Fellows shall
never exceed fifty." The present list of Fellows is as follows:
Acheson, Mr. Sam
Asbury, Prof. S. E.
Barker, Prof. Eugene C.
Biesele, Prof. R. L.
Bolton, Prof. Herbert Eugene
Carroll, Prof. H. Bailey
Casis, Prof. Lilia M.
Castañeda, Dr. Carlos E.
Clark, Prof. J. L.
Cox, Prof. I. J.
Crane, Judge R. C.
Davenport, Mr. Harbert
Dunn, Dr. William Edward
Dobie, Prof. J. Frank
Elliott, Dr. Claude
Emmett, Mr. Chris
Gambrell, Prof. Herbert P.
Garrett, Dr. Kathryn
Geiser, Prof. S. W.
Greer, Dr. James K.
Hackett, Prof. Chas. W.
Haggard, Dr. J. Villasana
Haley, Mr. J. Evetts
Hill, Mr. George A., Jr.
Holbrook, Mrs. Abigail C.
Holden, Prof. W. C.
Kemp, Mr. L. W.
McCaleb, Dr. Walter F.
McGregor, Mr. Stuart
Miller, Prof. E. T.
Neu, Dr. C. T.
Nixon, Dr. P. I.
Potts, Dr. C. S.
Powell, Dr. Anna
Raymond, Dr. Dora Neill
Richardson, Prof. Rupert N.
Schmitz, Rev. Joseph
Schoen, Dr. Harold
Shelby, Miss Charmion
Smither, Miss Harriet
Steen, Dr. Ralph
Tucker, Mr. Philip C. 3rd
Villavaso, Mrs. Ethel Rather
Webb, Prof. W. P.
West, Miss Elizabeth H.
Williams, Dr. Amelia
Williams, Judge O. W.
Winkler, Mr. Ernest Wm.
Wrather, Mr. W. E.
Zavala, Miss Adina de
The constitution provides also that "Such benefactors of the Association
as shall pay into its treasury at any one time the sum of one hundred dollars,
or shall present to the Association an equivalent in books, MSS., or other
acceptable matter, shall be classed as Life Members."
The Life Members at present are:
Arnold, Mr. M. L.
Baker, Mr. Hines H.
*Beazley, Miss Julia
Black, Judge Charles Lunn
Blount, Mrs. Guy
Bobbitt, Mr. R. L.
Buchanan, Mr. A. A.
Carroll, Mr. H. Bailey
Carroll, Mr. J. Speed
Cartwright, Mr. and Mrs. J. I.
*Casis, Miss Lelia M.
Clark, Mr. J. F.
Cox, Mr. I. J.
Crane, Mr. R. C.
Davidson, Mr. W. S.
*Dealey, Mr. George B.
Deussen, Mr. Alexander
Dilworth, Mr. Thomas G.
Donaldson, Mrs. Nanna Smithwick
Donoghue, Mr. David
Edwards, Mrs. Lillian Owens
Fortman. Mr. Henry F.
Gilbert, Mr. Harvey Wilbarger
Gilbert, Mr. John N., II
Gleason, Rev. Joseph M.
Gracy, Mrs. Alice Duggan
Graves, Mr. Ireland
Gutsch, Mr. Milton R.
Hanrick, Mr. R. A.
Harris, Mr. Beverly D.
Hefley, Mr. W. T.
Hertzog, Mr. Carl
Hill, Mr. Vernon B.
Holbrook, Mrs. T. J.
Hutcheson, Judge J. C, Jr.
Hyde, Mr. James H.
Jones, Mr. John Leddy, Jr.
Jones, Mrs. John Leddy, Jr.
Jones, Mr. Roland
Kemp, Mr. L. W.
*McCaleb, Mr. Walter F.
Magruder, Mrs. Hamilton
Maresh, Dr. Henry R.
Milbry, Mrs. C. H.
Moody, Col. W. L.
Moore, Mrs. John M.
Morehead, Mr. C. R.
Morris, Mr. J. S.
Norvell, Mrs. Lipscomb
Parten, Mr. J. R.
Pew, Mr. John G.
Powell, Miss Anna
Scarbrough, Mr. and Mrs. Lem
Schmidt, Mr. John
Schreiner, Mr. W. Scott
Sinclair, Mr. J. L.
Staiti, Mrs. H. T.
Stone, Mr. Hugh Lamar
Streeter, Mr. Thomas
Tenney, Rev. S. M.
Thompson, Mr. Brooks
Timm, Mr. C. A.
Walker, Mr. J. A.
Warren, Mr. David M.
Webb, Mr. Mack
Weeks, Mr. Matt
West, Miss Elizabeth
Willacy, Mr. John G.
Williams, Judge O. W.
Williamson, Judge J. D.
Wythe, Mr. George
Young, Mr. Eldon
PATRONS AND SUSTAINING MEMBERS
Patrons contribute to the work of the Association $500, payable over a
period of five years; Sustaining Members $250. The List of Patrons and
Sustaining Members follows:
Barker, Mr. Eugene C.
Blaffer, Mr. R. L.
Clayton, Mr. W. L.
De Golyer, Mr. E.
DeMontel, Mr. E. C.
Denman, Mr. LeRoy
Francis, Mr. W. H.
Hager, Mr. Dilworth S.
Hill, Mr. George A., Jr.
Hutcheson, Mr. Palmer
Karcher, Mr. J. C.
Maercky, Mr. P. George
*Perry, Mrs. Hally Bryan
Russ, Mr. Leon F.
Moss, Mr. H. S.
Shepherd, Mr. James L., Jr,
Smith, Mr. E. L.
Suman, Mr. John R.
Stark, Mr. H. J. L.
Waggener, Mr. Leslie
Webb, Mr. W. P.
Weiss, Mr. W. C.
Wheelock, Mr. Lloyd
Wilson, Mr. W. D.
Wrather, Mr. W. E.
American Liberty Oil Company Houston Oil Company
*Honorary Life Member
THE SOUTHWESTERN HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Vol. XLIX July, 1945 No. 1
Lester Gladstone Bugbee
Teacher
and
Historian
When I entered the University of Texas in September,
1895, Lester Gladstone Bugbee had just returned, after
two years of graduate work at Columbia College, New York,
to be tutor in history. I became a member of his class the
next year and was associated with him thereafter until his
untimely death in 1902. He was the most effective and inspiring
teacher that I met anywhere during my student career; and
possessed qualities of mind and industry that -- given a normal
lifetime for their exercise -- would have made him a great
American historian. Even in the six active years allotted him,
he made a permanent contribution to the critical study of
Texas history by acquiring the Bexar Archives for the Uni-
versity of Texas; published articles which changed the trend
of writings on the Anglo-American colonization of Texas and
the nature of the Texas revolution; and, as Secretary and
Treasurer, established the newly organized Texas State His-
torical Association on a self-sustaining financial foundation.
Happily, we have recently obtained access to some hundreds
of letters written to Bugbee, together with a few documents
of his own writing, and extracts from a series of letters that
he wrote during the last three years of his life. These materials
make possible a sketch of him containing something more
than a list of academic and official services.
Bugbee was born at Woodbury, a rural settlement a few
miles from Hillsboro, Texas, on May 16, 1869. His father was
Almond Bugbee, a native of Ohio who came South early enough
to identify himself with the southern cause and serve in the
Confederate army. His mother was Mary Fannie Nunn,
daughter of Captain W. M. Nunn, also of the late Confederate
army.
1 The grandfather evidently expected the boy to be named
William, after himself--he speaks of him as Willie in several
letters--but the parents named him impersonally L G and
humanized the initials by calling him Dutch. He himself later
expanded the puzzling letters into Lester Gladstone. A younger
sister, similarly named O C, developed phonetically into Ocie.
A. Bugbee--the family was addicted to the use of initials--is
remembered by his daughter, now Mrs. E. F. Metze, of Cleburne,
to have been the first teacher of the public school at Pleasant
Point, a community near the northern boundary of Johnson
County. He acquired several hundred acres of land in the
neighborhood, and L G spent his boyhood there, working at
farm tasks appropriate to his progressive age and attending
the rural school.
2
His father appreciated the importance of education, and his
mother's family had a real veneration for it. It is certain, there-
fore, that farm work was not allowed to interfere with L G's
schooling, and when he had exhausted the resources of Pleasant
Point he was sent to Mansfield College, some ten miles north
of the Bugbee home. This was a famous school in its time,
chartered by the legislature in 1871 and managed, and perhaps
partly owned, by Dr. John Collier, an inactive Presbyterian
preacher. Bugbee remained there three years and distinguished
himself as an earnest student. The curriculum was less extensive
than that of a modern high school, but the training was
thorough, and Bugbee was well prepared in English, history,
mathematics, and passably well in Latin when he entered the
University by entrance examinations in January, 1887. He was
a leader in debating and declamation contests; and during his
last year at Mansfield he undertook to publish a college paper,
probably a monthly, to be called the College Monitor. He pre-
pared copy for an initial issue, investigated the cost of type
and press, and evidently canvassed friends and ex-students for
subscriptions without success. He later wrote the obituary
of the idea on the margin of a letter from a Dallas publisher
from whom he had inquired the price of a press. In a laconic
note he said: "At this time the College Monitor was contemplat-
ing the purchase of a press. It was finally decided to be beyond
our means and the Monitor was never printed." It may have
been issued and circulated, however, in manuscript.
During the summer and fall of 1886, he worked on the farm.
It does not appear that he shrank from such labor, but letters
from his correspondents indicate that, boylike, he had dreams
of acquiring money by speedier means. He considered a book
agency, thought of becoming a traveling photographer and
actually bought a camera through a mail order catalogue, and
made queries about engaging a hall in Fort Worth and Cleburne
for a magic lantern exhibition. Whether he owned the lantern
or planned to rent it, is not disclosed. It is clear, however, that
he did not discover the royal road to affluence and that he
remained dependent upon meager earnings from the farm.
It is obvious that he enjoyed the confidence of his parents
and that they had little disposition to interfere with his free-
dom of self-expression. Some time during the fall, he determined
to go to the University of Texas, then opening for its fourth
session. His record at Mansfield justified the expectation that
he would give a good account of himself, and the family resources
were stretched to enable him to enter for the second semester's
work.
A New Year's resolution to keep a diary for a year was
robust enough to maintain itself, with some lapses, for three
weeks, and the result is an interesting document—as most
diaries are. It reveals a serious minded, self-assured youth,
saved from priggishness by complete candor and lack of self-
consciousness. His time seemed to be entirely his own, free of
the routine chores that we are taught to associate with a farm
household even in winter, and he employed it in a mixture of
a little reading and study with a good deal of entertainment.
Incidentally, the diary re-enforces one's respect for the resources
of an intelligent rural community for social entertainment
before the emergence of automobiles, roadhouses, picture shows,
and mechanized music.
3
Though committed to record only events of the following
year, the young diarist reviewed the festivities of Christmas
week. Quoting and paraphrasing from this review: on the
night of December 22, he attended a concert at Pleasant Point
given by the Misses Cummings. "Nannie's speech captivated
me" -- this sentence in a boyish cypher. The title of the speech
was "Over the River to Me." The next morning he started
to Mansfield to attend the examinations, apparently oral and
public, -- ate dinner with Berry Jenkins, and attended the
concert and closing exercises in the evening. Friday morning,
the twenty-fourth, returned home, accompanied by Will House.
Christmas tree at night with Miss Nannie, "and enjoyed it very
much." Saturday night, Christmas, with Harvey R -- and Will
House, to the party at Mr. Anderson's -- adding in cypher, "Very
and many blunders by me." Sunday night to prayer meeting
with Miss N.; Monday night, party at Mr. Southern's; Tuesday
night at Fagan's, "which was a complete failure"; Wednesday, to
concert at Myers's school house with Miss N -- "Very good
indeed"; Thursday, a party at Mr. Tim's in Mansfield; Friday,
with Miss B. to a party at Mr. Chrisman's; Saturday night, at
Dr. Collier's.
This whirl of gayety brought him to his real beginning on
Sunday, January 2, 1887, and he began the day at Mansfield.
"After much difficulty, I caught my horse this morning and
prepared to come home. Entered into the argument concerning
'force' and remained until after dinner. Came home just at
sunset." Monday morning (January 3): Walked to the Point
for the mail and received a scorching letter from Daisy (the
name in cypher) declaring our friendship over and asking a
return of her letters. "Have answered the letter as mildly as
its nature would permit, though at the same time, making no
humiliation on my part." On his visit to the post office, he
heard that a debating society was to be organized that evening,
"and wanted to go, very much, but papa thought it inadvisable,
and so I submitted." Apparently he consoled himself by reading
and by studying analytical geometry, "for at least a little
while," and finished the first part of Moore's Lalla
Rookh,
which
he thought an admirable plot. On January 5: "Received a
letter from Leslie Waggener, Chairman of the Faculty of the
U. of T. He informs me that I can't enter the Junior class, but
advises me to present myself for examination."
Abandoning chronology, we note that he finished Lalla
Rookh
and analytical geometry, read Guizot's History
of
France
and
finished therein the Hundred Years' War, and took part in
several debates. Some of the subjects debated were: Resolved
that woman has more influence over man than money; that
the white man has a better right to the United States than
the Indian; that war has been more destructive to the human
race than intemperance; and that works of art are more
attractive to the eye than nature. Between whiles, he did a
little canvassing for subscriptions to a paper and ran errands,
such as returning Mr. Sebastian's sausage grinder and borrow-
ing eighteen pounds of meal from Mr. Owens. He specified the
amount, he said, to avoid forgetting it.
The process of registration in the University when Bugbee
arrived, in contrast with the nightmare for students and
faculty into which it was destined to grow, was very simple.
The prospective student signed his name in a ledger, paid a
ten dollar matriculation fee, and, presumably after consulting
the teachers, chose his courses. The faculty of what is now
called the College of Arts and Sciences consisted of five
professors, three associate professors, and three instructors.
In addition, there were two professors of law and, for the
University at large, the "lady assistant," Mrs. Helen Marr
Kirby, and the proctor, Captain James B. Clark, who combined
the functions of registrar, librarian, and bursar and was an
unofficial but very efficient dean of men. The three men with
whom Bugbee was to do his major work were Leslie Waggener,
Chairman of the Faculty and Professor of the English Language,
History, and Literature; H. Tallichet, Professor of Modern
Languages; and George P. Garrison, Instructor in English
Literature and History. The record shows that he registered
on January 31, 1887, that he was number 236 in the cumulative
registration for the session, and that he boarded with "Mrs.
Stovall," address not given, but I think on West Nineteenth
Street, off Congress Avenue. The grade record for the semester
reveals satisfactory, but not brilliant, work in English, Analysis
(English grammar), Latin, Chemistry, and History. He evi-
dently took an examination in the fall semester on Mathematics
but did not continue the subject during the second term.
The significant facts of the scholastic record are that during
his five and a half years in the University he was registered
for five courses in English and five in French; three each in
History, Mathematics, Latin, and Philosophy; two in Chemistry;
one each in Physics, Geology, Biology, Political Science, and
German. The credit value of the different courses is not in-
dicated, but the bare list shows his aim at a comprehensive
liberal education. Somewhere along the line, he took an intro-
ductory course in Spanish -- the language that he was to use
most in his subsequent investigations -- and I am sure that
he did a considerable amount of uncatalogued work with Gar-
rison, who became Assistant Professor of History in 1888,
when his subject was detached from its earlier administrative
union with Literature. He took also a course in surveying with
Associate Professor Alvin Lane, on which he received a grade
of 100. After the first half-year, all of his grades were of
Phi Beta Kappa quality except in Latin. In that subject,
Edwin W. Fay noted on a term report, "unprepared in elements,"
though he later gave him a term grade of 70.
Naturally, in view of his strongly developed social interests,
he took an active part in extra-curricular student life. Before
the development of organized athletics, the Rusk and Athenaeum
literary societies played a social and intellectual role that can
hardly be imagined by an observer familiar with only the
present life of the campus. Bugbee joined the Athenaeum,
and, thanks to his previous practice in debating, quickly became
an important member. Copies of several of his speeches have
been preserved. The two societies, joined later by the Ashbel
(the women's society), shared the production and management
of the University
of
Texas
Magazine,
and Bugbee, representing
the Athenaeum, was an associate editor in 1891 and editor-in-
chief during the first half of the 1892-1893 session. The
Magazine
aspired to be, and was, a creditable literary monthly,
publishing verse, short stories, essays, reviews, news, and
personal notes. The issue for February, 1891, carried an
"oration" by Bugbee entitled, "The Golden Mean." Its theme
was the use of conscience as a guide to conduct. In October,
1891, he published an interpretation of "the weird seizures and
the introductory songs" in Tennyson's Princess,
and in January,
1893, a ten-page essay on The
Tempest.
The essays were prob-
ably written as class papers for courses in literature, under
Dr. Waggener.
4 As associate editor, he inaugurated an exchange
department, to which he contributed notes on other college
publications.
His work on the Magazine
brought Bugbee into association
with two brilliant, erratic, and rather tragic figures with whom
he formed close and lasting friendships. One of these was
H. R. R. Hertzberg of San Antonio and the other was Edward A.
Blount, Jr., of Nacogdoches. Both contributed verse to the
Magazine
and longed for literary recognition; both were com-
pletely Bohemian in taste and conduct. Blount, who became
a doctor and a specialist in dermatology, declared that he was
never happy except in a dream-world of his own poetic creation.
He published a small volume of poems at his own expense, but
it did not bring the recognition that he desired much more than
success in his profession. Hertzberg, educated in France, took
a law degree at the University, and was for a time assistant
city attorney of San Antonio; but newspaper work was more
congenial. He served for some years on the staff of New Orleans
and Chicago papers, and was grievously crippled by a fall down
an elevator shaft in a Chicago office building. Bugbee seems
to have undertaken to serve him as a literary agent, and tried,
unsuccessfully, to place some of his poems in Century,
and
possibly in other magazines, over the pseudonym of "Jean
Stein, Dec'd."
5 Carrying on the parallel, Blount, too, was
injured by falling down stairs, and walked with crutches for
several years. Bugbee was wholly unlike these men in tempera-
ment and habits, and their mutual esteem and affection is a
testimonial to the genuine worth and liberality of each of them.
In his fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Bugbee formed life-
long friendships with H. Y. Benedict, G. W. Pierce, E. L.
Dohoney, A. B. Flanary, J. Lea Gammon, and Jesse Andrews.
In the University at large, his intimates were Victor Brooks,
Donald Cameron, George Endress, J. F. Etter, J. E. Pearce,
J. C. Nagle, D. A. Penick, and E. P. Schoch. This was a dis-
tinguished cross section of the student body then, or at any-
later period. It would be instructive to follow the careers of
some of these men in state and national life.
In the diary that, as we saw, he kept for a few weeks before
he entered the University, Bugbee recorded that he was deeply
impressed by a sentence that he heard in a debate on the
relative influence of woman and money upon man. One of his-
opponents declared that money "is the grease that oils the
machinery of our social intercourse." The truth of this discovery
at the age of seventeen was never to be obscured by subsequent
experience. He never knew the freedom of easy financial circum-
stances. His father was no doubt regarded as a well-to-do
farmer. He owned his land; hired labor to help him raise crops
of cotton, corn, wheat, and feed; cured his own pork; built a
comfortable house in 1886 in which his son and daughter freely
entertained; he looked forward to a drilled well, a windmill,
and running water, and finally attained those comforts; but
he was rarely out of debt. Though actual living expenses of
the boy at school in Austin were low, the aggregate, with
incidentals, imposed a sacrifice on the family at home, especially
for the first two and a half years.
The first half-year Bugbee lived at "Mrs. Stovall's," cost
unknown. During 1887-1888 and 1888-1889 he lived at a "mess
club" -- antecedent of the modern "cooperative" -- which adver-
tised in the University Catalogue
that cost of board, room, fuel,
light, and washing averaged $11.85 a month. The third full
session, 1890-1891, he lived at 2110 August Street (now Nueces
Street), and the last two years he was at the newly built
Brackenridge Hall, where meals were a
la
carte
and might run to
about fifty cents a day. The total draft on the parental treasury
seems to have been from $35 to $40 a month. Father usually
forwarded the money by bank draft or money order, but mother
was the intermediary and sometimes slipped a little extra into
an envelope accompanied by an anxious admonition to be a
good boy and make it go as far as possible. When the young
freshman joined the Athenaeum, she wrote that papa approved.
A month later papa thought he was "spending too freely," but
she surreptitiously tucked a five dollar bill into the letter and
asked him to explain. She was alarmed when he joined a
fraternity and, without reference to papa, asked for information:
"These fraternity meetings that you speak of, Dutch, we do
not understand them and would like to have you explain a little;
what is their object? how conducted and what they are for
generally. I never heard of them before." She wrote cheerful
letters, showing pride and affection in every line, but the
financial strain is rarely absent from them. A letter of Novem-
ber 6, 1887, is fairly typical: "Papa thinks we can spare you
at least $10 over and above actual expenses, and I know you
will not spend it foolishly. . . . We made 18 bales of cotton,
but we had so many debts that we will not come out much
ahead." Difficulties had been increased at home by her own
illness and an unbudgeted doctor's bill, and by the necessary
employment of a "young lady" at $12 a month to do the house
work. "Everything as it is, we could hardly spare over $10.00,
if we can we will." Economy in traveling expenses prevented
him from spending the Christmas vacation at home in 1887 and
again in 1888.
Each spring the question of being able to stay in school
another year had to be faced. The father answered it affirma-
tively, after careful consideration, and wanted the boy to finish
his work without interruption, but Bugbee decided to stay out
during 1889-1890 and ease the strain. He evidently talked his
situation over with Professor Garrison, and Garrison was already
so impressed by the excellence of his work that he tried to get
him an appointment on the History staff that would enable him
to pay part of his expenses. When the effort failed, he offered
to lend him money, or obtain it for him, without interest; but
by then Bugbee had already made his plans.
He appears to have worked on the farm until January, 1890;
after that he taught the Pleasant Point school. To teach in
the public schools, it was necessary to have a state certificate,
and this Bugbee obtained by taking an examination on fourteen
subjects. On five subjects, his grade was 100, and his average
on all was 941/2. The county judge, who was also ex
officio
county
superintendent of education, wrote on his certificate: "This is
one of three
certificates that I have granted [during my service
in this office] that contains five 100 marks." The writer of this
note was Judge F. E. Adams. There is no indication in the
record that he had previously known Bugbee, but he remained
thereafter a devoted and helpful friend of the young man.
The year that Bugbee taught the Pleasant Point school and
lived at home was his last long residence with his family. In
addition to school duties, he was federal census enumerator
during 1890, and in the fall of 1891 he picked up a few dollars
through an appointment by Judge Adams to a place on the
county board of examiners.
The last three years at the University were probably passed
without much drain on the parental purse. For the 1890-1891
session, he had his savings of the year before; and during
1891-1892 and 1892-1893 he had a fellowship in history which
paid him $33.33 a month.
At the June commencement in 1893 he received the master's
degree. Part of the requirements of this degree —as now --
was the preparation of a paper on a subject involving original
investigation, and Bugbee had written a history of Stephen F.
Austin's colony. He had not then had access to the Austin
Papers, the principal source for the history of Austin's work,
but he used to advantage the original records in the General
Land Office and documents published in the standard histories
of Texas by Kennedy, Foote, and Yoakum. It had good tech-
nique and organization and showed maturity of thought and
style; and, combined with his distinguished record, it won him
a fellowship at Columbia College, New York, paying $500 a
year. Men with whom he had done most of his work at Texas
recommended him to the Columbia faculty with impressive
sincerity: Garrison described him as "a hard working, con-
scientious student, careful and accurate in research, of marked
ability and much promise." Dr. Waggener declared: "I know
of no one in the state whom I could more strongly recommend."
Walter Lefevre, speaking for economics and philosophy, wrote:
"from an acquaintance with him both in and out of the class-
room, I can say without reservation that he is peculiarly fitted
not only to profit by the opportunities afforded by a fellowship
but to adorn it. ... I am confident that his appointment to the
fellowship . . . would in all ways meet the ends for which
fellowships are established." Blind Dr. Dabney wrote to his
cousin, Thomas R. Price, on the Columbia faculty: "I prefer
to address myself to you . . . because I wish to give you my
special assurances of Mr. B's worthiness." And, after explaining
that Bugbee had worked three years with him, he went on,
"you will find him a man of high breeding and morals, punctual,
diligent, eager to learn, and of good capacity. Why multiply
words? I conceive him to be just the kind of young man who
deserves the aid your institution offers in these fellowships."
Tallichet wrote of three years with Bugbee in his classes: "I
have ever found him dilligent, faithful in the performance of
his duties and eminently successful in his endeavors to acquire
the language he was studying." Judge Adams, of Cleburne,
wrote his congratulations after the fellowship was awarded:
I am indeed glad, in fact sincerely rejoiced that you are working with
the object in view of making a professor and a great one at that out of
yourself. I know you will succeed and that your future will be one of
honor and prosperity and an appropriate share of fame. Whenever I can
assist you after you return from Columbia, please command my services.
You must go into our State University. ... I am honestly very proud
of you, for you are really the only young man of my acquaintance who
seems desirous of being thoroughly educated.
But the road to the goal of success and prosperity that Judge
Adams envisioned was beset by some very real privations.
Bugbee knew well enough that $500 would be insufficient for
his expenses, and he made tentative arrangements to borrow
money when it should be needed. Professor Garrison promised
to help, but it is not clear that his own finances enabled him
to respond when the demand came. His father lent him sums
from time to time and apparently signed notes for loans from
friends. A memorandum in September, 1894, when he was
preparing to return to New York for the second year, reads:
"Financially I now stand -- I owe Papa 285.00, outstanding
notes 250 (& int), Gammon 20.00, Dr. Schultz 125, Dr. Graves
(Doctor Bill)." A summary of expenditures that he compiled
a little later was an ample alibi against any suspicion of riotous
living. It reads:
From last year's book and memory -- Borrowed from Papa in Sept. '93,
$105 -- Came to N. Y. by way of Chicago; 3 days at the Fair; ticket to
N. Y. by way of Niagara. Arrived in N. Y. Sept. 26, '93 -- Hadn't enough
money to run till Dec. 1, when I should get my first installment on fellow-
ship. Papa sent 20.00; borrowed some from Trevor -- Drew 125 on Dec. 1;
Pd Trevor & sent Papa $30.00; next drawing, Feb. 1; rent $20. To Dec.
28, boarded at 232 W. 49th St.; roomed with Francis Trevor & cooked
our own meals except breakfast. Moved to 459 W. 57th; roomed with E. A.
Blount; cost 6.50; moved in April (?) to 202 W. 131st St.; cost 6.00 &
L fare [that is, fare on the elevated]. Thence moved to 153 E. 44th St.;
cost $2.00 for room and $4.75 for 21 meals at French restaurant on
corner -- Roomed alone -- Left N. Y. early in June -- Drew $125 Apr. 1,
& June 1 -- "
Expenses were increased by an occasional doctors bill and
by necessary visits to Boston during the Christmas vacation
of 1894 and the following summer to work on his thesis.
Meantime, letters from his mother were reflecting difficulty
in renewing his notes and in finding money for additional petty
loans. The situation was distracting, but he did not allow it
to weaken his determination to get on with his work -- nor
did his father want him to give it up. His only avoidable
expense was an occasional visit to the theatre, where he saw
some of the greatest actors of his generation. Among others,
he saw Joseph Jefferson in Rip
Van
Winkle,
Irving and Terry
in Merchant
of
Venice,
Salvini in The
Three
Guardsmen,
and
Olga Nethersole in Camille.
The admission fee was never more
than fifty cents.
During the two years at Columbia, Bugfaee had courses with
nearly all of the well-known scholars in the Department of
Political Science and History -- particularly with Herbert L.
Osgood, John Bassett Moore, E. R. A. Seligman, John W.
Burgess, the reputed sage of the faculty, and possibly with
William A. Dunning. His subjects of study, as listed in the
Registrar's records, were: "major subject, American History;
minor subject, European History and Political Economy and
Finance; other subjects, Colonial History of the United States,
Science of Finance, History of Diplomacy, Constitutional History
of the United States, Civil War and Reconstruction, New York
State and Federal Politics, History of American Diplomacy,
and History of England." The list is significant in showing, the
range of his preparation. His principal work was with Osgood,
the great authority on the history of the English colonies in
America during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Osgood assigned him, for his thesis, a history of the disposition
of Loyalist estates confiscated by Massachusetts during the
Revolutionary War. It was a subject wholly outside his normal
range of interest, and, for lack of time, he never completed it,
but Osgood was satisfied with his industry and ability in carry-
ing on the investigation and made repeated efforts, down to
the eve of Bugbee's death, to arrange for the publication of the
incomplete notes. He proposed them to the Massachusetts
Historical Society, to the Columbia Studies in Political Science
and History, and to the American Historical Association.
Herbert B. Adams, of Johns Hopkins University, then Secretary
of the Association, wrote February 10, 1899: "It is a pity to
have such good work wasted and I am inclined to think that
you can elaborate it before Dec. 1899 in such form as to do
yourself and the Association credit." But time was a commodity
that Bugbee did not have. More interesting, and actually more
important, fields were opening for him, as we shall see. One
of several unfinished chores when he left the University for
the last time in the summer of 1901 was shipment of these
papers to Professor Osgood. By his request, I sent them to
him at El Paso, and I presume that he sent them to Osgood.
The quality of Bugbee's success at Columbia is seen in an
appraisal that Osgood wrote in 1895 in a letter recommending
him for appointment in the University of Texas. With remark-
able insight and judgment, he said: "For a year and a half
he has been under my instruction both in the lecture room and
the seminarium, and from the knowledge I have there obtained
of him I can truthfully say that he possesses scholastic powers
of a high order. He has unusual keenness of insight and
power of generalization. He works his way easily through a
mass of details. His style is good, whether in written or oral
discourse. The practical or topical work which he has presented
has been well arranged and given in a clear and interesting
manner. He has uniformly given the impression that he has
a clear cut mind and a combination of qualities which leads
one to believe that he will attain success in the higher walks
of learning, both as an investigator and teacher. Professor
Osgood could not know how completely Bugbee would verify
his judgment at Texas.
One very definite hope that Professor Garrison had in mind
when Bugbee went to Columbia was that he might bring him
back to Texas with a suitable appointment in the History
Department. On February 10, 1895, he wrote that he thought
the way was opening; the regents --with some of whom he
had talked -- were willing to give him badly needed assistance;
and the prospect was that the legislature, then in session,
would give the University a fairly generous appropriation.
Bugbee was to gather testimonials from the Columbia faculty
and from influential men in Texas and address them, but not
mail them, together with his application for an assistant
professorship, to Dr. Thomas D. Wooten, Chairman of the
Board of Regents. Garrison would tell him when to mail them.
He went on to say: "If this place be created and you get it,
I think it will suit you. The salary will hardly be less than
$1000.00, and I trust that it will be more." The governor vetoed
a portion of the appropriation, however, and prospects for the
new place were accordingly dimmed. On June 13, Garrison rather
apologetically asked whether Bugbee would accept a tutorship at
$600 a year if the regents decided that no more money could
be found; he did not advise him to accept, but evidently hoped
that he would. Bugbee received a telegram in Cambridge on
June 20, telling the decision of the regents: "Only tutorship
Six hundred dollars Will write Wait to hear." On July 14,
Garrison wrote from Chicago, whither he had gone to work
toward his own doctor's degree, advising Bugbee to accept:
"Even if you could get a better salary elsewhere in the mean-
time, which I have no doubt you could after looking around
a little, it would, I think, be to your interest to take the place
offered you at the University rather than to let another secure
a hold upon it together with whatever outcome there may be
in it." He broached the subject of division of the work in the
department, but left the final decision for a conference after
both of them returned to Austin. As to this question, Bugbee
took the courses in Ancient and Medieval History; while Gar-
rison retained those in Modern Europe, English History, and
American History. Ultimately, Bugbee took also the course in
Modern Europe, and Garrison added a graduate course in Texas
History. Considering his ability, preparation, and burden of
debt, the salary was disappointing; but certainly it was in
Texas that he could do his most fruitful work. And, perhaps,
financially he did not fare so badly in the end, as salaries then
were; in 1896 he was promoted to $900, which he drew for three
years, and in 1899 to $1500.
I can describe some of the characteristics of Bugbee's teach-
ing, but can convey only a faint idea of the impression that
he made on freshman and sophomore classes. In the first place,
he was always completely prepared. Before going to a class,
he reduced his subject to a very brief outline on a slip of paper
about the size of a postal card and used no other notes. He
never sat at a desk, never lectured formally, but moved around
the room asking questions and discussing the answers. This
is a type of instruction that generally consumes much time
and leads to muddling, but somehow he avoided confusion and
always reached the end of the day's assignment. He frequently
sent students to a wall map to locate places and explain the
geography of a subject. He required classes to hand in maps,
outlines, and summaries, and gave frequent quizzes -- some
unannounced. He graded all of the papers, and his marginal
comments were models of precision and neatness. Aside from
the facts of the subject, I think students got from him habits
of logical organization, precision of thought and expression,
and a feeling for the long-run orderly progression of history.
He had one mannerism that all who saw him in class will
remember, the habit of playing with his watch chain, winding
and unwinding it around the index finger of his right hand.
I have seen students gather around his desk and talk for an
hour after a recitation. He never seemed in a hurry, never
seemed to have anything else to do. I have never understood
how he accomplished so much; the only explanation seems to
be that he must have worked long hours when other men slept.
Even mediocre students respected his quiet dignity and ability,
and serious students trusted and admired him. In common with
most great teachers, he early discerned qualities of potential
scholarship in promising students and encouraged them by
understanding appraisal of their work. In his writing, he was
a master of conciseness and compression, never over-elaborating
details, always relating his investigation to the broader field
of history of which it was a part. As Professor Osgood wrote,
he had "unusual keenness of insight and power of generaliza-
tion."
After leaving Boston in the fall of 1895, he did not continue
work on the Massachusetts Loyalists, and therefore did not
return to Columbia to take the doctor's degree. At first, lack
of money was a sufficient deterrent, but he soon became so
interested in Texas history and his work received such
immediate recognition that he was unwilling to interrupt it.
Though the total volume of Bugbee's publications was not
large, their influence was significant. They changed the tone
of American historical writing concerning the colonization of
Texas, the Texas revolution, the annexation of Texas, and,
in a measure, the causes of the Mexican War.
Most, but not all, of his writing was centered on the work
of Stephen F. Austin. As we saw, it was a paper on the
founding of Austin's colony that won him the fellowship at
Columbia. It gave him also the ambition to write a life of
Austin, a work which he thought would require two volumes.
The great collection of papers that had accumulated in the
hands of Moses and Stephen Austin was, of course, the indis-
pensable source for such a study and, for a time, he had
difficulty in getting access to these papers. They were the
property of Colonel Guy M. Bryan, grandson of Moses Austin
and revering nephew of Stephen. He had them stored in a
tower room at his home in Quintana to protect them from
inundation by Gulf storms, and they were more precious to
him than a heritage of gold. When Bugbee first asked per-
mission to use the papers in 1893, prior to his departure for
New York, Colonel Bryan replied that he would be absent all
summer and could not permit the use of the papers except
under his own supervision. The summer of 1896, after returning
to Texas, Bugbee spent in the archives of Mexico City working
on the passage of the Mexican colonization laws.
6 The following
Christmas vacation, he spent at Quintana in the Austin Papers,
and so completely won the confidence of Colonel Bryan that
he was permitted to spend the summer of 1897 working through
the papers without supervision. The next summer (1898), he
spent in the Bexar Archives at San Antonio, of which more
is to be said presently. In December of 1898, Colonel Bryan
moved to Austin and stored his papers in the basement of
the Capitol, making them available to graduate students in
the University, and there Bugbee completed his own explorations.
In the meantime, he had already begun an active program
of publication which can best be followed chronologically. His
first article was a note, "Stephen F. Austin's Views on Slavery
in Early Texas," in the Texas
Magazine,
May 1897; the
second was a list, with introduction and editorial notes,
of the settlers in Austin's first colony -- "The Old Three
Hundred." The list itself was transcribed from the records
of the General Land Office. It is a useful, but not particularly
important contribution that might be considered a step toward
the beginning of his life of Austin. It was published in the
second number of the Quarterly
of
the
Texas
State
Historical
Association,
October, 1897.
The third article which should be credited, in large measure,
to Bugbee, does not bear his name as author. It was published
in the Quarterly
of January, 1898, under the names of Brownie
Ponton and Bates H. McFarland. The title is "Alvar Nuñez
Cabeza de Vaca." It is a study of the route of De Vaca and
three companions across the continent in 1536 from the coast
of Texas to the Gulf of California. The writers declared that the
island upon which De Vaca's boat was wrecked was Galveston
Island and that the route of his famous journey lay generally
westward and southward from that point. Two previous studies
of this problem by distinguished scholars had placed the
shipwreck much farther east and the route of the journey
farther north. According to one of them, the travelers never
touched Texas at all. Four other articles on this subject
appeared in the Quarterly
in the next twenty years; two of
them accepted Galveston Island or San Luis Island as the place
of the shipwreck; one located it on St. Joseph or on Mustang
Island, and one identified it with Padre Island. All, of course,
adopted a southern route through Texas or carried the
wanderers even farther south through Mexico. In other words,
they approximated the Ponton-McFarland-Bugbee conclusions.
In crediting Bugbee with collaboration in the Ponton and
McFarland study, no depreciation of their work is intended;
but it is a fact that he set them the problem and directed and
checked their work at every step.
In April, 1898, he published in the Quarterly
a critical article,
entitled "The Real Saint-Denis." This important Frenchman
was known to most readers of Texas history who knew him
at all as the man who "laid out" the Old San Antonio Road
and who won the heart of the commandant's granddaughter
at San Juan Bautista on the Rio Grande. Dismissing the
romantic and partly fictitious features of the story, Bugbee
declared that Saint-Denis's journey to Mexico and the subsequent
establishment of Spanish missions in East Texas -- for which
he was largely responsible -- was an event "which materially
influenced the ultimate destiny of the State . . . which, in a
great measure, decided that Texas should be Spanish and not
French, that the boundary between the United States and
Mexico should be the Sabine and not the Rio Grande." This
statement is a good example of his ability to see, and express
in broad generalization, the significance of a subject.
Undoubtedly, Bugbee's most important publication, tested
by its effect on the writing of American history, was an essay
of forty pages, entitled "Slavery in Early Texas," and published
in Political
Science
Quarterly,
September and December, 1898.
Prior to its publication, the immediate cause of the Texas
revolution was attributed -- mainly on the authority of aboli-
tionist orators -- to resentment of the colonists against Mexico's
efforts to abolish slavery. In their argument, much was made
of an emancipation decree issued by President Guerrero in
September, 1829, and withdrawn, in application to Texas, in
December. By tracing the history of the decree and of other
Mexican legislation, Bugbee so completely proved the fallacy
of the charge that it was never subsequently repeated by a
recognized historian. In the course of the article, he cited errors
specifically in the writings of Herman Von Hoist, then at the
University of Chicago, and of John W. Burgess at Columbia,
Walter F. McCaleb, who was a graduate student at Chicago,
wrote Bugbee that Von Hoist took the correction with good
humor and frankly admitted that he had written without access
to Mexican and Texan sources. Burgess, on the other hand,
pleaded an alibi of technicalities and objected so strenuously
that his colleague, Munroe Smith, who was then editing
Political
Science
Quarterly,
advised Bugbee to omit the criticism,
and it does not appear in the article.
Four articles appeared during 1899: "Difficulties of a Texas
Empresario" in April, in Publications
of the Southern History
Association; "The Sources of Texas History" in July, in various
Texas newspapers; "What Became of the Lively?"
in October,
in the Quarterly;
and "The Archives of Bexar" in October, in
the University
Record.
His last article, "The Texas Frontier,
1820-1825," was published in March, 1900, in Publications
of
the Southern History Association. The "Difficulties of an
Empresario" and the "Texas Frontier" were descriptive articles
which might have formed chapters in the projected life of
Austin. "Sources of Texas History" was a remarkably enlight-
ening paper that he read at a meeting of the Texas State
Teachers Association at Fort Worth in June, 1899. He later
explained that he wrote it for his freshman students. He did
not teach Texas History directly, but he inspired a goodly
number to study it. "What Became of the Lively
?" corrected
the erroneous statement, firmly imbedded in tradition and
published in authoritative histories of Texas, that this schooner,
bought by Austin in New Orleans in November, 1821, and
loaded with men and equipment for beginning the first colony,
was lost without trace. In fact, as Bugbee shows, it landed
its cargo, returned to New Orleans for another load, and on
its second voyage was wrecked on Galveston Island. Fiction
has proved stronger than truth, however, in this instance, and
not a few Texas writers continue to repeat the traditional error,
that accumulated in San Antonio while Texas was under the
administration of Spain and Mexico. It was, and is, one of the
greatest of Texas historical sources, and Bugbee was the first
historian to explain its importance. 7 The article became well
known in its time, and along with his other work, gained
Bugbee an appointment to the Public Archives Commission
of the American Historical Association; but Bugbee's vastly-
more important work in obtaining the Bexar Archives for the
University of Texas is a story that has remained untold.
It will be remembered that he spent a large part of the
summer of 1898 working in the Bexar Archives. Early in the
summer he evidently wrote Professor Garrison —we haven't
his letter -- that he thought there was a possibility of obtaining
the papers for the University; but Garrison was not much
impressed. He replied (June 30, 1898): "Certainly I should
be glad to learn that there is a chance to get the Bexar archives,
but it would be rather too enlightened unselfishness on the part
of the local authorities to give them up." Bugbee, however,
was not discouraged. In September, 1898, he published a brief
article in the San Antonio Express,
telling how the collection
had grown up in San Antonio and explaining the importance
of the documents for the history of Texas. His friend, Frank R.
Newton, became deputy county clerk in November and carried
on a tactful campaign of education to persuade the county
commissioners to transfer the papers to the University. Bugbee
was sufficiently encouraged to take up with Judge T. S. Hender-
son, Chairman of the Board of Regents, the desirability of
building a fireproof vault for historical documents to forestall
objection that the archives would not be safe at the University,
and the vault was built. He enlisted the powerful influence of
R. L. Batts, even then wise in the ways of politics, loyal to the
University, and always alert to promote the interests of Texas
history. In January, 1899, Marshall Hicks, another friend,
became mayor of San Antonio and found himself in a position
to assist the county commissioners in deciding to transfer the
papers to the University. As head of the history department,
Professor Garrison lent his aid, and the end of the story is
told by Newton in a letter to Bugbee dated October 1, 1899:
At last I have succeeded in getting the Commissioner's Court to transfer
the old Spanish Archives to the University. It wasn't a very easy matter
as they were afraid of it politically, but I insisted and when it came to
a vote they all reluctantly voted aye. I sent Prof. Garrison a copy of
the conditions they were transferred upon, which are about the same
as the ones you submitted. I hope that you and Garrison will have
smooth sailing with the regents and that the conditions of the transfer
will be satisfactory to them.
The papers came to the University packed in boxes, com-
pletely without arrangement, as time and occasional handling
had jumbled them in their travels from one storage place to
another in San Antonio; and the boxes were deposited on the
floor of the new vault in the old Main Building --and there
for eight months they remained untouched. Bugbee wrote
Garrison a report on May 8, 1900, telling him what should be
done to make them available. It is one of the few formal
manuscripts written by him during this period that I have
found; and it seems worthy of lengthy quotation both for its
content and as an example of meticulous statement:
Dear Sir: The Archives of Bexar in their present condition are next
to useless and I understand that the financial condition of the University
is such that no appropriation adequate for the classification and indexing
of these papers can be hoped for just now. I venture, then, to make the
following suggestions for bringing a small portion of them within reach
of the investigator.
1. The vault should be provided with shelves and tables. Prof. Mather
estimates that the cost of lumber for shelves for the four sides of the
vault will be about $60. I presume that the work can be done by the
University carpenter, but I wish to urge especially the desirability of
having the shelves in place by Commencement.
2. 2500 manila wrappers should be provided. I recommend the size
and form of the one attached. Only one document should be enclosed in
a wrapper, and the proper spaces should be indicated for numbering and
indexing. . . . 2500 wrappers printed as indicated by the attached sample
will cost $25.
3. An assistant should be employed to facilitate classification. As you
know, the papers are in the greatest confusion. It will be necessary to
handle each paper and first arrange the collection according to some
chronological plan. This can be done by anyone who has a very slight
acquaintance with the Spanish language.
As the appropriation for this purpose will probably be small, I suggest
that we concern ourselves first with that portion of the papers bearing
date between 1820 and 1835. I suggest further that the following classi-
fication be tentatively adopted and that the papers be arranged in
chronological order:
a. 1820-1824. The coining of the Americans.
b. 1824-1828. (1) Organization of Austin's Colony, (2) The Fredonian
War.
c. 1828-1830. (1) Growth of the Colonies, (2) Development of hostile
feeling between Americans and Mexican authorities to the decree of April
6, 1830.
d. 1830-1836. Growth of the revolutionary movement. [He then out-
lines a further subdivision of each topic]
To separate the papers of the years 1820-1835 from the rest of the
Archives and to divide them into the above classes will require, I think,
about one month's work (6 hours per day). I recommend that Mr. E. W.
Winkler be employed for this purpose and that his compensation be fixed
at $60 per month (6 hours work per day).
If the work required more time, he urged the appointment
of Mr. Winkler for three months. Recapitulating, the cost was
to be $145 or $205, depending upon Mr. Winkler's employment
for one month or three months. Finally, he asked that the
"entire supervision of the work dealing with the period from
1820 to 1830 be entrusted to me."
He sent copies of this report to four members of the Board
of Regents -- R. E. Cowart, Beauregard Bryan, T. S. Henderson,
and T. W. Gregory -- and begged them to make the appropria-
tion promptly, because, as he said, he wanted to spend the whole
summer writing the first volume of his life of Austin. He got
the appropriation, the shelving was installed, and Mr. Winkler
was employed. Both the Austin Papers and the Bexar Archives
were now in Austin, and most of his notes were already taken
and organized, but the life of Austin did not proceed -- and,
tragically, this was the last summer that Bugbee was to be
permitted to work.
Bugbee had now, in 1900, won national recognition among
historical scholars. He was listed in Who's
Who
in
America;
was
appointed to the Archives Commission of the American His-
torical Association, an honor and responsibility naturally gratify-
ing to a young scholar; the editor of the American
Historical
Review,
J. Franklin Jameson, asked him for a contribution;
and A. C. McLaughlin, chairman of the program committee,
begged him to read a paper at the December meeting of the
Association. Apparently the papers on slavery and the Bexar
Archives had attracted most attention. Jameson wrote asking
for some documentary material from the Bexar Archives, saying
that Professor Sloane of Columbia University, had called his
attention to the article in the San Antonio Express.
In reply,
Bugbee sent him, from the Austin Papers, some sample pages
of the diary of Moses Austin on his journey from Virginia to
Missouri in 1796-97. Jameson accepted the diary with unwonted
enthusiasm in a letter of February 4, 1899. Bugbee was to send
him the remaining pages, and presumably was to edit the
document for the Review.
For some reason, however, it was
edited by Professor Garrison and appeared in the Review
of
April, 1900.
It is necessary now to turn again to Bugbee's work in and
for the University. I have spoken of his teaching and writing
and of his agency in acquiring the Bexar Archives. According
to the hierarchical practice of the period, instructors were not
assigned to faculty committees. Pending promotion to the rank
of adjunct professorship, therefore, he had to find employment
for his few spare moments in other directions. He edited the
section of Alumni Notes in the University
Record
and headed
an unsuccessful movement to establish an alumni fellowship.
Then, in 1897, he became secretary and treasurer of the Texas
State Historical Association, and, according to my own recollec-
tion, ne,ver had another idle moment. After his promotion in
1900, he was appointed to a heavy quota of standing committees:
on University Bulletins (serving also on the editorial board of
the University
Record),
on Forensics and Oratory, Catalogue,
Schedule, and Sick Students. Later, he and John A. Lomax
assumed the management of Brackenridge Hall, which was
then the prize problem of University administration. Mr.
Lomax's recollection of that experiment and his appreciation
of Bugbee's extraordinary qualities of leadership are much too
good to condense and too long to incorporate here; therefore
I have annexed his statement as a separate article. I should
add, for the sake of chronology, that Bugbee was actually in
charge of the Hall for only a few months, though his ideas no
doubt ruled much longer. He wrote, in a letter of July 27, 1900:
"Prof. Houston and I are getting 'chummy'; he came to see
me a day or two ago and we talked over the B. Hall situation.
He is really sensible -- that is, he accepted my ideas about the
Hall and has gone to work to put them into practical operation."
Evidently, however, Houston did not possess the magic touch
that was needed. On January 2, 1901, Bugbee wrote: "B. Hall
has been going to the dogs during the past term —in fact it
has been a big failure ever since the beginning. Prof. Houston
wants me to go down there and take charge and I have agreed
to do so if Lomax will go and assist. . . . Houston agrees to
relieve me of all Committee work and suggests that I turn
over the Freshman history to Barker. I think Barker will be
willing to take it, and in that event, the Hall will require no
more time than I save. I shall have a very nice room -- a study,
bedroom, and private bath, 'much better than my present
quarters and a lower price." He was resident manager, there-
fore, from January until June, 1901, with a month on leave of
absence for his health. He and Lomax ran the Hall under
contract during the following summer and made a small profit,
but suffered the misfortune of having their money tied up
temporarily in a bank that suspended operation pending re-
organization.
Probably the most important of Bugbee's extra-curricular
work was that which he did as secretary and treasurer of the
Texas State Historical Association. It was the policy of the
Association for many years to conceal its machinery of operation
behind a screen of great names -- mostly state political names --
while the motive power was supplied by the staff of the history
department of the University. Garrison was editor of the
Quarterly,
and more than once from his none too abundant
means advanced money to pay for its printing. Bugbee, from
even slenderer means, advanced money for labor and postage
to solicit members by mail. What part he played in bringing
about the movement for organization does not appear in the
records. He wrote the minutes of both the preliminary meeting
of February 13, 1897, and the meeting of March 2, which com-
pleted the definitive organization. The minutes of the final
meeting were published in the first number of the Quarterly,
8
and a portion of Bugbee's original draft is reproduced below.
Thereafter the affairs of the Association were rarely absent
from his thoughts. He wrote all the advertising matter solicit-
ing members, and I remember his spending days on end during
summer vacations addressing printed circulars and writing
letters with his own hand. Occasionally he discovered a student
badly in need of money and employed him (or her) to assist
in this drudgery, usually advancing payment from his own
pocket.
The rest of this story is more intimate and personal. Bugbee
had returned to the University in 1895 burdened with debt.
Absolutely, the amount was not large. I suspect that $800 would
have cleaned his slate; but that was a heavy burden to a man
receiving a salary of $600 a year and requiring money for
expenses in carrying on his investigations. Most of his in-
debtedness was carried by his father or was underwritten by
him. An unpaid note fretted Mr. Bugbee. He felt that "Dutch"
was too casual, too ready to "borrow from Peter to pay Paul,"
and Mrs. Bugbee transmitted his feeling of annoyance with
diffident warnings against borrowing more. To what extent
her letters disturbed her son's serenity, we cannot know. He
was more concerned to use the little savings that he could
retain from his salary to provide greater comforts for
her. He was never much disturbed about money because he
never doubted ultimate success and ability to meet all his
obligations. For three years after the first year, his salary was
$900 a year, and he added a little to that by teaching in a
summer normal. Perhaps by the end of the fourth year he
had cleared up the old debts; but, in the meantime, his mother
had died. With the beginning of easier conditions, when his
salary was increased to $1,500 in 1899, he turned to plans for
lightening the labor and lessening the monotony of farm life
for his sister. This young woman, revealed by a long series of
her letters, was an extraordinarily lovable character. After the
death of her mother, she remained on the farm with her father
while her husband worked in the county clerk's office in Cleburne,
some twenty miles away -- a long journey before the days of
automobiles. Bugbee financed a chicken farm, and the venture
certainly lifted the curse of monotony from Ocie's life; but
it can scarcely have lightened her labor, nor does it appear to
have increased her fortune. Yet she was still hopeful when her
letters turned to the tragic theme of her brother's illness.
I have no recollection of the beginning of Bugbee's sickness.
I remember him as a robust-looking man about five feet eight
inches in height and weighing perhaps a hundred and sixty
pounds. I find from his friend Blount's letters that several
years before his death Blount was sending him prescriptions
for chronic bronchitis -- evidently Bugbee's own diagnosis. Per-
haps this was the beginning of tuberculosis.
During the winter of 1900-1901 his condition was serious
enough to cause him to take a month off and spend it at Junction.
Extracts from his letters afford a rather vivid picture of this
disappointing vacation. He left Austin on February 18, traveling
by train to Llano and thence by stage to Mason and Junction.
The stage from Llano, in contrast with the traditional literary
coach and four, he described as "the plainest, measliest
little old two-seated hack I ever saw. There were two trunks
behind and that made it necessary to push the seats forward.
I was to sit with the driver. It was impossible to sit looking
straight in front for the space was so limited, so I screwed
around and wedged myself in sideways and rode on my toes.
That's the way I started for a 36-mile drive to Mason." He spent
the night at Mason, which he described as "the quietest, sun-
shiniest place I ever saw." The stage from Mason to Junction
was frailer and more dilapidated than the vehicle in which he
had begun his journey, but the driver was accommodating and
stopped occasionally to permit his passenger to shoot quail.
Any benefit that he might have derived from the visit to
Junction was counteracted by the program of vigorous exercise
which was then considered suitable treatment for tuberculosis.
Most of his days went in hunting, fishing, horseback riding,
tramping, and in inspecting irrigation projects for his friend,
T. U. Taylor, who was compiling a report for the United States
Geological Survey -- this was probably the only use that he
ever made of that course in plane surveying on which he made
a grade of 100 in his sophomore year. He returned to Austin
"sunburned to a finish," as he wrote, but probably worse rather
than better for his vacation.
By the beginning of the 1901 summer vacation it was evident
that he could not carry on his work the following year. Though
those of us who saw him daily shrinking in weight and energy
knew that his condition was very serious, friends elsewhere
heard of his illness with incredulity. Some who knew of his
chronic shortness of funds offered assistance. Donald Cameron,
who happened at the time to owe a note, though he and Bugbee
had alternately been in debt to each other for years, paid it,
and put his current earnings at his friend's service. Dr. Blount
offered assistance and invited him to come to Nacogdoches,
where he guaranteed to give him as good treatment as he could
get in El Paso and save him a hundred dollars a month. Ocie,
after wailing, "Why did this happen to us?" reported that her
father would sell the timber land and that he was to deny
himself nothing and give himself no worry concerning money.
He obtained an indefinite leave of absence and prepared to
spend it, perhaps, in the vicinity of El Paso. Despite their high
appreciation of his services, the regents had no power to continue
his salary during absence, and the tragic pity was that ha
needed it! He left Austin for the last time on July 27, 1901:
He was received in El Paso by two friends, Bates McFarland,
just beginning to practice law and not too busy with clients,
and H. P. Reynolds, a member of Bugbee's fraternity, teaching
then in the El Paso schools. They spent much time with him,
but can hardly have realized how much he needed their com-
panionship. He put himself in the hands of Dr. Charles Fishback
Norton, whom he had known at the University. Norton did not
pretend to know much about tuberculosis, but he was intelligent,
scientific, and honest. When Bugbee, after Norton had given
him up, consulted him about the medical officer at Fort Bliss,
who claimed miraculous cures from a serum treatment, he did
not discourage him from putting himself under Dr. Baird's
attentions, but evidently expected little benefit. Whether this
gentleman was a charlatan or a self-deluded enthusiast is hard
to determine from Bugbee's reports. He described him as "a
great talker; makes you think you'll get well tomorrow; exag-
gerates a great deal, but a good old soul." At least, he performed
one service for Bugbee; he made him a sort of office assistant.
In his letter describing his duties (October 12), Bugbee wrote:
I haven't decided whether I am his partner, his bacteriologist, or his
office boy. Suppose it is mostly the latter. I am to keep record of cases
and examinations, and make microscopic examinations. Just think of
that, won't you? Wouldn't it make Benedict laugh! I told the doctor
that I had never handled a microscope in my life. He laughed, said
something complimentary about my head, and added, "you'll learn it,
you'll learn it. . . ." He didn't say that he would expect me to go with
him on his calls and hold his horses, but that's what I did this morning,
and on pleasant mornings I think I'll volunteer to continue.
Before turning himself over to Dr. Baird, he found the
monotony of idleness hardest to bear. Time after time he wrote,
in substance: "Oh, but I do wish I had something to do and
the strength to do it." I received several letters from him
during this time, but find only one. He tried to make light
of his situation, but the ghastly humor showed between the
lines.
I am living a pretty hard life in El Paso, he wrote. In Austin I at
least deluded myself into thinking that I passed for somebody.
Down
the street politicians and bank presidents would bow cordially; at Von
Boeckmann's Schutze would bow and scrape and swear he would rather
do business with me than any other man at the University; and on the
campus, the humble Freshman would frequently tip his hat and the girls
would beam beamingly -- I felt like somebody. It's all different here;
as I pass along I hear -- "There goes another lunger; El Paso ought
to pass an ordinance to keep those fellows away from here."
Living conditions continued to be distressing throughout his
stay in El Paso. He visited Las Cruces, forty miles up the river,
and Mesilla Park near by; but both were unsuitable. Then for
a time, he found comfortable room and board on a fruit farm
midway between El Paso and Ysleta. The grape crop was coming
in, and he killed some hours pleasantly helping- Mrs. Porcher,
his landlady, pack grapes. He even played with the idea of
buying land and starting a chicken ranch. He was driven from
the Porcher farm by an outbreak of typhoid. Dr. Baird urged
him to buy a tent and live in the doctor's back yard, as some
patients were doing; but he finally combined with a fellow-
patient and rented a cottage, where, for a time, he cooked his
own meals and rebelled continually against washing the dishes.
He felt sometimes better, sometimes worse; but it is doubtful
that he ever improved. Often he thought he might have fared
as well, and certainly lived more contentedly, on his father's
farm. As the time approached for the University to open in
September, he wondered how he could stay away. On September
5: "Reynolds and Yeiser are bustling about today, holding
exams and preparing to open school Monday. It makes me feel
queer. I wonder how I would feel at the University opening
without having a part in it." In October, just as he was begin-
ning treatment with Baird, Dr. Norton warned him: " 'Old man,
did you ever think seriously of not getting well?' I told him I
knew, there were 90 chances against me and had ceased to
worry at the prospect of death. He went to put up some instru-
ments and said, 'I don't think I'd start that poultry farm yet.'
I asked him then if he thought my case so serious as that, and
he admitted that he thought I was 'pretty well used up.'"
Norton did not discourage the idea of going home, "though he
said I might live some longer here." Then followed the treat-
ment under Baird. New Year's day, 1902, he suddenly decided
that it was no use; he would go home. On January 8, he wrote
from Pleasant Point: "Well, I'm here. ... I came home partly
because I am worse and still going down hill; but more because
of the miserable existence that seemed to be my lot in El Paso.
... I came to the conclusion that such a life would make a well
man sick, so I suddenly resolved to come home." A month later,
he was finding diversion in teaching his eight-year-old niece
and helping her plan a flower garden; "you see, I am still school
teacher and if things go well I intend to send Nellie to the
University the best prepared kid in school." He was distressed
about her lack of suitable books, for, he wrote, "she will read;
she devours all but the news
in the Houston Post
and Galveston
News."
He planned to sell his own books and buy a juvenile
library.
The end came on March 17, 1902. In two months more he
would have been thirty-three years old. The Texan
published
a heavily leaded editorial. Memorial services were held in the
auditorium on his birthday, when Professor Garrison spoke of
the high quality of his work as student and teacher; Benedict
of his lovable social qualities and of his loyalty to the University
and many-sided interest in its advancement; and Alex Weisberg,
a brilliant sophomore, of his thorough comprehension of student
difficulties and aspirations and of his understanding helpfulness.
A faculty committee, composed of H. Y. Benedict, George P.
Garrison, W. J. Battle, and John A. Lomax, presented resolu-
tions--drawn in large part, no doubt, by Benedict--which
were adopted and recorded in the Faculty Minutes. As Benedict
wrote:
The life of Lester Gladstone Bugbee was pre-eminently one of useful-
ness. As teacher, as investigator, as a man of administrative capacity,
he showed both will and power to serve his state, to elucidate her history,
to uplift her youth. As a student and investigator he had given unusual
promise. In him industry, a judicial mind, accurate habits of thought,
combined with a style simple, clear, direct, to produce work that has won
appreciation and cordial approval within and without the state. . . . But
it was as a teacher that he most excelled. Enthusiastic, clear in exposi-
tion, patient in explanation, knowing just how much to try to impart,
he won golden opinions from his students. ... He was first of all practical
in his teaching, but in being practical he did not fail to be also inspiring.
No one loved the University more heartily than he, no one ever served
it with more sincerity and singleness of purpose.
A friend to whom I submitted this sketch of Bugbee suggested
that I add, as she phrased it, "a word of his charm -- magnetism
if you judge it that -- particularly in association with older
people. I saw him generally with Governor Lubbock, Colonel
Bryan, Dr. Garrison, or Colonel Prather, and they felt, as did I,
a definite charm in his social make-up, as evidenced in their
manner toward him." This writer has touched a distinctive
quality of Bugbee's personality, but one that is not easy to
define or explain. As I try to analyse it, it seems to me that
one received from him an impression of thoughtful maturity,
a feeling that "here is a man utterly free of pretense, whose
judgment and character can be trusted." His intelligence and
his learning, combined with his broad interest in people, made
him at home in any company. He met people naturally, without
the diffidence of self-consciousness or the self-assertiveness of
superiority. He had the gift of friendship and attracted friends
without effort. I have called attention to the way that students
flocked around his desk after a recitation. In the same way
colleagues and associates gathered in his office and overflowed
into the adjacent classroom in the old Main Building, sometimes
working, sometimes talking and killing his time. In one of his
letters he remarks: "Intended to move this afternoon, but
Barker and Pessels came in and we spent till 6 o'clock talking;
then I played tennis." Another afternoon, more profitable let
us hope: "There is a crowd in the room, Wagner is working at
a table on my left, Pessels is reading a manuscript novel which
has been submitted to my critical judgment, and Barker is
clicking away on the typewriter behind me." Another extract
records a more varied experience:
Friday afternoon I played at working and got madder as the day
grew later. First, our friend Hamilton paid me a call—an hour long;
then Wagner came; . . . then Judge Raines . . . talked till sundown.
Then I promised myself a long, quiet evening . . . but . . . I heard a
shout outside, "Hey Bugbee, open the door." It was one of my old-time
chums, E. L. Dohoney, of Paris, who is here as a member of the State
Board of Examiners, and he stayed till time to go home. I really enjoyed
his visit, however, and Dr. Simonds dropped in and we had a jolly
time. . . . This afternoon I had not been at work a half hour when a
great big 250 pound man with gray hair appeared before me, wanted to
know if this could be Dutch Bugbee, smiled blandly and invited me to
guess his name. . . . Turned out to be one of father's old friends (and
mine) who used to be a merchant in the great city of Pleasant Point
-- another afternoon gone. . . .
It is a consequence of the unrelenting drive of life that we
do not concern ourselves much about the influences of the past
which helped to shape our present; nor it it necessary that we
should, because they are a part of us whether we identify them
or not. Yet, for a man like Bugbee who contributed so much
to the enjoyment of his associates and so much of permanent
worth to his period, there ought to be a record to which men
might turn in reflective mood and realize their unpaid and
unpayable obligations. I consciously owed much to Bugbee,
and I have tried to restore a part of his record here. He was
a great soul, a gifted teacher and lovable character with the
qualities of a great historian.
University of Texas Magazine,
February, 1891: "The Golden Mean, an
Oration."
Ibid.,
October, 1891: "Tennyson's Princess -- the Weird Seizures and
the Introductory Songs."
Ibid.,
January, 1893: "Shakespeare -- The Tempest."
Texas
Magazine,
May, 1897: "Stephen F. Austin's Views on Slavery
in Early Texas."
Quarterly
of the Texas State Historical Association, October, 1897:
"The Old Three Hundred."
Ibid.,
January, 1898, collaboration with Brownie Ponton and Bates H.
McFarland: "Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca."
Ibid.,
April, 1898: "The Real Saint-Denis."
Ibid.,
January, 1899: "The Name Alamo."
Ibid.,
October, 1899: "What Became of the Lively?"
Political
Science
Quarterly,
September, December, 1898: "Slavery in
Early Texas."
Publications
of Southern History Association, April, 1899: "Some
Difficulties of a Texas Empresario."
Ibid.,
March, 1900: "The Texas Frontier, 1820-1825."
Austin
Daily
Statesman,
July 2, 1899, Houston Post,
July 9, 1899,
Galveston Daily
News,
July 16, 1899, and probably other papers: "The
Sources of Texas History." This was his address before the State Teachers
Association at Fort Worth, June 28, 1899.
Charles Francis Adams, Massachusetts: Its Historians and Its History,
in Political
Science
Quarterly,
IX, 755-758, December, 1894.
Moncure D. Conway, The Writings of Thomas Paine, in ibid.,
XI, 741-
742, December, 1896.
Peter J. Hamilton, Colonial Mobile, in ibid.,
XIV, 731-734, December,
1899.
The principal documentary sources for this article are: Some 800 or
900 letters written to L. G. Bugbee from 1883 to 1901, a few of his own
letters to his mother and sister, a diary for part of January, 1887, some
pages of accounts of expenditures during his residence in New York,
extracts from some very personal letters that he wrote during 1899-1902,
and scattered miscellaneous items. To this collection of manuscripts might
be added: (1) some 2000 pages of notes which he took from the Austin
Papers, the Bexar Archives, and Mexican Archives in preparation for his
projected life of Austin. They are of no factual importance now except
as evidence of his great industry and his method of working. (2) The
registration records and grade reports, the faculty minutes, and minutes
of the Board of Regents of the University of Texas. (3) A letter from
the Registrar of Columbia University listing the courses for which Bugbee
was registered there. (4) The Catalogue
of the University of Texas,
1887-1893; the University
of
Texas
Magazine,
1887-1893; the University
Record;
the Quarterly
of the Texas State Historical Association, 1897-
1902. I have made no effort to compile references to Bugbee and his work
in the various Texas newspapers.
FOOTNOTES:
Metze, A. Bugbee's daughter. I have not verified it from the records, but
it is confirmed by a sketch of Bugbee in Memorial and Biographical History
of Johnson and Hill Counties, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1892.
his ancestry. A questionaire which he addressed to his father and to an
uncle, Orange Bugbee, then living in Wichita, Kansas, brought the informa-
tion that: "his grandfather's name was Loren Bugbee; he married Emily
Cooley; great-grandfather was Aaron Bugbee; he married a Putnam,
thought to have been a sister of Israel Putnam." The uncle wrote in April,
1901: "Our grandparents on both sides [Bugbee and Cooley] came from
Conn. From there to New York, thence to Ohio, then my father moved
to Michigan." The Michigan home of the Bugbees was Homer.
Pleasant Point as it was in 1886: "Pleasant Point is one of the oldest
settlements in the county, located about 7 miles north of Alvarado. In
L. G.'s school days it consisted of one large general merchandise store,
one grocery store, one saloon, one drug store, one blacksmith shop, a post
office. A. J. Brown owned the merchandise store, J. R. Rice the blacksmith
shop, W. W. Wilkes the drug store, and a Mr. Buison the saloon. There
was also a gin and mill owned by a Mr. High." Families in the neighbor-
hood were Cassteven, Mackin, Goode, Brown, Gill, Millican, Wallace.
Hudson, Bradley, Metze, Smyth, Hildreth, Ramsey[s], Fry, Ball, and Angel.
"One church house where the Methodists, Baptist and Presbyterians held
services. One school house with the debating society. L. G.'s father
taught the first school."
in his papers.
University's present notable collection of books on Mexican history. In a
scrapbook which he compiled is the following undated "Statement": "Rec'd
from Prof. Garrison, $40.00 -- exchange 1.92 -- $76.80. Expended same in
purchase of following books, &c:
MEX. MONEY
Legislacion Mexicana, 19 Vols 50.00
Mora, Mexico y sus Revoluciones, 3 Vol. . . . . 2.00
Las Casas, Historia de los Indias, 1 Vol 4.00
Cartografia Mexicana 1.00, binding 1.00 1 Vol. . . 2.00
Bustamante, Invasion de los Anglo Americanos, 1 Vol. . 2.00
Tornel, Breve Reseña &c, 1 Vol 1.75
Clavigero, Historia Antigua de America, 1 Vol. . . . 2.00
Box, delivery, carrying to train, &c 1.30
Balance due to University Library . . . . 11.75
$76.80
$11.75, Mex., reduced to Am. currency,
exchange $1.92 $ 6.12
Lester G. Bugbee"
At the same time Bugbee bought a number of fundamental volumes for
his own library, among others: Filisola, Memorias para la Historia de la
Guerra de Tejas; Caro, Verdadera Idea de la Compaña de Tejas; and
Urrea, Diario de las Operaciones Militares, etc.
who was acquainted with the collection. W. F. McCaleb and I. J. Cox had
used it, and possibly Sidney Lanier and William Corner had fingered some
of the papers.
printed minutes. It shows that those who attended the preliminary meet-
ing on February 13 were: Z. T. Fulmore, George P. Garrison, R. L. Batts,
Charles Corner, Eugene Digges, Thomas Fitzhugh, Col. John G. James,
Major M. M. Kenney, Robert E. McCleary, and Lester G. Bugbee. After
discussing whether to make the organization local or general in character,
they decided to issue a call for a meeting to organize a "State Historical
Association." This second meeting was held in the Capitol, in the office of
the Commissioner of Agriculture, Insurance, Statistics, and History. The
printed minutes of this meeting say, "some twenty or thirty persons
present." The manuscript listed: O. M. Roberts, J. S. Ford of San
Antonio, Z. T. Fulmore, George P. Garrison, C. W. Raines, James Arthur,
Dora Fowler Arthur, H. G. Askew, R. L. Batts, J. Alleine Brown (?),
Charles Corner, Eugene Digges, Miss Anna Ellis, H. P. N. Gammel, John
G. James, M. M. Kenney, Robert E. McCleary, A. J. Rose, Morris Shep-
pard, Mrs. Bride Neill Taylor, Lester G. Bugbee. The meeting adopted a
Constitution and elected officers and fellows. The session was evidently
prolonged beyond the closing hours of the Capitol light plant. Bugbee
recorded: "In the meantime, the lights in the room had gone out and the
remaining business was hurriedly transacted by the light of two lanterns
that had been procured from the janitor."
LESTER GLADSTONE BUGBEE
1895
LESTER GLADSTONE BUGBEE
about l900
Lester Gladstone Bugbee
IN 1896 at the beginning of the second term of the University
of Texas, I for the first time became a denizen of B Hall,
where L. G. Bugbee was also in residence under the supervision
and careful scrutiny of H. B. Beck, the first manager of that
famous hostelry. I am not sure whether I first met Bugbee in
B Hall or in the United States history class which he was then
teaching in lieu of Professor George P. Garrison, absent in
the University of Chicago to finish his work for the degree of
doctor of philosophy. But I do recall that from the first we
met on common ground: he had grown to manhood among the
post oaks and black jacks of the Cross Timbers of Johnson
County, and Johnson County is fringed on the southwest by
the Brazos River, just across which lies Bosque County, where
I grew to manhood. I think he was the first student from his
county to discover the University of Texas. I know I was the
second to enroll from Bosque County.
Bugbee, young and inexperienced as a teacher, had a difficult
role to play in following in this history course Professor
Garrison, a masterly teacher. The class was made up of juniors
and seniors. I remember how Bugbee's unassuming modesty,
his quiet competence, his friendly attitude quickly won the
confidence and esteem of twenty or more hypercritical upper-
classmen. Secretly perhaps, but with absolute sincerity, I
became his admiring friend. Perhaps in him I saw the possi-
bility of a country boy's achieving distinction even amid the rigid
standards of competence that characterized any respectable
so-called institution of higher learning. At any rate, growing
out of this contact and of my becoming registrar of the
University in 1897, Bugbee often talked to me of his plans for
seeing the University a depository of all forms of historical
material -- letters, diaries, old and neglected annals like the
Bexar Archives (which I believe he secured) -- any written
records that threw light on how Texas came to be or showed
how Texas had grown. Our acquaintance gradually ripened into
friendship.
Faculty B Hall Committee, had told him that the Hall under
the direction of Mrs. Hicks, the first and only woman manager,
had accumulated a deficit of four thousand dollars. Moreover,
the Hall had become unpopular; many students had moved
away because of the riotous conduct of their fellows; Austin
merchants demanded cash for their goods; the manager was
resigning. Bugbee proposed that he and I move back (we had
both lived there) to B Hall and try to work out a solution of
the difficulty. "It's your Hall," said Professor Houston, and
President Prather agreed.
Bugbee's plan was simple: the B-Hallites in mass meeting
elected at his suggestion a president and two men from each
floor as an Executive Committee. This committee adopted a
few rules of discipline, which they were given plenary powers
to enforce. When a student threw a biscuit across the table,
out of the Hall he went. There was no appeal. Bugbee and I
volunteered to handle all the business side of the proposition
without any charge. We paid board just as did the students,
although I believe Professor Houston would not allow the
auditor to accept our room rent. I remember that Bugbee told
the assembled B Hall residents that our job (his and mine)
was to see that the Hall was kept decently clean, that the food
should be wholesome and plentiful. We hired and fired the
servants, bought the groceries, and made regular financial
reports to the B Hall Committee. The University comptroller
handled all the money. "The rest is up to you," said Bugbee.
"It's your home and you are absolute bosses. Lomax and I will
do everything for you except to exercise discipline. You can
tear B Hall down if you like and I'll never report it to the
faculty." The students took his earnest words at face value.
The first Hall committee was made up of thoughtful fellows
headed by Howard Parker, who won a great victory by soon
throwing out a couple of fellows who told the committee to go
to hell with their rules. Bugbee and I sat in with this Hall
committee when they met until they began to discuss discipline.
Then we retired.
Bugbee's plan worked from the start. All the vacant rooms
were quickly taken. The boarders increased from about a hun-
dred to two hundred and twenty-five, though we raised the rate
from ten to eleven dollars a month. We paid our bills promptly
and soon began to whittle down the deficit. On our first Thanks-
giving we served as the pièce
de
résistance
steaks from a huge
deer weighing nearly two hundred pounds. We bought a large
icebox in which we hung whole quarters of the best obtainable
beef (bought for three and four cents a pound). We tried to
serve all food piping hot. We won our accolade of popular
approval when the entire football squad moved to B Hall for
their meals. A special student committee inspected the rooms
each month, not for the purpose of finding fault but of picking
out for a prize the best ordered room. I recall that Robert
Richey, now of San Antonio, won the first award.
Successive Hall committees kept up the standards of the first.
B Hall did not grow sissy, but it did win the respect of thought-
ful people. Before the end of three years the deficit was
completely wiped out, and the doors of B Hall were kept open
to a fairly well satisfied clientage.
Meanwhile Bugbee and I, in adjoining rooms, held many con-
ferences. Our job was not an easy one. Unexpected problems
came up almost daily. But not once did we seek help from
President Prather or Professor Houston, though we often called
a meeting of the Hall committee of students and asked their
advice. In looking back I know now that over and over again
Bugbee's sound judgment, his knowledge of human nature,
his patient and persistent insistence that young men may be
led but not driven, saved the B Hall experiment from disaster.
For a period of several years during which his ideas were
followed B Hall became a decent place to live for students who
liked freedom and who had slender purses.
While I did not help much, if any, in the transformation, I
shall always look back on this incident with pleasure. I came
then to know, as I think few others did, something of the
unselfishness and greatness of Lester Gladstone Bugbee. Before
the end of our first year as B Hall supervisors, ill health took
him away from Austin. I never saw him again, though I was
present to witness his body put away in the red clay out of
which grow the post oaks in the Alvarado section of Johnson
County.
Forerunners of Baylor
The heartbeat of every loyal and patriotic Texan, regardless
of church or school affiliation, has been quickened with
pride over the announcement of Baylor University's Centennial
Celebrations during the current year. The historically curious
will be abundantly rewarded by delving into the annals of the
forerunners and founders of this institution. Their experiences
and activities were not confined exclusively to the secular affairs
of one denomination.
"In those days came Joseph Bays, the Baptist, from the
wilderness of Missouri to the wilderness of Texas"; thus begins
the account of the first Texas preacher of this faith as chronicled
in J. M. Carroll's History
of
Texas
Baptists.
Bays was born of
Scotch-Irish nonconformist parents in North Carolina, about
ten years after the American Declaration of Independence. Two
powerful influences gave purpose and direction to his colorful
career: a love of adventure and an impulse to preach. Respond-
ing to the westward urge of the wilderness in 1794, his family
moved on to the dark and bloody ground which later became
the state of Kentucky. Here the lad came to know Daniel Boone
and listened for many hours to the old pioneer's tales of adven-
ture. Likewise, he became familiar with the lore of the forest.
By the time he reached maturity, he was a man six feet in
stature, weighing well over two hundred pounds. He was well
versed in all of the accomplishments of a backwoodsman neces-
sary for self-defense and earning a livelihood. He received no
formal schooling, however, save from his mother, who taught
him to read and write. The Bible was the only book which he
learned well; most of it he memorized, so that in later years he
often quoted long passages from memory. When he was sixteen,
he led in public worship services and did some preaching when
not listening to the adventures of Boone. At eighteen, he married
Miss Roseina Wicher, but whether he was living in Kentucky
or had moved to Missouri is not disclosed. While he was still
residing in Kentucky, however, his father died.
Responding to the lure of adventure and following in the
footsteps of the heroic Boone, Bays moved on to Missouri with
his brothers, John, Peter, and Isaac. They left behind their
mother and her triplet brothers, Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego -- names forcibly emphasizing the Bible's influence on
the family. In Missouri, Bays soon made the acquaintance of
Moses Austin and encountered adventurers from filibustering
expeditions west of the Sabine during 1818 and 1819, who
revived his spirit of wanderlust. In time he became identified
with Austin's colonization scheme and joined with thirty-two
other families who headed into the trackless wilderness for
the new country of Texas, in 1820, even before Moses Austin
set out for Mexico to obtain his colonization contract. How
many of the Bays clan accompanied Joseph Bays to Texas is
not known.
As the years advanced, Bays's love of adventure began to
wane, and the urge to preach gained the ascendency. Apparently,
the metamorphosis was completed by the time he reached the
border of Texas; he put the rifle on the rack and used the Bible
more frequently. In Sabine Parish, Louisiana, just east of
Pendleton's Ferry, the long journey of the thirty-three families
came to a halt on June 30, 1820. The stop was occasioned by
the need to await word from Moses Austin. For some years
thereafter most of Bays's activities were confined to this im-
mediate vicinity. Here he is reported to have done much
preaching. Apparently he did not manifest the same impatience
to move on as did some of his fellow-travelers. Subsequently,
he was invited by one Joseph Hinds to come west of the Sabine
River and preach in the Hinds large two-story home about
eighteen miles from San Augustine Mission. These services,
repeated for several months, were the first Baptist services
on Texas soil, of which there is a record. Bays's biographer
credits him with such powerful and effective preaching that one
Billie Cook, a Universalist preacher, was converted and baptized,
although it is not clear whether this was on Texas or Louisiana
soil. Some opposition arose among the Texas settlers to Bays's
preaching in the Hinds home; so he confined his activities to
Camp Sabine, east of the river. In December, 1820, Moses
Austin, in returning from San Antonio, was stricken with
pneumonia in the home of Hugh McGuffin. Bays, because of
his friendship for Austin and also because of his skill in the
primitive methods of treating sickness, was called in to nurse
the sick man and stayed with him until his health was restored.
Shortly thereafter, however, Moses Austin died in Missouri.
In 1823, Bays was holding services in the town of San Felipe,
headquarters of the Austin colony, when he was arrested by
the Mexican and Roman Catholic authorities for violation of
Article III of the Mexican Constitution, which provided that
the religion of the Mexican nation would perpetually be Roman
Catholic Apostolic and that laws would be enacted prohibiting
the exercising of any other whatsoever. While en route to
Bexar with their captives, the Mexican guard of three soldiers
camped near some springs at the head of the San Marcos River,
where the city of the same name now stands. When two of the
soldiers laid down their guns to get water from the spring,
Bays overpowered the armed soldier, clubbed the other two
with the gun, and made his escape down the river. After
wandering for some time, he came near Fort Bend to the home
of Joe Kuykendall, whom he had known in Missouri. Not only
was he well received, but his benefactor provided him with a
horse and brace of derringers, with which he made his way
back to Sabine Parish, where apparently he remained for many
years. Ultimately, he did move to Texas, became a friend of
Sam Houston, and served as a commissioner in behalf of Houston
to deal with the Cherokee Indians, by whom he was much
beloved and respected. Bays's last years were filled with
sadness; while he was living in San Augustine County, Texas,
some Mormon elders came through the community, and his
wife and oldest son Henry were swept off their feet by their
teachings and followed the Mormons to Utah. Bays died in
obscurity in 1854 at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Peter
DeMoss, in Matagorda County, Texas.
While Bays was experiencing turbulent times along the
Brazos, elsewhere in Texas another Baptist divine was preach-
ing unmolested. The presence of Freeman Smalley in the Red
River area was under circumstances in marked contrast to
those of Bays. Born in Ohio and ordained a minister, Smalley
took leave of his regular ministerial work in his thirty-first
year in an effort to relieve his aged parents of anxiety
concerning his sister, who had married one William Newman
and moved west. Years had passed without any word from her
when Smalley, at his parents' request, began his trek towards
the Arkansas territory in a forlorn search. Traveling alone and
following the rivers, he negotiated successfully the Ohio and
Mississippi. Just how much he traveled by water and how much
on foot is not known. He camped wherever night overtook him,
lived on wild game, and frequently had to cut small brush and
build up from the ground a bed sufficiently elevated to be above
the slush and water of the river bottoms. Often, he made rafts
of logs, lashed together with grapevine, in order to cross
streams. At long last the Newmans were located between the
Red and Sulphur rivers in what is now Lamar and Red River
counties. While resting from his travels, Smalley was invited
to preach. Other Protestant groups in the locality had for
several years conducted services in the homes of the settlers
in the belief that they were living in the Arkansas territory
and that Sulphur River was their southern boundary. Thus,
the second Baptist minister in Texas was not conscious at that
time of preaching on Texas soil.
After a quarter of a century, Smalley did return to Texas,
settling on Brushy Creek in Williamson County, where he is
said to have organized the first anti-slavery church in Texas.
This venture soon passed into oblivion, and its history has not
been traced. It is known definitely, however, that Smalley left
Texas permanently in 1866.
In 1828, there came to Austin's colony a Baptist layman
whose life and work influenced the entire colony far beyond the
confines of his denomination. It was not adventure, new lands,
nor lost relatives, but the quest for health that brought Thomas
J. Pilgrim to Texas. Born in Connecticut on December 19, 1805,
he became a member of the Baptist Church early in life and
seriously considered the ministry as a lifework. Upon gradua-
tion from Madison University, New York, he was confronted
with the necessity of restoring his health. In the fall of 1828,
in the western part of the state of New York, he attached
himself to an emigrant group of approximately sixty men,
women, and children, who, under the leadership of Elias
Wrightman, had Texas as their ultimate goal. From the head-
waters of the Allegheny the group proceeded to Pittsburg,
where reorganization was effected after their craft capsized.
In Cincinnati Pilgrim purchased a set of Spanish books and
began a diligent study of the language, thus unconsciously
equipping himself to become later Austin's official interpreter.
During a two weeks' delay in New Orleans, the Wrightman
party struck a bargain with the owner of a twenty-ton craft
manned by a crew of three to land them on Texas soil for a
consideration of $500. Calm weather prevailed for days until
they were out of sight of land, when suddenly they found
themselves in the grip of a gale which lasted two days. There-
after, calm and gale alternated until the entrance to Matagorda
Bay was passed. Buffeted by winds, imperiled by a drunken
crew, and threatened with a shortage of food and water, the
party faced a desperate situation calling for stern meas-
ures. Because he alone escaped seasickness and had a work-
ing knowledge of this type of craft, Pilgrim arose to the
occasion, assumed command, and rationed the food and water
supply. According to his own version, for several days he
gave his fresh water to the children while he was "subsisting
only on pilot bread and raw whisky." Relief was obtained when
the party put in at Aransas, secured fresh water, and obtained
fish from the Carancahua Indians. After twenty-two days of
hardships and privation, the party landed successfully along
Matagorda; even then they were more than twenty miles from
a settlement. The following morning, Pilgrim and four com-
panions -- all young men -- set out in search of a settlement.
Again hardship and exposure was their lot as they struggled
through swamps and sedge grass drenched with December rains.
Settlers were found about sixty miles from San Felipe, and
among these Pilgrim met Josiah H. Bell en route to his home
in Columbia. From this meeting an invitation to San Felipe
was extended by Bell to Pilgrim, the acceptance of which was
the beginning of an enduring friendship.
Soon after reaching San Felipe, Pilgrim made the acquaintance
of the empresario and was deeply impressed, as evidenced by
his eloquent tribute to the Father of Texas. Austin was not
long in coming to a full appreciation of this young man just
turned twenty-three, for he immediately approved Pilgrim's
plans for organizing and teaching a school. Within a short time
the school was under way with an attendance of approximately
forty, mostly boys. After a decade in this work at San Felipe,
Pilgrim moved to Columbia. There he taught the first school
in Brazoria County. He moved about from one plantation to
another. Being a gifted linguist, he taught Latin, Greek, and
Spanish, in addition to history, rhetoric, compositon, natural
philosophy, and moral philosophy, to say nothing of the ordinary
elementary branches. Later, he became identified with Gonzales
College and remained at that school until his death, October 29,
1877.
In comparison with his contemporaries, Pilgrim was out-
standing as an educator. This can be fully appreciated only
by a brief survey of the then existing conditions and educational
facilities. The Constitution of Coahuila and Texas adopted in
1827 made general provision for education. The actual establish-
ment and maintenance of schools, however, was left to the local
ayuntamientos, and every empresario was required to make pro-
vision for his own school. Following an ancient practice, as new
towns were laid out, one block was set aside for public buildings
and another for schools. This was observed in such towns as
Gonzales, Bastrop, Victoria, and Nacogdoches, and many others,
but for years these blocks were not used for the purpose
originally intended. Some schools that were built were subse-
quently abandoned because of unsettled conditions or decreased
population. Of the four municipalities in the department of
Bexar, San Antonio alone maintained a school from 1828 to
1834, while in the department of Nacogdoches with eight
municipalities there were only three schools. In the department
of Brazos, with its capital in San Felipe, were located most of
the Anglo-American settlers in its five municipalities. In these
settlements there arose private enterprises known as "old field"
or "corn field" schools. These were organized and taught by
men who had been lawyers and ministers in the old states, and
usually they were conducted rather haphazardly. Some of the
well-to-do settlers sent their children back to the states for
schooling. Among the early teachers were T. J. Garner, Henry
Smith, D. B. Edward, Gail Borden, and others well known in
Texas history. Students of educational developments in Texas
are agreed that Pilgrim's labors gave a tone and quality that
served as an inspiration to those who followed him. Among his
students were such men as Guy M. Bryan, Stephen F. Austin, Jr.,
Joel W. Robinson, J. H. Bell, and A. P. McCormick.
To churchmen generally, and to Baptists in particular, Pilgrim
is known as the Father of Sunday schools in Texas, and his
work in this connection is best described in his own words:
Contemplating in imagination what Texas, from its natural advantages,
must soon become, I felt the necessity of moral and religious as well as
intellectual culture, and resolved to make an effort to found a Sunday
school. Notice was given through the school, that on the following Sunday
an address would be delivered on the subject, and I was gratified to see
at the time appointed a large and respectable audience assembled.
There were not lacking intelligent gentlemen and ladies to act as
teachers, but of the other appurtenances of a well-regulated Sunday school,
we had none. This lack was supplied as best we could by contributions of
the citizens of such books as they had, and by the oral instructions of
superintendent and teachers.
The next Sunday found the school under way, and giving promise of
great success. A lecture was delivered each Sunday morning, intended for
both young and old. To hear these lectures people came from a distance
of ten miles, and as this town was the capital of the colony, many people
were sometimes in attendance from different parts of the country, who
carried the good seed here sown all over the colony.
This school and these morning lectures were continued regularly, and
were well attended until a difficulty occurred between some intelligent
Mexicans visiting the place from the interior and some citizens, growing
out of a lawsuit which was decided against the Mexicans. The Empressario
deemed it prudent to discontinue them for a time, as these Mexicans could
not be deceived in relation to the character of our exercises, and it was
well known that we were acting in violation of the colonization law, which
strictly prohibited Protestant worship and prohibited Austin from intro-
ducing any but Catholics as colonists.
Now, let us for a moment contemplate this little Sunday school. In a
black-jack and post-oak grove near the center of the town of Felipe de
Austin is a rude log cabin about 18x22 feet, the roof covered with boards,
held down by weight-poles; the logs unhewn, and the cracks neither
chinked nor battened; a dirt floor, and across it are placed several logs
hewn on one side, for seats. At one end stands the superintendent, a mere
stripling, and before him are about half a dozen gentlemen and ladies as
teachers, and thirty-two children, without any of those appendages which
are now considered necessary to a well-conducted Sunday school.
The preaching and teaching heretofore recounted was really
the work of individuals who happened to be affiliated with the
Baptist church and did not represent denominational activities.
The distinction of heading the first organized Baptist effort in
Texas goes to one Daniel Parker. He was born in Virginia, spent
his boyhood in Georgia, began to preach in 1802, and moved to
Palestine, Illinois, where he published a book, The
Two
Seed
Doc
-
trine,
and was twice elected to the state senate. He had little for-
mal education but was endowed with much native ability and
leadership. In 1832, he visited Texas, moving there in 1833. He
served as a member of the Consultation in 1835 and of the Gen-
eral Council of the Texas provisional government. He construed
the Mexican colonization law as forbidding the organization of
any church other than Catholic but not prohibiting the immi-
gration of such an organization already formed. After the first
visit in Texas, he returned to Illinois and on July 26, 1833, or-
ganized the "Pilgrim Church of Predestinarian Regular Bap-
tists." Parker was chosen pastor of the initial membership of
seven. The group started to Texas as colonists, stopped in Clai-
borne Parish, Louisiana, long enough to add seven more mem-
bers, and on Saturday, January 20, 1834, met in Austin's colony
at the home of the pastor and planned further meetings the first
Saturday of each month. Thus did Parker's colonists become the
ecclesiastical Trojan horse planted deep in the heart of the
walled domain of the Roman Catholics. Incidentally, Palestine,
Texas, is said to have been named by his son John in memory
of Palestine, Illinois. It was in this section of the state that
these primitive or Anti-Missionary Baptists subsequently found-
ed their churches.
Protestant colonists, whether Baptist or not, were willing to
become chameleon Catholics upon arrival. They were not seek-
ing freedom from religious persecution as did the New England
Puritans, for their primary concern was acquisition of larger
land holdings and they were willing to take a chance that a
change would ultimately be made regarding the ban on Protest-
ant organization and worship. At least, they were willing to
risk a lax enforcement that would not prove irksome or unbear-
able. Even Sam Houston, who was later to become a Baptist,
first was baptized into the Catholic Church in the home of
Adolphus Sterne in Nacogdoches. Incidentally, he named Mrs.
Sterne as his godmother. These Texans--with their large acre-
ages, mild climate, scattered settlements, knowledge of the In-
dians, and lack of religious persecution complex--did not feel
the need for religious organization as did the New Englanders.
Even though the Catholic Church was the only church with
legal status, its priests were insufficient in number to care for
the demands of marriage ceremonies and baptisms. The oc-
casional appearance of a Protestant minister without denomi-
national sponsorship was in itself insufficient to arouse official
action or opposition. As a positive factor in organized worship,
these men were relatively impotent.
For some time after San Jacinto, there was still comparatively
little interest in denominational matters. Men such as Richard
Ellis, N. T. Byars, Gail Borden, and others, known as Baptists,
were altogether too busy waging a war and creating a govern-
ment to concern themselves with church organization. Out of
this situation, however, in the fulness of time, there appeared
a dynamic personality who acted as a magnet that drew to-
gether these scattered Baptist settlers. Z. N. Morrell had been
preaching fourteen years in Tennessee when his doctor warned
him that he would have to seek another climate because of
threatened lung trouble. In company with others, he set out
for Texas, preaching en route. They passed through Alabama
and Mississippi and went as far west as the falls on the Brazos
River. Morrell started back to Tennessee for his family and
reached Nacogdoches on Sunday, January 10, 1836. It was elec-
tion day, and the town was crowded with Mexicans, Indians, and
Anglo-American settlers. Ever eager to proclaim the gospel
message, Morrell mounted the foundation of a building that was
under construction, had his audience use the sills and sleepers
as seats, and announced in the manner of an auctioneer: "Oh
yes, Oh yes, Oh yes, everybody who wants to buy without money
and without price come this way." He stated that never did the
"cane brake" preacher do better. Later, in returning to Texas
he met in this same vicinity people plunged eastward in head-
long flight in what was known as the "Runaway Scrape." Ignor-
ing all warnings, this man pressed on. Ultimately he reached
Washington-on-the-Brazos, where he and seven other Baptists
formed the First Missionary Baptist Church in the new Repub-
lic. As pastor, he served only a short time, and the committee
appointed to obtain a new minister succeeded in obtaining the
services of Rev. William Melton Tryon.
Tryon was a native of New York, who went to Augusta,
Georgia, for his health and was recommended to Texas as a mis-
sionary from the American Baptist Home Missionary Society.
At the same time the Texas Baptists interested Jessie Mercer
of Mercer University in their enterprise and obtained his check
for §2,500, with a promise that more would be sent when this
was exhausted.
Tryon, having married a woman of means, was relieved of
the necessity of supplementing his earnings and soon brought
into play his talent for organization. In addition to his pastoral
duties, he served briefly at Washington-on-the-Brazos as chap-
lain of Congress, but he was soon called to organize a church
at Independence. From this work, he next undertook the task
of reviving the church at Galveston and organizing a new one
in Houston. In addition, he did the foundation work of the Texas
Baptist Convention and was one of the organizers of the Union
Association at Clear Creek in LaGrange County, which later
evolved into the Texas Baptist Educational Society. Before
this group, he urged that the church should have a university,
and filled his fellow-workers with enthusiasm for such a project.
In 1847 he died, a victim of yellow fever, as was his friend and
fellow-Baptist, Isaac Van Zandt, who was then in the midst of
a campaign for the governorship. Tyron's decade in the ministry
spanned the life of the Texas Republic; although only the last
half of his ministry was spent in Texas, his works have endured
through the ensuing century.
The balance wheel of these early Baptist organizations was
a New Hampshire orphan, educated at Brown University and
sent out to Texas by Mercer of Georgia. Rev. James Huckins,
who preceded Tryon to Texas, reached Galveston, then a town
of three thousand, in January, 1840. During his sojourn there,
he received into his newly organized church, among others, the
well-known Gail Borden and Mrs. Borden, a niece of Georgia's
Jesse Mercer. Huckins baptized this distinguished couple in the
Gulf of Mexico in a colorful and dramatic service on a Sunday
evening at sunset. Lacking the emotional appeal of his con-
temporaries, Huckins compensated with his business ability. In
his commission as missionary to Texas, his work was apparently
not restricted even though his pay was limited. He supplemented
his earnings by real estate ventures in Galveston that netted
him $40,000. Because of his business acumen, he was selected
as the fiscal agent of the new university, and it is because of
this work in and out of Texas that Baylor University honored
his memory on its hundredth anniversary.
Up to this time the spark of life in the Baptist organizations
had been nurtured by its clergy. The laymen were indifferent,
preoccupied with other matters, or too busily engaged in doc-
trinal argument to afford lay-leadership. The one conspicuous
exception was Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor, a star of the first
magnitude, who gave impetus to all Baptist movements in Texas
and who for years was to them the living embodiment of the law
and the gospel. The man who played this dual role was born
in Kentucky, May 10, 1793, of a distinguished family. His grand-
father was in Washington's army, and an uncle served as a
colonel on Washington's staff in the American Revolution. His
maternal great-grandfather Bledsoe had been imprisoned in Vir-
ginia for preaching Baptist doctrine. Young Baylor was grad-
uated from an academy in Paris, Kentucky, and soon acquired
a reputation as a scholar and critic. Along with his two broth-
ers, he enlisted in the War of 1812, and later in recounting his
experiences, he wrote that he, with Colonel Boswell's Regiment,
"cut our way into Fort Meigs on the 5th of May, 1813, during
the seige. After my time expired, I volunteered and went to
Canada with Shelby and Harrison, when Proctor's army was
taken." Later, Baylor studied law under an uncle, one Jesse Bled-
soe, a celebrated Kentucky lawyer and one-time United States
Senator, who also was a kinsman of Judge Bledsoe of Sherman,
Texas. Under the spell of Henry Clay and spurred by his own
yen for oratory, Baylor entered politics and was elected to the
Kentucky Legislature at the age of twenty-three. Steeped in
the philosophies of Voltaire and Tom Paine, he nevertheless was
attracted to the forthright preaching of one Rev. Jeremiah Var-
deman, whom he followed up and down the state seeking to de-
termine the source and power of his eloquence and jotting down
his quotations from the Bible. Baylor resigned from the Ken-
tucky Legislature in 1820 and moved to Alabama, where he
was elected first to the State Legislature and then to Congress
for a single term from the Tuscaloosa District. During his Ala-
bama residence, he commanded a battalion of Alabama volun-
teers during the Creek Indian trouble and also practiced law for
two years in Mobile. In 1839, under the spell of the eloquent
preaching of Thomas Chilton, a cousin, he was profoundly
moved. This was followed by a significant change in his religious
life and thought. During previous years he had argued long
and learnedly over the contradictions of the Bible and had scoff-
ed at the more popular brands of religion, but now he abandoned
his affected "Deism," forsook the Unitarians, and embraced
wholeheartedly the Baptist faith and doctrine. Immediately
following his baptism, he, in his own words, "studied theology,
was licensed to preach, and ordained to the Baptist ministry."
That same year, he came to Texas, settling near LaGrange.
The real motive for the move is not definitely known, but in the
new country he had the choice of several careers. It appears
that he served as a voluntary missionary; Morrell mentioned
assistance he received from Baylor in a meeting in which the
newcomer declined to preach but exhorted on the theme, "There
is a reality in religion and the Scriptures are true." In 1841,
Huckins referred to Tryon as preaching at Travis, Independence,
and Washington and being assisted by Baylor. Baylor never re-
lied on the ministry for a livelihood and accepted no pay for
preaching. If such was offered, he presented it to under-
paid ministers. For a time he taught school, and it is known that
he served as a private in the armed forces organized for repell-
ing the Mexican invasion and Indian outbreaks and was under
General Edward Burleson in the Battle of Plum Creek.
That Baylor did not regard himself as a professional minis-
ter is apparent in his willingness to serve in public office to which
he was elected by the Congress of the Republic in 1841. The Con-
stitution of 1836 prohibited ministers and priests from holding
office. This same provision he sought to have incorporated in
the Constitution of 1845 when he was a member of the Con-
stitutional Convention. In that convention, he served on three
important committees and urged such provisions as the estab-
lishment of a public school system, the exemption of homesteads
from forced sale, and the annual election of public officials for
one-year terms by direct vote of the people.
Baylor was best known for his career as a jurist, which began
in 1841, when he was elected by the Congress of the Republic
as circuit judge of the Third Judicial District composed of
Washington, Fayette, Milam, and Robertson counties. By vir-
tue of such judgeship he was by law an ex officio member of the
Texas Supreme Court, a position he held until Texas became a
state. Thereafter, Governor Henderson appointed him judge of
the Third District, to which place he was re-elected until retire-
ment, completing twenty-three years on the bench. Fortunately
for later generations, his opinions written while on the Supreme
Court are preserved for us in the Texas
Reports,
Dallam's De-
cisions. The twelve opinions written by him reflect his well-
grounded knowledge of common and constitutional law, even
though he confessed to embarrassment over lack of references
and precedents. He displayed great power of analysis and sound
logic in clear, unmistakable language.
Baylor would hold court by day, preach by night, and make
full use of the week ends by riding long distances to meet ec-
clesiastical and judicial engagements. On one occasion, while
holding court in Washington-on-the-Brazos, he baptized thirty-
six converts by moonlight in the Brazos. In Waco, he not only
held the first session of court but also preached one of the first
sermons. Among his first official duties at that place was to
admit to the practice of law young Richard Coke, who later be-
came well known in Texas politics. Baylor's sermons were de-
void of formalisms and were noted for warmth and eloquence.
In church circles, he was not exclusively a pulpiteer but took a
leading part in all organizations.
The first attempt at Baptist association took place on October
8, 1840, when the denomination had less than one hundred mem-
bers in the Republic. Baylor was present, and in the second
gathering at Clear Creek Meeting House near Rutersville, Fay-
ette County, he was made corresponding secretary. From this
meeting the Educational Society evolved in 1843. Its officers
were R. E. B. Baylor, president; S. P. Andrews, recording sec-
retary; and J. L. Farquhar, treasurer. Its board of managers
consisted of Elders Hosea Garrett, Noah T. Byars, of Washing-
ton blacksmith fame; Richard Ellis, signer of the Declaration
of Independence; Z. N. Morrell, author of Flowers
and
Fruits
of
the
Wilderness;
and Stephen Williams. This body instructed
Tryon and Baylor early in 1845 to go before the Texas Congress
and secure a charter for its contemplated school.
Tryon and Baylor drafted the charter which Congress granted
and President Anson Jones approved on February 1, 1845. It
was then discovered that the space for the name was left blank,
so that the decision for naming the institution rested with these
two men without opportunity to consult with their fellow-Bap-
tists. Baylor suggested "Tryon University" because the idea
originated with Tryon and he had given more time and effort
to the enterprise than anyone else. Tryon protested, saying that
he "had so much to do with bringing the enterprise forward
that he feared that it might be thought he was working for his
own honor and so it might injure the prospect of the school."
Then Tryon took the charter and filled in the blank space with
the word "Baylor." The clergyman-jurist protested vigorously
for two reasons: "First, I do not think I am worthy of such
distinction and, second, my humble donation (he had given
$1,000--the largest amount then given by anyone in behalf of
education) might be misunderstood and the motives prompting
it misconstrued." Tryon, joined by Kenneth L. Anderson, vice-
president of the Republic of Texas, remained firm, and so the
institution received its present name. Baylor served on the
Board of Trustees and taught in the first law school, which
opened in 1857 and closed with the outbreak of the Civil War.
He was never married. His sister, Mrs. Metcalf, lived with him
in his home among the live oaks six miles west of Independence,
where they together enjoyed music, poetry, and paintings. He
died December 30, 1873, and was buried on the old campus at
Independence. He left a manuscript sketch of his life, as well
as sketches of a number of contemporaries. It is hoped that the
institution that bears his name will see that his writings are
published. An insight into the character of this man is revealed
by the concluding paragraph of his will written in his own hand-
writing: "And now, having disposed of my worldly effects,
would that I could will to my relatives a personal interest in the
atoning blood of my blessed Redeemer, without which there
is no happiness beyond the cold and silent grave to which I am
so rapidly hastening."
The charter was merely the building permit of the edifice
ultimately to be erected. The first meeting of the Trustees at
Independence, May 7, 1845, adjourned for lack of a quorum to
meet at Brenham, May 15, 1845. At this board meeting, Bay-
lor was made chairman. Later meetings were called to decide
on a location. At a meeting at Mt. Gilead on October 13, after
public notice had been given that the location would be deter-
mined at that time, the board took under advisement the bids
that had been submitted. Money was scarce at the time, much
business was still transacted by barter, and subscriptions were
accepted for goods and commodities as well as cash. One town
included the following in its bid:
One section of land,
One yoke of oxen,
Five head of cattle,
One cow and calf,
One bay mare,
One bale of cotton,
Twenty days hauling, and
Two Hundred Dollars cash.
In determining the value of bids, all lands, except town lots,
were valued at seventy-five cents per acre; town lots were
valued at the current market price. The bids submitted were
as follows: Travis, in Austin County south of Brenham, $3,-
586.25; Huntsville, then in Montgomery, now in Walker, County,
$5,417.75; Shannan's Prairie, Montgomery County, east of Nava-
sota, $4,725.00; Independence in Washington County, $7,925.00.
On the first ballot, out of eleven members voting, Independence
received ten votes and Huntsville one. This voting, however,
does not reflect how near Huntsville came to winning, for at
the last moment the community made a donation consisting of
five acres with a one-story brick academy. To offset this Hunts-
ville subscription, A. G. Haynes, E. E. Taylor, and his partner
and brother-in-law, Mr. Root, of Independence, donated a two-
story frame building known as Independence Female Academy.
The building had been bought in at sheriff's sale, one-half of
the amount being paid by Haynes and the other by Taylor and
Root, local merchants. This addition put the bonus of Indepen-
dence in the lead. Thus was acquired the first building of Baylor
University.
On January 12, 1846, Henry L. Graves of Georgia was elected
president of the school, and Henry F. Gillett was selected teacher
of the preparatory department, which opened May 18, 1846.
The school opened with twenty-four students; before the close
of the first year the enrollment had reached seventy. At long
last the dream had become a reality.
Baylor University, 1851-1861
Baylor University began as a coeducational college; for
six years it consisted of one school taught by one faculty
under one administrative officer. The first important change
inaugurated by Dr. Rufus C. Burleson when he became presi-
dent of Baylor in 1851 was the organization of the institution
into two schools, a Male Department and a Female College with
classes taught in separate buildings, a mile apart, by separate
faculties.
1 After 1853 the women's college was known as the
Female Department. The first published catalogue of Baylor,
for the year 1851-1852, was divided into two sections, one de-
voted to the Male Department and the other to the Female
College. Afterwards separate catalogues were issued for the
two branches of the university. A common board of trustees
was the only official connection between the two schools.
The president of the university was the executive officer of
the school for men and boys; a principal directed the affairs of
the college for women. The principal nominated the teachers
for his department, recommended the granting of diplomas to
women graduates, and he and the president of the board of
trustees signed the diplomas.
2 The president of the university
performed these functions for the male department. This sep-
aration of authority between the president and the principal
was a clearly established policy in this decade of Baylor's his-
tory. The catalogue of the male department for 1854-1855, for
instance, stated that the school for girls was "under the entire
supervision" of Professor Horace Clark, and a later catalogue
asserted that Clark was "entirely responsible" for the manage-
ment of the female department and that "all communications
in regard to it should be addressed to him."
3
The functions of the board of trustees, president, principal,
and faculty were determined by the board and published in the
catalogues. It was the duty of the trustees to "enact the laws
and take a general supervision of the University," to "conduct
the financial affairs," to "furnish" buildings, library, and ap-
paratus, to elect teachers and determine their salaries, and to
fix rates of tuition. They had the "sole power of expelling stu-
dents." The trustees were to meet "as often as the good of the
University" required.
4 The president was charged with the re-
sponsibility of seeing that the laws of the university were
executed, of conducting religious services morning and evening
in the chapel and appointing someone to do so in his absence,
of making a semi-annual report in writing to the board of trus-
tees "of the condition of every department" with proposals for
improvements, and of having a monthly report of the standing
of every student sent to his parent or guardian.
5 The faculty
could adopt regulations not inconsistent with the established
rules of the university. The "laws" required weekly faculty
meetings. Fifteen minutes of each class period were to be used
"in reviewing the recitation of the preceding day," and class
schedules were to be so arranged that each student would have
"ten minutes recreation between his recitations." It was made
the "duty of the Professors to report the President to the
Board of Trustees, if he neglect to enforce the laws of the Uni-
versity."
6
When Dr. Burleson assumed the duties of president of Bay-
lor, the curriculum was strictly classical. Candidates for the
freshman class were required to pass an examination on Caesar,
Cicero's Select Orations, algebra, and Latin and Greek gram-
mar. The student studied Greek and Latin in his first three
college years and mathematics for four years. Other subjects
in the course of study were ancient history, philosophy, physics
(natural philosophy), geology, chemistry, logic, astronomy, sur-
veying and navigation, rhetoric, political economy, and "Evi-
dences of Christianity."
7
Perhaps the greatest achievement of Dr. Burleson's adminis-
tration at Independence was the broadening and liberalizing
of the curriculum. Beginning in 1852, lectures were delivered
"in connection with the regular recitations" on such subjects
as modern history, mineralogy, history of the English language,
and on "Means of Preserving Health," and a course in "French
History of the United States" was added to the sophomore
studies.
8 Beginning also in 1852, special emphasis was placed
on modern foreign languages, the study of Spanish and German
being regarded "as of the highest importance" by the faculty.
Spanish deserved a place in the curriculum, it was explained,
because of the proximity of Mexico and of the fact that the
original land grants in Texas were in Spanish, which made it
important "that facilities be afforded" to prospective lawyers
"for the acquisition of the Spanish language," since "many of
our students have the practice of law in view." German received
faculty approval because "already a large number of Germans
have settled among our population, and hundreds more are daily
arriving on our shores." It was announced with pride, there-
fore, that Baylor could "now furnish facilities for the acquisition
of French, Spanish and German not surpassed by any similar
Institution." Students preparing for the ministry were per-
mitted to study Hebrew instead of a modern foreign language.
9
Baylor made a significant addition to its curriculum in 1855.
Up to that time the male department offered a four-year course
leading to the degree of bachelor of arts. In this year the men's
branch of the institution added a three-year "scientific course"
leading to the degree of bachelor of philosophy for the benefit
of those preparing for business pursuits "or those whose age
or means" did not "allow them to complete the regular course."
Entrance examinations for admission to this new curriculum
were given in English grammar, arithmetic, geography, and
the history of the United States. This, of course, was quite dif-
ferent from the examinations in Greek, Latin, and algebra re-
quired for admission to the regular classical curriculum. The
scientific course differed from the "collegiate course" mainly in
eliminating ancient and modern foreign languages from the list
of studies. The prospective "bachelor of philosophy" studied
the sciences, mathematics, history, rhetoric, philosophy, politi-
cal economy, and "Evidences of Christianity." The new course
was popular, and in 1856 eighteen students were occupied with
its studies, while twenty-two were enrolled in the "collegiate"
or classical four-year course.
10
Baylor was only four years old when the board of trustees
created a professorship of law with the proviso "that for the
present the duties of the professorship be discharged by the
voluntary services of A. S. Lipscomb and R. E. B. Baylor [trus-
tees] and such other professional assistance as they in con-
junction with" the president of the university might provide.
11
The trustees were alert to the educational needs of Texas, and
in 1857 they established a law department with three teachers,
a seven-months course of study, and the degree of bachelor
of laws. A practice court under the supervision of the profes-
sors was a required part of the law studies.
12 By November,
1859, twenty-nine men had graduated from the law department;
at that time thirty-three students were studying law, while only
nine were preparing for the ministry.
13
In 1851 a committee of the board of trustees considered the
advisability of organizing a theological department but reported
that it was inexpedient to establish such a department
"regularly." The committee recommended, however, that the
president of the university "arrange" ministerial students in
a theological class and "give them whatever instruction" he
could.
14 In response to a recommendation of the Baptist State
Convention, Baylor authorities, in 1859, adopted a plan for a
theological department with the hope that arrangements could
be made to put it into operation in December, 1860. It was
planned to have at least "two pious intelligent and discreet
ministers to spend two or three months at Independence and
deliver a short course of familiar lectures" on theological sub-
jects.
15 Apparently the plan did not materialize before Dr.
Burleson's resignation in 1861.
Medical education, too, received the serious consideration of
the Baylor board of trustees. That question was studied in
1858, and a committee of the trustees was charged with the
responsibility of investigating the "propriety" of providing a
course in medicine. The committee made an unfavorable report,
and the trustees voted that it was "inexpedient to establish a
Medical Department at this time."
16
There were ninety-four male students attending Baylor in
the session of 1851-1852. Only seventeen of these students,
however, were enrolled in college classes; the other seventy-
seven were in the preparatory school. Eighteen of the seventy-
one girls enrolled during this session were pursuing college
studies.
17 Each branch of the university experienced a steady
growth in the 1850's, particularly in the number of college
students. In 1859 the total male enrollment was 233, and 110
of these were in the college department. One hundred women
were registered in college classes, and sixty-six girls attended
the preparatory school in the session of 1859-1860.
18 Thus the
total enrollment in Baylor had grown from 165 in 1851-1852
to 399 in 1859-1860, and the registration of college students had
increased from 35 to 210.
The "Female Department" of Baylor was separated from the
men's school not only by having its own campus, faculty, and
administrative officer but also by offering a different curriculum
of studies. Girls, for instance, did not enjoy the privilege of
learning Greek grammar or reading Greek literature, and in
mathematics they did not venture beyond trigonometry. They
were permitted, however, to explore the mysteries of astronomy,
botany, chemistry, geology, meteorology, and physiology, to read
French, German, and Latin, and to study Bible, English, history,
political economy, and philosophy; and they had classes in
elocution and vocal music "throughout the course."
19
Baylor placed considerable emphasis on training in music
and established a "Music Department," which enrolled more
than half of the women students in the session of 1859-1860.
Instruction was given in piano, harp, guitar, and voice. Several
hours a week were devoted to the teaching of the "fundamental
principles of written music." Beginning in 1857, public monthly
concerts were held "for the purpose of enabling the young artist
to overcome natural diffidence." Second only to the music studies
in popularity were the courses offered by the "Ornamental
Department," where the young women were taught drawing,
painting in water colors, oriental painting, Grecian painting,
oil painting, ornamental hair work, wax work, and embroidery.
20
The university did not confer degrees on women, but it did grant
diplomas to women graduates.
Baylor girls were not different from girls of other sections
and other schools of that time in favoring courses in music,
painting, hair work, wax work, and embroidery; and the Baylor
curriculum was not unique in this respect. The older generation,
however, like most older generations, did not entirely approve.
Doubtless the New Orleans newspaper editor was thinking of
the product of female education when he chose "Young Ladies
of Today" as the title of an editorial in 1863 and wrote:
Did you ever think what a contrast there is between the young lady of
today and the one of fifty or even a score of years ago? Then, a lady
was one who could take care of herself -- could sing in plain musical
English, wash, bake and cook all kinds of food, milk a cow if necessary,
and make herself generally useful. If she didn't she was called lazy -- that
was all there was about it. But, now, we have no lazy women, they are
all delicate. The modern young lady is a strange compound of dress and
nerves -- by which we mean those exquisite susceptibilities which cause
her to shudder when she sees a wash tub, and scream at the sight of a cow.
She sings "divinely" and plays the piano "exquisitely," but neither of these
affects you as much as the jabbering of a North American Indian, for it
is not half as intelligible. She lounges about in the morning, crochets and
embroiders a little, then dresses herself up and promenades for the benefit
of some "genteel exquisite."
Thus passes her days. . . . It is an uncommon thing, indeed, to find a
young lady now-a-days who half pays for the food she eats.
21
Baylor's principal and faculty claimed that the course of
study for women was "both disciplinary and practical" and
that the instruction was thorough. Patrons were warned, how-
ever, not to expect the impossible, for the university did not
promise to make a scholar out of every student. "We cannot
create mental ability," the catalogue said, "nor the disposition
to use it.... We can only promise then, to parents and guardians,
the faithful cultivation of those talents which they entrust
to us."
22 The faculty, apparently, was more keenly interested
than some parents in the faithful cultivation of student talents,
for Baylor authorities complained of the "practice of indulgent
parents" in withdrawing students from school near the end of
the term to avoid the final examinations. Such interference with
school procedure, the catalogue declared, "cannot be too earnestly
reprehended," for "classes are often broken up, and the interests
of the institution are seriously impaired."
23
Visiting committees attended the examinations in both the
male and female departments. Sometimes these committees
were composed of members of the board of trustees; at other
times regular visiting and examining boards were appointed.
A "Board of Visitors" of twenty-two members served the men's
school in 1853. In 1854 two committees of the trustees were
appointed to "attend the next examination . . . and report the
progress of the pupils to the Board of Trustees."
24 In 1860
fifteen men, including General J. M. Speight, constituted the
"Visiting and Examining Board" of the women's college. Their
duties were to supervise the examinations, "acquaint themselves
minutely with the affairs of the institution," report their find-
ings to the board of trustees, and make recommendations of
"such changes and improvements" as they deemed wise. An
"Examining Committee" of fifteen men, including Sam Houston
of Independence, James Huckins of Galveston, and James E.
Harrison of Waco, was serving the male department at this
time.
25
Texans of a century ago were proud of their young state and,
not unlike Texans of today, were extremely "state conscious."
Educational leaders appealed to the public to support Texas
colleges. There were residents of Texas, of course, who preferred
to send their children to the older schools in other states. The
question was serious enough to attract the attention of the
Baylor authorities, who expressed regret that some Texans
attended colleges beyond the state's borders and declared that
Baylor was determined "to meet fully the educational wants of
Texas, and to qualify . . . students to become the highest orna-
ments and firmest pillars of this great and growing common-
wealth."
26 The period was one of increasing sectional bitterness,
and Baylor, in common with the prevailing Southern opinion,
feared the dangers to the Southern "way of life" from Northern
education. "It is a source of regret," said the catalogue of 1857,
"to see Texians patronizing Northern or distant colleges, where
our youth will imbibe sentiments, habits and tastes antagonistic
or alien to ours."
27
When a young man sought admission to Baylor ninety years
ago, he was brought before the faculty, and the "laws" of the
school were "laid down and explained by the President." The
prospective student was told that he must not use profane or
obscene language about the campus, use "ardent spirits" or
visit "drinking houses," carry or keep in his room "pistols, dirks
or any such weapons," gamble, be absent from his room after
9:00 P.M. or "engage in any noctural disorders or revelings,"
interfere in any way with the discipline of the school, or leave
Baylor without the permission of the faculty. If he promised
to observe these rules and to "pursue diligently" the prescribed
course of study, he was admitted "and his name registered."
28
Students were required to attend daily religious services in
the college chapel. Baylor claimed with pride, however, that
"nothing peculiarly denominational" was taught, either in these
exercises or in the classrooms, for the university was "strictly
a Literary Institution, where instruction in distinctive religious
tenets can have no place." Boarding students were required to
attend the Sunday services of one of the churches of Inde-
pendence.
29
Men students lived in private homes in Independence. There
were dormitories for women, but women students were per-
mitted to reside in private homes. Parents who allowed their
daughters to live off the campus, however, were advised that
they did so at their "own risk and responsibility," for the faculty
assumed none "either in regard to their deportment out of
school hours, the employment of their time, their associations,
correspondence, finances or progress in study." And mothers
and fathers were told that if they knew "the half that we could
tell them of misspent time, improper associations and extrava-
gant expenditures," they would hesitate to allow their daughters
to live off the campus.
30
Extravagance seems to have been the besetting sin of this
generation of Baylor students. No other transgression gave the
faculty greater concern. A section of the catalogue of 1854-1855
was devoted to the subject, and patrons were informed that
the president and faculty made "every effort ... to prevent
extravagance and induce habits of economy," for, the catalogue
read, "long experience proves clearly that the Student who
spends most learns least." Parents were requested not to "allow
unlimited accounts" to be opened by students in the stores of
Independence, and each student was required "by the laws of
the University to transmit to his parents or guardian a monthly
account of all expenses."
31 But in spite of the efforts of the
faculty, the appeal to parents, and the rules of the university,
there was money (or at least credit) and there were merchants,
and the twain would and did meet. "Needless Expenses" was
the subject of a section of the catalogue of 1857, and it was
admitted that in spite of the institution's attitude "needless
extravagance had occurred." Some parents had allowed sons
to spend money freely, had withdrawn them from Baylor to send
them to other schools, and had "abused" Baylor for their own
"folly." No faculty could control the matter of student expendi-
tures, it was confessed, since the "tastes and habits of parents
vary so widely." Therefore, said the faculty, parents and sons
must accept the "blame and responsibility." Hereafter, no non-
resident male student would be "fully matriculated" until his
parent furnished the president of the university with the name
of the merchant with whom the student was to trade and with
a statement of the amount of money the student might spend.
Parents were urged to conform "rigidly" to this rule. Women
students were not permitted to open accounts with merchants
"except by the express direction of their parents or guardians,"
and even then purchases had to be made "under the direction
The university participated directly in the war against ex-
travagance by requiring simplicity of dress and by prohibiting
personal adornment. The wearing of jewelry, including rings,
was forbidden. An exception to this rule was made in favor
of a breastpin for the ladies, which could "on account of utility
be worn." Boys over fifteen in good standing wore a "lone star"
as a badge of distinction and on special occasions might wear
a plume. Only plain styles in women's clothes were permitted;
flounces and tucks would not be tolerated, and "gay and expen-
sive ribbons" must not be worn. Headdress was limited to bonnets
of white straw "plainly trimmed with pink ribbon of solid
color"; there must be no flowers or other ornaments.
33
The students of Baylor were too fond of pretty clothes to
please the faculty and too prone to discuss politics to suit the
trustees. When Senator Sam Houston opposed the Kansas-
Nebraska Bill in 1854, he aroused the wrath of many Texans.
The Texas Democratic Convention and the Texas Legislature
censured him,
34 and to many persons the hero of San Jacinto
became the villain in the war over Kansas. Naturally Baylor
students were interested in the nation-wide controversy, and
their interest must have turned to excitement when Houston
joined the Independence Baptist Church and was baptized by
Dr. Burleson in November, 1854.
35 The students were accus-
tomed to expressing their views on current affairs in speeches
before the college literary societies. The trustees decided that
student discussion of political subjects was serving no good
purpose, and in December, 1855, they adopted a resolution "that
no question involving politics shall be discussed by the students,
either in original speeches or composition in Baylor University,
and the Faculty be requested to have the above resolution
enforced."
36
Baylor made at least one attempt in the 1850's to provide, or
rather to require, student participation in the enforcement of
university regulations. It was announced in 1857 that at stated
times during the year the faculty would appoint a grand jury
of twelve students over eighteen years of age who were expected
to report to the faculty "every violation of the laws of the
University coming within their knowledge." Any student who
refused to discharge this assigned duty would be suspended,
and this same penalty was assessed against the student who
refused "to tell the truth and the whole truth" when questioned
by the faculty "as a witness" in any case involving alleged
violations of the university laws.
37 It would be interesting to
know the attitude of the students toward such a system. There
is no reason to believe that boys of that day were greatly
different from boys of 1945. They sometimes gave their parents
and their teachers cause for anxiety; and doubtless many a boy
surprised his instructors by becoming a good citizen and a suc-
cessful man -- perhaps even a professor or a college president.
The following statement, dated at Independence, February 15,
1860, was signed by eleven Baylor boys:
We whose names are undersigned do confess that on the 10 instant we
were guilty of disgraceful conduct in eating a turkey which had been stolen
from Mrs. G. W. Graves. We also confess that we deserve the severest
punishment and do hereby place ourselves wholly at the mercy of the
faculty and will submit without a murmer to whatever penalty they inflict.
But we do avow upon our honor that we are heartily ashamed of our
conduct and if the faculty will pardon us we will never again be guilty of
a similar crime.
38
The greatest difficulties of the decade for Baylor, however,
arose not from student extravagance, student politics, or student
misdemeanors, but rather from personal antagonism between
the president of the university and the principal of the female
department. The controversy finally involved the faculty, the
students, and the trustees. The trustees, in attempting to effect
a settlement of the disagreement, asserted claims to broader
powers and assumed closer control over the internal affairs of
the school.
In December, 1857, acting upon a rumor "that an unpleasant
state of feeling is existing between Pres. Burleson and H. Clark,"
the trustees appointed a committee to investigate. At the same
time the board declared that it was responsible to the patrons
"for the good government of the school" and asserted its right
to "scrutinize and judge of every law and regulation" of the
two departments and to correct whatever it considered detri-
mental to the university. While they had granted to the presi-
dent, principal, and faculties "much discretionary power," they
reserved to themselves "the right to supervise and control the
entire Institution in both departments."
39
This reserved right "to supervise and control" was im-
mediately invoked. Principal Clark of the girls' school and the
pastor of the Baptist church in Independence had become in-
volved in a controversy over the question of the attendance of
women students at revival meetings in the church. The trustees
took the matter under consideration and voted that it was
"imprudent and wrong" to prevent students from attending
revival services. Then the board proceeded to lay down the
law "that both the Pres of B. U. and the Prin. of the Female
Depart. shall as ministers co-operate in a cordial, christian [sic]
and prudent manner with the pastor of the Independence
Baptist church in all Revival Meetings he may hold, and en-
courage the attendance of all the pupils, unless it shall be
against the known will of their parents or the express desire
of the pupils."
40
Six months later the board of trustees again took a hand
in the internal affairs of the institution by declaring that "the
recent conduct" of some of the male students was subject to
discipline and by voting to "require the faculty of the Male
Department to enforce the By-laws."
41 This was in June, 1858.
It is quite clear from the minutes of the meetings of the trustees
that relations between the board and Dr. Burleson were not
entirely harmonious during the remainder of this year. The
minutes of December 4 show that there was a "free and full
interchange of opinion" between Dr. Burleson and the board
in regard to differences between them. It was agreed that "all
differences of opinion heretofore held by each party" should
be "passed and forgotten." Finally pledges of co-operation were
made and "the right hand of fellowship was extended."
In February, 1860, the board moved further in the direction
of a closer control of the university in two of its actions. In the
first place, it adopted a resolution requiring the president and
the principal to submit the catalogue manuscripts to a committee
of the trustees for approval before publication. Also, a com-
mittee of trustees was appointed to visit both departments of
the university to examine the "course of instruction" in the
preparatory schools.
42
By June, 1860, the trustees were convinced that the an-
tagonism between Dr. Burleson and Principal Clark was "operat-
ing injuriously" to the welfare of Baylor. They, therefore,
requested "these brethren" to adjust their controversy and to
give the board proof of a satisfactory agreement. In the event
that they could not arrive at an amicable settlement, they were
"expected to lay before" the board their grievances against each
other for adjustment by the trustees; and "if either of them
fail or neglect to comply with above request, we request his
or their resignations, as this injurious state of things must
cease."
43 When the two adversaries appeared before the board
and reported that they had failed to reach an agreement, the
trustees directed them to furnish the board with a written
statement of their "aggrievances one toward the other." In
compliance with this action, Dr. Burleson and Mr. Clark again
appeared before the trustees, read their charges against each
other, and made speeches to sustain them. Each made six
accusations. Today, these charges do not appear serious; in
fact, they seem almost childish. Perhaps the most serious
charge was Dr. Burleson's complaint that Mr. Clark had inter-
fered with the management of the male department. Burleson
also accused Clark of treating "me and my wife with disrespect
in not allowing the daughters of my friends and brethren to
meet a few select friends at my house" and of using his "official
position" in a speech to the women students "during school
hours to prejudice young and unsuspecting minds against me."
Clark charged that Burleson had compelled him "to arise in a
religious assembly to reply to what I and others conceived a
personal attack upon me"; had permitted the male students
to make "a disrespectful demonstration" toward him (Clark);
had publicly "made disparaging remarks of the Female institu-
tion"; and had refused to submit their differences to arbitra-
tion.
44
The trustees voted to "sustain" some of the charges of each
complainant. In four cases they disapproved of Dr. Burleson's
actions, including his "remarks about the female department"
and his refusal to submit the issues to arbitration. They dis-
approved of Clark's interference with the men's school, but
ruled that his address to the young women was without
"prejudicial effect against the Male Department."
45 After vot-
ing on the charges of Burleson and Clark, the trustees adopted
a set of resolutions regarding the controversy. None of the
charges were of such magnitude, they declared, "as to involve
the character or reputation" of Dr. Burleson or Mr. Clark. But
nothing was "more dangerous and alarming . . . than the
introduction of the difficulties" among the students. The
trustees warned the president, principal, and faculty "that our
patience with their petty difficulties is exhausted"; in the future
the board would "promptly apply the remedy even if it should
sever the ties that connect us together, from President to the
last professor if they shall merit it by their conduct," for Baylor
must have "co-operation and peace." Then the trustees called
in Dr. Burleson, Mr. Clark, and the four teachers in the male
department, had the resolutions read to them, and called upon
each to give "his full assent and approval to the settlement."
46
The conflict appeared to be settled, and Baylor faced an era
of tranquility. The trustees, however, yielding to rumors and
to outside pressure, reopened the matter in March, 1861. They
began by appointing a committee "to inquire into the difficulties
between brethren R. C. Burleson and H. Clark, if there be any."
Burleson and Clark assured this committee that they had
nothing against each other, that they were willing to abide by
the previous action of the board, and that they had not violated
that settlement. Still the trustees were not satisfied. They
appointed another committee to obtain the signatures of Burle-
son, Clark, and "all of the Professors in either department"
to a statement "having for its object," the trustees declared,
"the restoration and promotion of harmony and peace." This
strange document declared that all reports concerning unfriendly
relations among the faculty were "unfounded" and at the same
time pledged the president, principal, and faculty "to do or say
nothing directly or indirectly to disturb the friendly and
peaceable relations between us as professors of the department
or the board of trustees." Dr. Burleson, Richard B. Burleson,
D. R. Wallace, O. H. Leland, and George W. Willric, of the
male department, and Clark and B. S. Fitzgerald, of the girls'
school, signed the pledge. The trustees were triumphantly
happy, for they "all joined in singing . . . and in extending to
each other the hand and shedding tears of joy."
47
Eight weeks later, when the trustees reported to a called
meeting, the president of the board presented to that body
the formal notices of resignation from Baylor of Dr. Burleson
and of three of the four teachers in the male department,
Richard Burleson and Professors Leland and Wallace. The
board of trustees accepted these resignations effective June 27,
the end of that scholastic year.
48
Dr. Burleson and the professors who resigned with him had
accepted positions in Waco University. It was naturally ex-
pected that they would fulfill their responsibilities at Independ-
ence until the conclusion of the commencement ceremonies of
that year. To the evident surprise of the trustees, however,
the regular examinations and commencement exercises of the
male department were not held in June. When the president of
the board inquired in writing of Dr. Burleson why the exercises
had been cancelled, Burleson gave the following reasons for
the action: "1. The Civil war which has suspended most of
the best endowed Colleges in the South. 2. A Local war was
threatened between some of the citizens of this place and our
students. 3. You advised me to adjourn the University rather
than have an outbreak so seriously threaten. 4. The Senior
Class, the largest we ever had, informed us in writing that they
had determined not to present themselves for Graduation, but
will apply for, and no doubt receive their Diplomas from Waco
University on the 4th. of Sept. 1861."
49
This chapter in Baylor University's history came to an end
when the board of trustees met on July 17, 1861, and elected
a president and two teachers "to fill the vacated chairs of the
faculty of the Male Department."50
FOOTNOTES:
Haynes, The Life and Writings of Rufus C. Burleson (Waco?, 1901), 121.
sity (cited hereafter as the Minutes of the Board of Trustees), December
20, 1855; March 5, 1856; December 18, 1856; December 15, 1857. Texas
Collection, Baylor University. (All sources cited hereafter are located in
the Texas Collection, Baylor University, unless otherwise indicated.)
Baylor University, 1856, p. 21.
1851-1852, pp. 6-8.
1852-'53, pp. 9-10.
for 1854 and '55, p. 8; Fourth Annual Catalogue . . . of Baylor University,
1856, pp. 5, 6, 9, 12-13.
Students of Baylor University for 1856 and 1857, pp. 16-17.
Baylor University, Male Department, 1859, pp. 31, 36.
Fifteenth Annual Report of the Female Department of Baylor University,
1859-60, p. 13.
Baylor University, Female Department, for the Year 1857, pp. 9-10, 11,
15-16, 20-21.
sity, 1859-60, pp. 23-24.
1857, p. 19.
sity, 1859-60, p. 4; Eighth Annual Catalogue . . . of Baylor University,
1859, p. 4.
Baylor University, 1857, p. 19.
of Baylor University, Male Department, 1858, p. 18; Catalogue of . . .
Baylor University, Female Department . . . 1857, p. 13.
versity, 1859-60, pp. 30-31.
Catalogue of . . . Baylor University, Female Department, 1857, p. 16.
of . . . Baylor University, Female Department, 1857, p. 17.
polis, 1929), 384.
the Burleson Papers. This document, dated June 29, 1860, was signed by
Dr. Burleson and by the teachers in the male department.
is in the Burleson Papers.
The House of Barr and Davenport
THE HOUSE of Barr and Davenport, with headquarters in
Nacogdoches, was from 1798 until 1812 the chief agency
of Spanish trade in East Texas and in the Neutral Ground
area--that long and narrow strip of land lying between
Louisiana and Texas, whose ownership was disputed for fifteen
years by Spain and the United States. This commercial house
freighted merchandise from Louisiana to Texas and transported
peltries, furs, and livestock back to Louisiana. In the interval
between the establishment of the Neutral Ground in November,
1806, by an agreement between General James Wilkinson,
commander of United States troops, and Lieutenant Colonel
Simón de Herrera, commander of Spanish troops, to its dissolu-
tion by the proclamation of the Adams-Onís treaty on
February 22, 1821, much diplomatic activity was carried on
between the United States and Spain in an attempt to fix a
definite boundary between the two countries. While diplomatic
negotiation was in progress, settlers moved into the disputed
area; and traders, filibusters, and fugitive slaves used the
Neutral Ground as a bridge leading to Texas.
The Neutral Ground was created as a compromise between
the widely divergent views of Spain and the United States with
regard to the western boundary of Louisiana. The differing
claims had arisen through the several transfers of Louisiana
between Spain and France and its purchase by the United
States without there ever being a definite delineation of
boundaries. The readiest method of reaching a compromise
suggested to both contestants was a strip of neutral territory
to lie between them for a number of years pending a satisfac-
tory settlement. The Neutral Ground agreement was of such
an informal nature that no definite boundaries were assigned
to the disputed territory. The sole stipulation, so far as is
known, was that the Sabine River on the west and Arroyo
Hondo on the east should be the boundaries beyond which
neither Spanish nor American troops should pass. But the
arroyo was a short and winding stream running west of
Natchitoches and southeast into a swamp. Notwithstanding its
uncertain official boundaries, the Neutral Ground was recognized
as a well-known area lying between two sovereign nations but
under the authority of neither of the two. This condition was
not altered until the time of the Adams-Onís treaty. By the
terms of this treaty all of the territory included in the Neutral
Ground was yielded by Spain to the United States, and the
Sabine River, from its mouth to the thirty-second parallel, was
designated as the western boundary of Louisiana bordering
on Texas.
1
The boundaries of the Neutral Ground have never been
officially described. As a matter of fact, only the Sabine River
and the Arroyo Hondo were officially designated in the informal
agreement between Lieutenant Colonel Herrera and General
Wilkinson. Even these boundaries were partial and indefinite
inasmuch as their extent along these streams was never stated.
Furthermore, only one semi-official map of the Neutral Ground
is extant.
2 Since the boundaries were never officially described,
however, this map cannot be said to be accurate. If a fairly
accurate and acceptable map of the Neutral Ground is to be
drawn, the sources describing the boundaries must first be
sought.
All available contemporaneous sources display confusion in
regard to the boundaries of the Neutral Ground. Later sources
show similar uncertainty. The Mississippi River was the earliest
official eastern boundary of Texas.
3 According to this definition,
the eastern boundary of the Neutral Ground should have been
the Mississippi River. This absurd claim, fortunately, was never
pressed. Maps of Louisiana available to Spanish and American
officers at the time of the transfer were not reliable, as admitted
by Don Manuel de Godoy, Spanish generalissimo and Prince
of the Peace.
4
Despite confusion and unreliable maps, a usable map of the
Neutral Ground may be reconstructed. Since the Neutral
Ground agreement was effected by the representatives of the
two contending parties, on their own authority, while encamped
on the eastern and western boundaries of the disputed territory,
it is deemed advisable to use their testimony and the state-
ments of other contemporaneous and indigenous sources in the
preparation of this map.
The western boundary of the Neutral Ground may be said
to be the Sabine River from its mouth to the thirty-second
parallel of north latitude and the intersection of the 94° line
of longitude and the Sabine River. It is true that the Herrera-
Wilkinson agreement left the northern limit of the western
boundary undefined, but the thirty-second parallel was clearly
stipulated as the line between American and Spanish possessions
by the Treaty of San Lorenzo, and, if extended west of the
Mississippi, it would cross the Sabine River at that point.
Furthermore, the only available map of the Neutral Ground
5
shows a straight line cutting the Sabine River at the thirty-
second parallel. Additional force may be given to this line by
the statement of Commandant General Nemesio Salcedo in a
letter to Governor William C. C. Claiborne that the Caddo Indian
villages were within Spanish jurisdiction. To prove his con-
tention, the Spanish officer pointed out that Governor Claiborne
had recognized this fact by requesting a passport for Thomas
Freeman, the explorer, to go up the Red River to the Caddo
village and beyond.
6
The eastern boundary of the Neutral Ground consisted of
Calcasieu Pass, then along the west bank of Calcasieu Lake,
the west bank of the Calcasieu River to its source, thence a
straight line running north to Kisatchie Creek, along this creek
to the 93°7' line of longtitude, where the Arroyo Hondo fades
into Sibley's Marsh, thence along Arroyo Hondo to its source --
about 93°8' and 31°47'30" -- thence a straight line north to
Bayou Pierre, along this bayou to the west bank of Bayou Pierre
Lake at Bayou Pierre settlement.
7 The Calcasieu River was also
recognized as part of the eastern boundary of the Neutral
Ground by Don Antonio Cordero, governor of Texas. Further-
more, Don Antonio believed that both the Calcasieu River and
the Arroyo Hondo constituted the eastern boundary of the
Neutral Ground.
8 It is true that the Prince of the Peace pre-
ferred to have as the boundary a straight or curved line running
northward from the Gulf of Mexico, passing between the
Calcasieu and Mermenteau rivers and continuing midway be-
tween Los Adaes and Natchitoches;
9 but this line was never
recognized during the existence of the Neutral Ground. This
line was, however, given partial recognition by the only extant
map of the Neutral Ground mentioned above. Since the Calcasieu
River and Arroyo Hondo were acknowledged to be part of the
eastern boundary of the Neutral Ground, one need only produce
proof to establish the remainder of the eastern boundary. In
addition to Peter Samuel Davenport's testimony in which he
gives the Calcasieu River, Bayou Kisatchie, and Arroyo Hondo
as the basic line,
10 the straight line suggested by both the
Prince of the Peace and the artist of the only extant map may
be followed to fill in the gaps not otherwise accounted for.
The southern boundary of the Neutral Ground obviously con-
sisted of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico between the mouth of
Calcasieu River and the mouth of Sabine River.
The northern boundary of the Neutral Ground was a straight
line running in a southwesterly direction from the Bayou Pierre
settlement to a point crossed by the thirty-second parallel of
north latitude and the intersection of the ninety-fourth degree
line of longitude and the Sabine River.
11
There were only two main roads across the Neutral Ground.
The Old Spanish Trail crossed the disputed territory from
Natchitoches, the last American settlement before encountering
Arroyo Hondo, to Nacogdoches, the first Spanish settlement
west of the Sabine River. The Opelousas Road followed ap-
proximately the same line at present used by the highway
from Orange, Texas, to Lake Charles, Louisiana. There were
two other fairly important roads, one from Bayou Pierre to
Nacogdoches, and the other from Bayou Pierre to Natchitoches.
Numerous other trails entered these main roads and crossed
the Neutral Ground at various angles, but these were used
mainly by hunters, trappers, and Indians and not by regular
travelers or traders.
The Neutral Ground, as stated, was the bridge over which
passed most of the trade carried on between Texas and Louisi-
ana. Spain had restricted and prohibited commercial intercourse
with Louisiana, but the urgent need that often developed for
supplies compelled frontier authorities to amend all prohibitory
legislation whenever necessity dictated such a course. Spanish
commercial policy gave rise to a highly profitable smuggling
trade for which the Neutral Ground served as an ideal base.
Traders' caravans going across the disputed area, or to the
Indian villages, presented an excellent opportunity for plunder.
Bandits infested this area and forced both the Spanish and
American governments, at times, to send armed detachments
into the Neutral Ground to clear the trade routes.
Closely connected with trade in and across the Neutral Ground
was the firm of Barr and Davenport, which operated profitably
until the Gutiérrez-Magee filibusters invaded Texas. The activi-
ties of the House of Barr and Davenport can be understood only
in the light of the Spanish determination that the Neutral
Ground should be a permanent barrier to Anglo-American west-
ward expansion. From the earliest days of the existence of the
United States, the Spaniards had believed that the young
American republic, despite its democratic and pacific doctrine,
had been born with an imperialistic complex. Shortly after the
United States acquired Louisiana, trade between Louisiana and
Texas was wholly prohibited. The House of Barr and Davenport
was allowed to engage in the Louisiana-Texas trade, however,
because of the necessity of supplying Spanish troops in East
Texas and securing presents to distribute to the Indians in
order to maintain their partiality to Spain. The commandant
at Nacogdoches insisted that cutting off the Louisiana trade
entirely would be a serious detriment to the inhabitants of
Nacogdoches, to the friendly Indian tribes, and to all the province
because, lacking trade facilities with which to maintain them-
selves and to supply the Indian tribes, they would suffer for
want of necessities.
12 The need for a close base of supplies was
further emphasized by the commandant of Nacogdoches. He
declared that the government had exhausted the means of main-
taining the troops on the East Texas frontier, and that it could
not continue to send supplies regularly ". . . because of the
great distance and poor condition of roads and swollen rivers
that delay the passage of the mule trains."
13
The Indians living in the Neutral Ground and near its borders
were a barrier to American westward expansion. The Spaniards,
therefore, worked intensely to maintain their allegiance, while
the Americans exerted great effort to win their friendship.
The Spaniards had used the Indian tribes as a buffer many
decades before the Americans advanced across the Mississippi
and left no stone unturned in their anxiety to bolster the
Indian barrier. They encouraged Indians under American juris-
diction to immigrate to Spanish territory.
14 They actively op-
posed attempts of American traders to establish commercial
relations with the Indians. They were lavish in their presents
to the Indians and maintained a warehouse in San Antonio for
the accumulation of large quantities of presents for distribution
among the Indians. These presents were usually obtained from
Mexico City, but the stock was supplemented from New Orleans
through the agency of licensed traders, the most prominent of
which were William Barr and Peter Samuel Davenport. These
presents usually consisted of muskets, gunpowder, knives,
scissors, axes, hoes, combs, glass beads, war paint, mirrors,
wire, copper and iron pots, ribbons, coats, bells, needles, belt
buckles, ramrods, hats, and various kinds of cotton goods,
tobacco, and occasionally rum.
15 Indians preferred red, yellow,
and bright blue materials for their clothing, large iron pots
instead of copper pots, wire that was fifteen hundredths of an
inch in thickness, and muskets made in France or England
rather than those made in Spain.
16
While Spanish authorities were exhausting all means of main-
taining the allegiance of the Indians, American traders were
active among the tribes. Most enterprising among the border
Indians was Dr. John Sibley, American Indian agent. In the
contest for control of the Indian trade, Americans were gaining
the advantage. Spanish authorities feared the success of
American traders because, they claimed, ". . . under the guise
of establishing trade relations with our Indian tribes, Americans
are invading our territory with evil designs."
17 Furthermore,
they feared the enterprising Americans because of their
". . . energy, agility, sobriety, and courage."
18 And, while the
Americans had a well-organized Office of Indian Affairs with
factories for every group of Indians in the nation, the Spaniards
had only the House of Barr and Davenport, and a few individual
traders and trappers, to supply the Indian trade.
19 Furthermore,
Barr and Davenport and all Spanish traders were bound by
numerous trade restrictions and by the general prohibition of
trade with Louisiana. The importance of the House of Barr
and Davenport, the trading firm that furnished articles of
Indian trade to the Spanish government in Nacogdoches and
San Antonio, can readily be perceived.
port in 1798. Most of the activities of the firm across the
Neutral Ground and in Texas were carried on by William Barr
and Peter Samuel Davenport. Luther Smith and Edward Murphy
seem to have transacted most of the business of this association
in Louisiana. Occasionally, however, Luther Smith would drive
herds of livestock from Texas to Louisiana and West Florida.
The large holdings of Edward Murphy in Natchitoches indicate
that his store and warehouse in that city were used as the
base of operations for the firm there. Available records are
concerned mainly with the commercial activities of Barr and
Davenport as general purveyors to the Indian tribes friendly
to the Spanish government and as general traders among the
settlers and soldiers of Nacogdoches.
The House of Barr and Davenport rendered the Spanish
province of Texas great service for twelve years. Its work
commenced in 1800, when William Barr was given a commission
to furnish supplies to the friendly Indians because "... he was
the one who could best execute the commission to the satisfac-
tion of the tribes, who had been promised trade since 1773
and 1774."
20 In view of this commission Barr and Davenport
exported to the Spanish province of Louisiana all the livestock
they obtained from the Indians in exchange for muskets,
blankets, pots, and clothing upon condition of the payment of
two reales ($0.36) to the royal treasury per horse.
21 On April
28, 1801, Barr was given a permit to drive to Louisiana a herd
of about three hundred horses and mules to trade for supplies in
Louisiana for the Indian trade. This trade flourished uninter-
ruptedly for two years, but, in 1803, Commandant General Don
Pedro de Nava prohibited the exportation of livestock to Lou-
isiana.
22
Barr complained to the commandant general that this pro-
hibition would ruin his trade. He asserted that he could not
make a living by depending alone on the few peltries furnished
him by the Indians and that he had to have permission to
export livestock from Texas if he were to continue furnishing
the Indians with articles of trade.
23 In answer to his complaint,
the commandant general declared him exempt from the prohibi-
tion of trade with Louisiana, and the commandant at Nacog-
doches stated that he would see to it ". . . that only the smallest
possible number of unbranded stock obtained from the Indian
shall be exported."
24
Having been so favored by the commandant general, Barr
made further requests. In order to continue handling the Indian
trade, he asked the monopoly by his agents of all Indian trade
on the frontier and the exclusion of all other traders, except
anyone appointed by law. This request was granted. He also
asked that the sale of brandy among the Indians should be
prohibited. The commandant general did not agree to do this,
but ordered the governor of Texas to investigate the need for
such a prohibition. Barr asked for the continuance of the
privilege to export horses and mules out of Texas and promised
to sell them in West Florida. He was given limited privilege,
with instructions to decide on the number of horses he thought
he would export annually. To his request to be permitted to
obtain his merchandise in New Orleans, he was told that he
could do so with the understanding that this was to be a
temporary privilege and that it was to be applicable only to
articles secured for the Indian trade. His request for permission
to establish a new town at the place called Orcoquisac on the
Trinity River -- near the present town of Liberty -- with forty
negro slaves and two hundred Louisiana families was granted.
As he failed to carry out this part of the agreement within a
specified time, however, it was canceled on August 24, 1806.
25
The trade of the House of Barr and Davenport prospered as
the years went by. In addition to its business of supplying
the friendly Indians with articles of merchandise, it furnished
the quartermaster's department of Nacogdoches with flour, beef,
salt, soap, and chili to supplement similar articles forwarded
from San Antonio.
26 At one time Barr obtained eight hundred
steers in San Antonio and drove them to Nacogdoches, where
he sold most of them to the garrison.
27 Statements of goods
furnished the government for Indian presents indicate that the
volume of business in this branch of trade was considerable.
Every time a group of Indians visited Nacogdoches the military
commandant ordered Barr and Davenport to furnish them food
and tobacco.
28 Oxcarts and mule trains plodded laboriously from
Natchitoches to Nacogdoches across the Neutral Ground loaded
with supplies for the Indian trade. This merchandise consisted
of tobacco, lead, gunpowder, beads, mirrors, vermillion, flints,
axes, hoes, knives, combs, awls, scissors, wire, sugar, salt,
blankets, handkerchiefs, and clothing materials such as baize,
chintz, and woolen cloth.
29 In return for these goods the House
of Barr and Davenport was paid in cash by the government
and in horses, peltries, and furs by the Indians. These horses
were sold in Louisiana or in West Florida and brought the
traders often as much as 2,720 pesos ($3,944) in one trip.
30
The House of Barr and Davenport collected for small services
rendered the army. They furnished candles for the army hos-
pital and barracks in Nacogdoches and San Antonio.
31 A stone
house in Nacogdoches belonging to the traders was leased to
the paymaster's office from July 15, 1807, to February 25, 1809,
for 193 pesos.
32
Notwithstanding its evident profit, the House of Barr and
Davenport suffered its setbacks. Chief among its losses were
bad debts among the Indians. In a summary of its activities
in the Indian trade the firm, in a letter addressed to the com-
mandant of Nacogdoches, set forth the many evils that were
undermining the commercial business. Barr and Davenport
pointed out that in 1799 they had paid another trader, Vicente
Micheli, one thousand one hundred twenty-five peltries which
the Nadaco and Nacogdochito Indians owed him for merchandise
he had given them. The Indians promised Barr and Davenport
to replace these peltries within a short time but had never
done so. Later Barr and Davenport send Don Jacinto Mora,
another trader, to the villages of these Indians; but he was
so poorly paid by the Indians that he refused to continue in
the business. At the request of Chief Cabezón of the Nacog-
dochitos, Barr and Davenport sent Francisco Totin to the
Nadaco villages and Francisco Bael to the Nacogdochitos. These
two men carried on this work until 1803, when Totin died in the
village of the Nadacos, and Bael, who owed the firm a large
sum of money because he could not collect from the Indians,
ran away to avoid payment. In order to continue supplying
the Indians, Barr and Davenport appointed Chief Cabezón and
his brother agents for these two tribes. As was to be expected,
these agents proved altogether unreliable. They failed to bring
the right number of peltries, and, as soon as the United States
established a trading post for them in Natchitoches, these and
other Indians commenced to go there.
To the Quichas and Towakoni, Barr and Davenport sent Don
Pedro Engle, who died in August, 1809. Before his death he
reported that the Quichas owed him a large number of furs.
Nevertheless, before collecting and at the request of Chief
Castor, Barr and Davenport sent Don Nicolás Pont, a trader,
to them and to the Texas.
In an effort to check the flow of Indian trade from Nacogdoches
to Natchitoches, the commandant general authorized Don
Marcelo Soto to set up a trading post at Bayou Pierre.
33 This
diversion of trade was to the detriment of the House of Barr
and Davenport.
as the oxcarts of the firm were cautiously creeping along the
royal highway across the Neutral Ground, they were suddenly
overtaken by an armed band of American civil officers, about
six miles west of Arroyo Hondo. The drivers were arrested
and returned to Natchitoches together with their freight. 34
This enforcement of the Embargo Act in the Neutral Ground
was viewed with great alarm by the House of Barr and Daven-
port and also by the Spanish authorities. It put an end to the
profitable flow of merchandise, livestock, and peltries across
the disputed area. The Spanish authorities suspected that this
was merely an excuse on the part of the United States to force
the Indians to trade in Louisiana. 35
Because of the Embargo Act, Barr and Davenport were unable
to fulfill a contract they had made with the Spanish government.
In compliance with a confidential order of the commandant
general,
36 the governor of Texas had made a contract with
William Barr to secure all articles needed for Indian presents
for two years.
37 When communication was closed between
Louisiana and Texas by the United States, the House of Barr
and Davenport was unable to obtain the merchandise needed
for this trade. The resourceful Barr suggested to the governor
of Texas that the merchandise could be obtained in Pensacola,
which was in Spanish territory, and shipped to the Texas coast.
Since he had not been able to dispose of his peltries for two
years and had no credit in Pensacola, he would require an
advance loan of fifteen thousand pesos.
38 The governor of Texas
refused to accede to any of these requests on the ground that
they were all to the sole benefit of the petitioner. Furthermore,
he asserted that he could get the needed merchandise from
Pensacola through government channels more easily than the
trading firm could and at a saving of the commission that
would necessarily have to be paid them.
39
The bandits of the Neutral Ground presented the last and
most persistent threat to the House of Barr and Davenport.
Davenport assisted Spanish and American joint patrols in driv-
ing the outlaws from the disputed area in order to clear the
highway of the constant danger of attack. In spite of the
continued vigilance of the Spanish and American authorities,
however, the bandits eventually made transit across the Neutral
Ground too risky. "The Neutral Ground is still infested by
gangs of bandits," wrote Davenport, "and it is impossible to
carry on business. I dare not risk my interests to capture by
the outlaws."
40
Prosperity quickly returned to the House of Barr and Daven-
port as soon as the Embargo Act was repealed.
41 Although the
two-year contract for Indian supplies was canceled, other con-
tracts were given to the traders.
42 And the Spanish authorities
authorized Barr and Davenport ". . . to keep our friendly Indians
happy, and to prevent as much as possible their trips to foreign
territory."
43 The governor of Texas even suggested to his
superior that an exclusive contract for the Bayou Pierre trading
post should be given to Barr and Davenport and that the contract
then held by Don Marcelo Soto should be canceled. "Although
Don Guillermo Barr and Davenport are foreigners," he asserted,
"they are Spanish subjects and the only men in this province
who can carry on that trading post satisfactorily."
44 Further-
more, the governor defended them against the charge of
smuggling that had been made against them by Don Marcelo
Soto. It was not true, he asserted, that Barr and Davenport
kept livestock on their ranch of Las Ormigas in the Neutral
Ground as an excuse for smuggling them from there to
Louisiana, as Soto alleged. They kept livestock there because
the Spanish government had given them permission to do so
in order to maintain their claim to the land. If there was
any stolen stock in that pasture, he continued, it was probably
taken there by the outlaws of the Neutral Ground and not by
Barr and Davenport.
45
Barr and Davenport established an enviable reputation among
Spanish officials, clergymen, and settlers. Davenport kept
Spanish authorities informed of political conditions in the
United States, and his efforts and opinions were given prompt
and complete official recognition.
46 He carried official and per-
sonal correspondence for the government and settlers between
Nacogdoches and Natchitoches, across the Neutral Ground.
47
When, because of the critical political situation in New Spain,
a rigid censorship was placed on communication with Louisiana,
Barr and Davenport were officially and courteously notified of
the censorship and given the necessary instructions.
48
In compliance with superior orders, the commandant of
Nacogdoches took several depositions from other officers,
justices, and ministers of Nacogdoches relative to foreigners
living in that frontier settlement. From these records the
governor of Texas rendered his opinion of Barr and Davenport.
He stated William Barr was a loyal subject and had always
been notably charitable toward the settlers, who looked upon
him as their benefactor. Barr, he added, was always the first
to contribute to the church and to public works. The trading
house, the governor climaxed ". . . is the only recourse of this
settlement."
49 Samuel Davenport, the governor continued, was
"a desirable man because of his discretion, good civil and
Christian conduct."
50
The governor was laconic. The reports that the commandant
and the minister of Nacogdoches had submitted to him were
more detailed. Commandant José María Guadiana remarked
that Don Guillermo Barr was "firm in his convictions and ideas."
Barr was faithful, loyal, and orderly he added. Don Samuel
Davenport, the commandant continued, "is a man of sound
ideas and clear way of thinking. He is loyal and obedient to
superior orders."
51 Fray Mariano Sosa added that both Barr
and Davenport
greatly benefit the settlers of this town not only because they always employ
a considerable number of them in their business, but also because they
assist them in every way they can so that these men are looked upon as
the leaders of this town.
52
The most extensive opinion of Barr and Davenport was
expressed by Fray José María Huerta. He asserted that the
House of Barr and Davenport was the general refuge to the
inhabitants of Nacogdoches and a shelter and protection to
the travelers of both high and low rank. Fray Huerta stated
that he had witnessed many people receive the hospitality of
Barr and Davenport, both in their home in Nacogdoches as well
as in their various ranches along the highway. Barr and
Davenport, he added, were good Catholics and had always dis-
played a great deal of respect and affection for ministers of
the church. He declared that ministers as well as settlers had
obtained from their trading house articles of the Indian trade
and many things that the traders had bought for their own use.
Quite often the traders sold these things on credit to the
indigent people of Nacogdoches, knowing that these settlers
would never be able to pay for them; those people would not
have survived except for the existence of the trading house.
The churchman then cited his own case to prove that Barr
and Davenport were honorable men and had not engaged in
contraband. He stated that he had asked them to get him
certain articles of merchandise from Natchitoches because
everything was so high in Nacogdoches that his limited income
was insufficient for his subsistence. They refused to bring any-
thing from Louisiana because of laws prohibiting such trade.
Instead they supplied him from their private stock. If supplying
the needs of the poverty-stricken settlers of Nacogdoches was
smuggling, Father Huerta concluded, then Barr and Davenport
were the worst smugglers on the frontier.
53
of the men who constituted the firm. Luther Smith was a
resident of New York and died in Bayou Tunica, Louisiana,
prior to 1808. 54 He made annual trips from 1803 to 1807 be-
tween Nacogdoches and West Florida, usually driving large
herds of horses and mules from Texas to be sold in the district
of New Feliciana. 55
Edward Murphy was a resident of Pennsylvania. He died
intestate prior to December 10, 1808, and was survived by Marie
Elizabeth Buard, his wife, Marie Eugenia, a daughter born in
1801, Edward Cessaire, a son, and another daughter whose
name is not known.
56 In 1798, upon the organization of the
trading firm, Murphy transferred to the company his title to
the La Nana grant,
57 which he had acquired from the Spanish
government the same year. This grant was situated in the heart
of the Neutral Ground astride the road between Nacogdoches
and Natchitoches and comprised one hundred forty-four sections
of land.
58 At the time of his death, his holdings as a member
of the trading firm were considerable. In addition to one-fourth
of La Nana grant, he owned also one-fourth of Las Ormigas
grant, which was purchased by the firm in 1805 from one
Jacinto Mora.
59 The Las Ormigas tract was situated in the
Neutral Ground, with the left bank of the Sabine River for its
west boundary, a short distance northwest of La Nana grant;
it comprised 207,360 acres of land.
60 His estate in Natchitoches
was appraised at 108,238 pesos ($156,945). When Murphy's
widow withdrew from the trading firm in 1809,
61 one-third of
the holdings of the House of Barr and Davenport in Nacogdoches
amounting to 6,472 pesos ($9,384) belonged to Murphy's estate;
in addition, the estate was given one-third of all stocks of
merchandise belonging to the firm and stored in their ware-
house in Natchitoches and one-third of all uncollected notes.
62
Death dissolved the partnership of the House of Barr and
Davenport in 1810. Shortly after Barr died, Agnes Gibson Barr,
his mother, attempted to establish a claim to his property and
demanded it from Peter Samuel Davenport, who had taken
possession of all the personal and real holdings of the deceased
Barr. As Davenport refused to hand over everything to her, in
February, 1818, she filed suit in the United States District Court
for the Louisiana District. She alleged that, as the legitimate
mother of the deceased, she was entitled to "all the estate be-
longing to the said William Barr, consisting of houses, lands,
negroes, stocks, merchandise and other estate, to a very large
amount."
63 She further alleged that upon the death of Barr,
Davenport had "possessed himself of the books, papers, securi-
ties, and evidence of debt to which the said Barr was entitled
at the time of his death, as well in his own right, as his share
in the property of the said partnership."
64
Davenport did not deny that he had taken possession of the
personal and real property owned by Barr at the time of his
death. To justify his action, however, he produced a copy of
Barr's last will and testament, which was filed in Nacogdoches
on March 15, 1810.
65 By the stipulations of this will, Barr's
mother was entitled to the possessions he left her in Item VIII.
In this item, he left his mother his share of his father's estate,
one-fourth of La Nana and one-fourth of Las Ormigas land
grants, jointly with his two living sisters, Elizabeth and Agnes.
66
In Item XI, Barr gave freedom to Silvey, a negro woman who
had served him faithfully for many years, and her two children,
Lewis and James. In Item XII, Barr made Davenport sole and
absolute heir of all his property, except the one-fourth of his
real estate which he had given his mother and two sisters. He
gave as his reason for thus honoring and enriching Davenport
that, "I have in him the utmost confidence and satisfaction."
Further to prove his trust in Davenport, Barr provided that,
in case of Davenport's death, his children should inherit every-
thing that should fall to Davenport. Furthermore, Barr, in
Item XIII, appointed Davenport executor of his will.
67
The lack of available records make it difficult to ascertain the
cause of Barr's unfilial treatment of his mother. It is known
that Barr was born in Londonderry, Ulster County, Ireland,
about 1762,
68 and that, when he was twelve years of age, his
parents brought him to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A few
years later his parents moved to Pittsburgh and took him with
them. While living there, he states, "I served about three years
in the United States Army with the rank of captain." As
military life did not agree with him, and with the consent of
his parents, he moved to the Spanish province of Louisiana about
the year 1786. He took the oath of allegiance to Spain in 1787
before Governor Don Esteban Miró,
69 and, about 1793, he moved
to Nacogdoches. A year or two after the trading firm was
organized, the Spanish government first gave him a commission
to supply the Indians with certain presents and to trade with
them for peltries, furs, and livestock.
70 He was never married.
In 1810, he declared that he owned two houses and lots in
Nacogdoches, two ranches with one house and one farm, seven
hundred eighty head of cattle, over one hundred hogs, about
one hundred and fifty horses and mules, six droves of breeding
mares with stallions, and two breeding burros. In addition to
the La Nana and Las Ormigas tracts, one of the ranches was
located near the Trinity River.
71
Most of the recorded activities of Peter Samuel Davenport
deal with business connected with the House of Barr and
Davenport. A few incidents in his life, however, may be
segregated from his business transactions, which generally
concerned other members of the firm and especially William
Barr. Davenport set out for Louisiana from Carlisle, Cumber-
land County, Pennsylvania, at the age of sixteen, upon the
death of his parents. While he was traveling with other men
through Indian country, before reaching Spanish territory, the
Indians attacked the party and killed three of its number. In
making his escape Davenport lost his equipment and identifica-
tion papers. The loss of his papers makes it difficult to know
much about his early life.
It is known that Davenport was born in Carlisle, Cumberland
County, Pennsylvania, about 1764, and that he was the son of
William Davenport and Ana Davidson. In 1802 he married a
French girl named Marie Louise Gagnior. To this union were
born a son in 1803, named Benigno Bernardino, and a daughter,
Theresa Eliza. Davenport also recognized John Durst as his
adopted son.
72
Davenport exhibited great solicitude for the welfare of his
family. In 1812, shortly before the death of his wife, Davenport
wrote a letter to Captain Don Bernardino Montero, commandant
of Nacogdoches, reporting the serious condition of his wife,
who was suffering a "disease of the chest," and requesting
permission to bring a physician from Natchitoches. He stated
that he was aware of superior orders prohibiting communication
with Louisiana but pointed out that this was an urgent case and
that no physician was available in Nacogdoches.
73 At the same
time he wrote to Don Manuel de Salcedo, governor of Texas,
telling him that his wife had experienced no improvement.
"On the contrary," he wrote, "each day she is more feeble, and
she is flickering like a failing candle." Don Pedro Lartiga, a
practitioner in Nacogdoches, he continued, had employed his
knowledge to no avail. Consequently, he was compelled to ask
the commandant to let him get a doctor from Natchitoches
because "her life is extremely important to me and to her small
children. I can do nothing, and I am desperate."
74
Spanish authorities gave Davenport permission to bring a
doctor to Nacogdoches from Louisiana. Davenport reported to
the governor that his wife was much worse and that even
Doctor Helphen, a German physician from New Orleans, gave
little hope.
75 She died on February 27, 1812.
76
Available records do not disclose the cause of Davenport's
change of attitude toward the Spanish government in the fall
of 1812. He appeared to be loyal to his Spanish citizenship as
late as July 21, 1812, when he addressed a letter from Natchi-
toches to his friend, Lieutenant Colonel Bernardino Montero.
In this letter he still considered himself a Spanish subject. He
warned the Spanish officer that the United States was planning
to furnish all the means possible to start a revolution in New
Spain because Spain was England's ally and the United States
had just declared war on England. He also warned him that
expeditions were being organized in various points within the
United States to strike at the Spanish frontier at a moment's
notice. He added that he wished his ". . . ox-carts were here
in order to take advantage of this trip before the clouds that
darken this hemisphere release their thunder."
77 A few weeks
later, Davenport was serving as captain and was in command
of a corps of about one hundred fifty Spanish volunteers in
Nacogdoches as part of the filibustering expedition that cap-
tured that frontier town early in September, 1812.
78 Davenport
stayed with the filibusters until they captured La Bahia. He
communicated with William Shaler, United States special agent,
from time to time reporting the progress of the filibustering
expedition.
79 He was sent on a mission to Louisiana by Augustus
Magee, the young commander of the expedition, on November
25, 1812. The situation of the filibusters at that time seemed
hopeless.
80 Davenport reached Natchitoches on December 7,
1812; no evidence has been found to show whether he ever went
back to Texas.
81
For his adhesion to the filibustering expedition, Davenport
was severely criticized and threatened by the Spanish authori-
ties after the defeat of the filibusters at the Battle of Medina.
"As an Anglo-American," a Spanish officer remarked, "Daven-
port gave the Spanish government upon the invasion of the
traitor Gutierrez undeniable proof of his ingratitude toward the
government that forged his happiness."
82 A general pardon
was proclaimed by the commandant general to all insurgents
in the Neutral Ground or anywhere who would report to
Nacogdoches, Trinidad, or San Antonio within forty days to
be counted from October 25, 1813. Articles II and III of this
pardon listed persons who were proscribed and who were not
covered by the amnesty. Among those listed in Article III was
Davenport, who was said to be a scoundrel ". . . ungrateful at
the kind treatment given him by this government, and who
abused the good faith with which he was made a subject of
the Spanish monarch." Article IV provided that anyone who
killed Samuel Davenport would be given a reward of 250 pesos,
and the reward would be increased if he were turned in alive.
83
In 1814 he was living in Natchitoches and experimenting with
the growth of sugar cane on his plantation on the river. He
reported to Dr. John Sibley that in 1814 he had planted three-
fourths of an arpent of plants brought from the coast. The
sugar cane grew luxuriantly and ripened to a considerable
height. In the fall of 1814, he had assayed three-fourths of an
arpent of cane and found that it produced one thousand pounds
of good sugar. He planted more cane in the spring of 1815
and was enthusiastic at the possibility of cultivating sugar cane
that far north. 84 "I am encouraged to continue," he asserted,
"and I think will be enabled to grind from thirty to forty arpents
next season." 85
In 1823 Davenport was in New Orleans. He had been sum-
moned to appear before the United States District Court to
answer charges filed against him by Agnes Gibson Barr, William
Barr's mother, for his refusal to turn over to her all of Barr's
property. The case was initiated on February 6, 1818, and
appears to have been concluded in 1824. At the conclusion,
Davenport declared that, in conformity with Barr's will, he had
executed all its dispositions, except that in favor of Agnes
Gibson Barr, and that he was ready and willing to carry out
its disposition in her behalf.
86
Davenport's last will and testament was filed in Natchitoches
on June 21, 1824.
87 In this will he named John Bernardino
Benigno [Benigno Bernardino] and Mary Teresa Eliza [Marie
Therese Eliza] as his only living legitimate children and also
recognized John Durst as his adopted son, and bequeathed him
ten thousand acres of land.
88 Item VII gives a list of the
testator's real estate, personal property, and slaves. Item IX
provides for the education of Benigno Bernardino.
Conditions in the province of Texas after the passing of the
House of Barr and Davenport show the constructive influence
this trading firm had on the Texas-Louisiana frontier. The
death of Edward Murphy in 1808 and William Barr in 1810
weakened but did not destroy the house. Its final dissolution
came with the invasion of Texas by the Gutierrez-Magee
expedition, when Davenport joined the filibusters. The Spanish
victory at Medina sealed the end of the House of Barr and
Davenport since, thereafter, Davenport, the last remaining
partner, was proscribed. After the Gutierrez-Magee filibusters
were driven out of Texas, Spanish authorities established their
control feebly along the frontier, which was given extensively
to smuggling, and the Indians carried on destructive forays on
the settlements, for they no longer had the stabilizing influence
of the House of Barr and Davenport.
FOOTNOTES:
and the treaty itself, are excellently treated in Philip Coolidge Brooks,
Diplomacy and the Borderlands.
of the United States, Transmitting a Copy and Translation of a Pamphlet,
in the Spanish Language, Printed and Circulated by the Late Minister
from Mexico before His Departure from the United States (25 Cong., 2
Sess., House Doc. No. 190, Serial No. 327). This map shows the Sabine to the
thirty-second parallel, thence a straight line north to the Red River as the
western boundary; the Red River as the northern boundary; a straight line
running from the Red River in a southeasterly direction to intersect the
Mermenteau River a few miles from its mouth, thence the Mermenteau to
the Gulf of Mexico, as the eastern boundary; and the Gulf of Mexico as
the southern boundary. (Hereafter this source will be cited as Doc. 190.)
tion of this expediente may be found in the Southwestern Historical
Quarterly, XLIII, 482-485.
A. G. I.), Provincias Internas (Hackett Transcripts, Vol. 200, 240).
Transcripts, Vol. 200, pp. 134-141).
River, from its mouth to its source, Bayou Kisatchie up to the mouth of
Bayou Don Manuel, and southwest of this bayou, Lake Terre Noir and
Arroyo Hondo, a straight line to the Red River. -- Report of the Register
and Receiver of the Land District south of Red River, in Louisiana, upon
land claims situated between the Rio Hondo and the Sabine (24 Cong., 1
Sess., House Doc. No. 49, Serial No. 287). Hereafter this source will be
cited as Doc. 49.
detachment of La Nana and Bayou Pierre, October 18, 1805, MS., Bexar
Archives.
claimed by Spanish authorities, and this claim seems to have been conceded
by the United States, as shown by the fact that the joint raiding expedi-
tion of 1810 did not destroy the settlement and did not explore beyond it.
Furthermore, the Spanish government established a trading post in that
settlement in 1809.
MS., Bexar Archives.
move his tribe of Pascagulas across the Neutral Ground and settle along
the Sabine River. -- Nemesio Salcedo to Antonio Cordero, August 16, 1806,
MS., Bexar Archives.
1807, p. 133.
Archives. For a list of Spanish weights and measures with equivalents in
English, see Haggard, Handbook for Translators of Spanish Historical
Documents, 71-78.
Archives.
Archives.
Silvestre, José María Capelo, Marcelo Soto, and Peter Brady. -- Dionisio
Valle to Antonio Cordero, October 3, 1805, MS.; Antonio Cordero, December
27, 1805, MS.; Antonio Cordero to Francisco Viana, October 2, 1807, MS.;
Francisco Viana to Antonio Cordero, September 22, 1807, MS.; Peter Brady
to governor of Texas, May 10, 1807, MS., Bexar Archives.
in Quaderno, January 4, 1804, MS., Bexar Archives.
Archives.
MS., Bexar Archives.
Salcedo to Antonio Cordero, August 24, 1806, MS., Bexar Archives.
care of Don Guillermo Barr in the form of cash, flour, beeves, salt, soap,
and chili." -- Antonio Cordero to Francisco Viana, May 12, 1806, MS.,
Bexar Archives.
Statement of the amount that, in compliance with orders of Commandant
Don Francisco Viana, we gave to one Indian believed to belong to the Texas
tribe, together with eight braves, five squaws, and three boys, from the
seventh of the current month when they came to this town to this date.
To wit:
Pesos Reales
2 almudes [2.56 bu.] of corn 6
1 almud of beans 1
lard and salt 1
meat 2
2 tobacco twists 1 4
1 cart-load of wood 6
7 0
Nacogdoches, January 7, 1807
Barr y Davenport.
MS., Bexar Archives.
Indian trade, Murphy, May 25, 1808; Invoice, June 30, 1808; Invoice, June
16, 1808; Invoice, July 20, 1808; Invoice, August 23, 1808. MS., Bexar
Archives.
pesos per head. —S. Davenport to Captain Juan de Casas, December 25,
1808, MS., Bexar Archives.
Manuel de Salcedo, August 20, 1810, MS., Bexar Archives.
Bexar Archives.
Archives.
Archives.
Archives.
Archives.
Archives.
Archives.
Archives.
whereby he will collect as soon as possible two thousand eight hundred
tobacco twists at the rate of seven reales [$1.27] each." -- Christoval
Domínguez to Simón de Herrera, October 5, 1811, MS., Bexar Archives.
MS., Bexar Archives.
Bexar Archives.
Bexar Archives.
Varela to Antonio Cordero, October 12, 1808, MS.; Samuel Davenport to
Manuel de Salcedo, March 6, 1809, MS.; Manuel de Salcedo to Bernardo
Bonavía, October 1, 1809, MS.; S. Davenport to Manuel de Salcedo, April
24, 1812, MS., Bexar Archives.
Bexar Archives.
Bexar Archives.
Archives.
Bexar Archives.
Bexar Archives.
brother, Nathan, and a sister, Mary. He probably had two other brothers,
Samuel and William. -- Abstract of Title to Certain Lands in La Nana
and Las Ormigas Grants. Copies from a plat book in the possession of
Mr. W. H. Vandegaer, Many, Louisiana, through the courtesy of Dr.
Edwin A. Davis and Dr. W. R. Hogan, Louisiana State University, 1942.
Typed copy in the Archives of The University of Texas, p. 19. (Hereafter
this source will be cited merely as Abstract.)
Archives.
49, 70. -- On August 1, 1798, Don José María Guadiana, commandant of
Nacogdoches, stood in the center of a prairie known as "La Nana," about
seven leagues east of the Sabine River on the road leading to Natchitoches.
Near him stood a Spanish Irishman named Don Eduardo Murphy. With
solemn dignity, Guadiana took Murphy "by the hand, walked with him a
number of paces from north to south, and the same from east to west, and
letting go his hand, Murphy walked about at pleasure on the said territory
of La Nana, pulling weeds, made holes in the ground, planted posts, cut
down bushes, took up clods of earth and threw them on the ground, and
did many other things in token of possession."
on December 2, 1795. -- Doc. 49, 72.
Bexar Archives. See also, Lists of Statements, Stocks on Hand, and Other
Property Belonging to the Firm of Barr and Davenport, and Murphy.
Drawn up at the Time of the Demise of Edward Murphy, 1808-1810, MS.,
Department of Archives, Louisiana State University. Photostatic Copies
in the Archives of The University of Texas. Vol. II, 7. (Hereafter these
records will be cited as Murphy Records.)
Agnes Barr v. Peter Samuel Davenport. Transcript in the Archives of
The University of Texas, p. 2. (Hereafter these records will be cited as
Case No. 1144.)
three brothers, John, David, and Samuel. Prior to 1810, David and Samuel
died somewhere on the Mississippi River, and John died in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. His sister Agnes was married to John Huston and, as late
as 1818, was living in Mingo Creek, Washington County, Pennsylvania.
His sister Elizabeth was married to David Kennedy and, in 1818, was living
in St. Clair Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. -- Ibid., 11, 15, 17.
Guillermo Barr, Irishman, his business, Purveyor General to the Friendly
Tribes of this Province. He is unmarried and 42 years of age." -- Census,
January 1, 1805, MS., Bexar Archives.
l-lv, MS., Bexar Archives.
l-lv, MS., Bexar Archives.
For further genealogical data relative to Benigno Bernardino and Marie
Theresa Eliza, see, Abstract, 18.
eral. He is 40 years old and is married to Doña María Luisa Cañon, age
19, a French woman; she has a son about 2 years old, a brother, Pedro
Cañon, age 16 years, and an Italian servant named Francisco Darma, three
negro slaves, a man, age 19, a woman, age 22, a girl, age 11, and the
woman's mulatto son, age 7." -- Census, January 1, 1805, MS., Bexar
Archives.
Archives.
Archives.
Archives; Abstract, 30.
ment of State, entitled "Filibustering Expeditions against the Government
of Spain, 1811-1816." Microfilm copies in the Archives, The University of
Texas. [Hereinafter cited as Filibustering Expeditions (Microfilm).]
tions (Microfilm).
(Microfilm).
tions (Microfilm).
MS., Bexar Archives.
MS., Bexar Archives.
of sugar per arpent.-- T. Bossie, December 29, 1815, in William Darby,
A Geographical Description of the State of Louisiana, 228.
is to be found in Abstract, 30-31. Several futile attempts have been made
to obtain a complete copy of the original will from the clerk of the court
of Natchitoches.
grant. It may have been a ranch obtained by the House of Barr and
Davenport in 1810 on the Angelina River, about fifteen miles south of
Nacogdoches. This tract was originally granted to Pedro de Lara Pasos
on May 16, 1792. After subsequent transfers, it was given to the House
of Barr and Davenport on May 28, 1810, by Estevan Goget in payment of
a note for eight hundred pesos. -- MS., of original grant in the General
Land Office, Austin, Texas. Photostatic copy in the Archives of The Uni-
versity of Texas.
Check List of Texas Imprints
1846-1876
Edited by
Editor
's Note:
The following is the tenth installment of Mr. Winkler's "Check List of
Texas Imprints, 1846-1876." In the first installment, which appeared in the April, 1943,
Quarterly,
Mr. Winkler requests any person having knowledge of any additional item which
should appear on the list to write him care of The University of Texas Library, Austin 12,
Texas. It is expected that any information thus received will be utilized in subsequent re-
printings of this bibliography.
E. W. WINKLER
Andrew
female
college.
Huntsville,
Texas.
Second annual catalogue of Andrew female college, Huntsville,
Texas. 1856-7. Huntsville: Cammer & McLaughlin, 1857. 16 p.
21.5 cm. ppw. 810
Tx. HuM.
Austin
college.
Huntsville,
Texas.
Catalogue of Austin college, at Huntsville, Walker county,
Texas. For the academical year 1856-7. Huntsville: Cammer &
McLaughlin, printers. 1857. 15 p. 20 cm. 811
TxShA. TxU. (photostat)
Memorial to the Legislature of Texas. . . [Petition for state
aid; a resume of achievements.] J. Carroll Smith, Jas. A. Baker,
W. A. Leigh, executive committee. Daniel Baker, agent. [n.p.
n.d.] Broadside. 1 p., printed in five columns. 20x31 cm.
(17.5 x 29 cm.) 812
Tx.
Austin,
Texas.
Mails. Arrivals and departures at Austin, Texas. Intel-
lingencer "Power press" print, Austin, Texas. [1857?] Broad-
side. 1 p. 32.5 x 61 cm. (27 x 54.5 cm.) 813
TxU.
Mrs. H. Kersten is now receiving a select stock of spring and
summer millinery, of the latest and most fashionable styles,...
Austin, February 27, 1757 [1857.] Printed at the Southern
Intelligencer office, Austin, Texas. Folder with one page of
print. 12.5 x 20.2 cm. (11.8 x 18.3 cm.) 814
TxU.
Two soirees ... by the Apollo minstrels, at Peck hall, on
Tuesday evening 24th instant, and on Tuesday evening, Decem-
ber 1st, 1857. Austin, November 23d, 1857. [Austin, 1857.]
Folder with one page of print. 12.2x16.3 cm. (8.7x12.3
cm.) 815*
Invitation.
TxU.
Baptists.
Texas.
Minutes of the convention and first session of the Austin
Baptist association, held with the Baptist church, Austin, Travis
county, Texas, commencing Friday, before the fourth Sabbath
in July and closing on the Monday following. Austin. Printed
at the office of the "Southern Intelligencer." 1857. 26 p., 1 1.
22.5 cm. ppw. 816
TxU.
Minutes of the eighth annual session of the Central Baptist
association, with the Hamilton church, Shelby county, Texas.
Printed at the Henderson Democrat office. [1857.] 7 p.
20 cm. 81
7
TxFwSB.
Minutes of the Cherokee Baptist association held with County
Line church, Van Zandt county, Texas, commencing October
3rd, 1857. Tyler, Smith county, Texas. "Tyler Reporter" print.
8, [1] p. 23 cm. 818
TxFwSB.
Minutes of the Colorado association, held with Navidad church,
Fayette county, Texas, Friday before the third Lord's day in
September, 1857. Anderson, Texas: Printed at the Texas Baptist
office. 1857. 17, [1] p., 3 1. 20.5 cm. ppw. 819
TxFwSB. TxU.
Minutes of the second annual session of the Baptist state
convention of Eastern Texas. Held at Marshall, in November,
1856. And of the adjourned session, held at Larissa, in June,
1857. Anderson, Texas: Printed at the Texas Baptist office.
1857. 31 p. 18 cm. ppw. 820
NHC-S. TxU.
Minutes of the third annual session of the Little River
association, held with Salem church, Bell county, Texas, com-
mencing on 21st August, 1857. Belton, Bell county, Texas.
Printed at the Weekly Independent office. 1857. 16, [2] p.
17 cm. 821
TxFwSB.
Minutes of the organization and first session of Mount Zion
association, of the Missionary Baptist churches in eastern
Texas, held with Mount Zion church, Rusk county, Texas,
October 30 and 31, 1857. Published by the association for the
benefit of the churches. Nacogdoches: Printed at the
"Chronicle" office, 1857. 16 p. 22.5 cm. 822
NHC-S.
Minutes of the organization and first session of the Rehoboth
association, held with "New Liberty church" near Mt. Vernon,
Titus county, Texas, Oct. 31, Nov. 1, 2, 3, 1856. Jefferson, Texas:
Printed at the Jefferson Herald office. 1857. 13, [2] p.
19.5 cm. 823
TxFwSB.
Minutes of the Sister Grove association. Held with Salem
church, Grayson county, on Friday before the second Sabbath
in September, 1857. Anderson, Texas: Printed at the office of
the Texas Baptist. 1857. 14, [1] p. 19 cm. ppw. 824.
Cover title.
NHC-S. TxFwSB. TxU.
Proceedings of the Baptist state convention, held with the
Huntsville Baptist church, commencing on Saturday, October
24th, 1857. Anderson: Printed at the Texas Baptist office. 1857.
30, [2] p. 21.5 cm. ppw. 825
NHC-S. TxFwSB. TxU. TxWB.
Minutes of the eighteenth annual session of the Union associa-
tion. Held with Bethany church, Grimes county, Texas. Com-
menced October 2d, and closed October 5th, 1857. Anderson,
Texas: Printed at the office of the Texas Baptist. 1857. viii,
15 p. 1 fold, table. 20 cm. ppw. 826
Cover title.
NHC-S. TxFwSB. TxU.
Minutes of the West Fork association of Baptists, held with
the Baptist church, Little Bethel, Dallas county, Texas, on the
26th and 28th of September, 1857. Anderson, Texas: Printed
at the office of the Texas Baptist. 1857. 10, [1] p. 21 cm. 827
NHC-S. TxFwSB.
Baylor
university.
Waco,
Texas.
Fifth annual catalogue of the trustees, professors and students
of Baylor university. Independence, Texas, 1857. Galveston:
Printed at the Civilian book and job office. 1857. 23, [1] p.
23 cm. ppw. 8
28
Tx. TxU.
Sixth catalogue of the trustees, professors and students of
Baylor university, for 1856 & 1857. Independence, Texas, De-
cember, 1857. Printed at the Galveston "News" book and job
establishment, 1857. 30 p. 20.5 cm. 829*
Cover title.
TxU.
Blankinship,
J.
J.,
defendant.
Trial of J. J. Blankinship, on an indictment for burning the
Adjutant General's office, decided at the fall term, 1856 of the
District court for Travis county, Texas. Waco: Printed at the
"Southerner" office: 1857. 12 p. 22 cm. ppw. 830*
TxU.
Basque
female
seminary.
Prospectus of ... for 1857 and 1858. See
no. 976.
Booth
v.
Upshur
Waller M. Booth, vs. H. L. Upshur, in the Supreme court of
the State of Texas. Appellant's brief, by Geo. W. Paschal. I. A.
Paschal, San Antonio. Geo. W. Paschal, Austin. Austin: Printed
at the Southern Intelligencer book office. 1857. Title, [7] - 33 p.
22 cm. 831
*
TxU.
Brazoria
county,
Texas.
Chief
justice
(S.
W.
Perkins.)
Election order. . . [Election to be held in conformity with the
Governor's proclamation, for State, district, and county offices,
and to vote on the proposed amendment to the constitution.]
June 23, 1857. S. W. Perkins, C. J., B. C. [n.p.] Broadside. 1 p.,
printed in two columns. 13.5 x 43 cm. (11.5 x 33 cm.) 832
TxU.
Britton,
Forbes.
.
.
.
Speech delivered in the Senate of Texas, on the 20th day
of November, 1857, on the subject of boring artesian wells:
between the Nueces and Rio Grande, by the Hon. Forbes Britton,
of Refugio County. Austin: Printed at the Southern Intelligencer
book office, 1857. 11 p., printed in two columns. 22 cm. ppw. 833
At head of the title page, "Published by request." The word "Refugio"
has been crossed in pencil and "Nueces" written over it; an errata slip
also lists these changes.
Tx. TxU.
Burke,
James
W.
To the stockholders of the . . . Houston & Texas Central rail-
road co. Houston, G. W. Perkins, 1857. 61 p. 834
DLC.
Catholic
church
in
Mexico.
Carta pastoral del ilustrisimo Sor. obispo de Linares. Juan
Francisco de Paula Verea, obispo de Linares. Guerrero, 8 de
mayo de 1857. San Antonio de Bexar: Texas, [1857] 4° 885
Br. Mus.
Cave,
E.
W.
Substance of the speech of E. W. Cave, Esq, (editor of the
Nacogdoches Chronicle,) delivered in Nacogdoches, Texas, June
30th, 1857, in reply to Hon. F. R. Lubbock. [San Augustine?]
The Eastern Texian--extra. Broadside. 1 p., printed in seven
columns. 41.8 x 55.7 cm. (37.5 x 50 cm.) 836*
Tx. (photostat.)
Chambers,
T.
J.
Memorial of T. J. Chambers, to the Legislature of the State
of Texas, upon the subject of the lands taken in 1839 by the
Republic of Texas for the location of the seat of government;
presenting titles for said lands, with evidence and documents
establishing the same; together with a proposition to defend
the citizens of Austin against the suit now pending against
them in the courts of the United States. Galveston: Civilian
steam book and job office. 1857. 10, 146 p. 21 cm. 837
The memorial (pages 1-10) is dated November 2, 1857, and may appear
as a separate document. It is accompanied by "Titles in favor of T. J.
Chambers, for lands granted to him, for his services as Superior judge
of Texas, by the State of Coahuila and Texas; together with documents
and evidence establishing the same" (p. 1-146). A note on page 146 states
that "the relevancy of all the preceding documents to the land titles in
question will be shown in the argument before the Supreme court." The
Argument was printed in 1858.
TxU.
Civilian
and
Galveston
Gazette.
Circular soliciting subscribers: [Galveston, 1857?] Broad-
side. 1 p., printed in two columns. 19x30 cm. (14x14.8
cm.) 838*
TxU.
Commercial
bank
of
New
Orleans
v.
Compton.
Supreme court of the United States. December term, 1857,
No. 16. The Commercial bank of New Orleans, appellant, Alex-
ander Compton, and wife, and als. appellees. Appeal from the
District court of the United States for the Eastern District of
Texas, at Galveston -- in equity. W. P. Ballinger, for appellees.
Galveston: Printed at the Civilian steam book and job office.
1857. 32 p. 20.7 cm. 839
TxU.
Crosby,
Stephen.
To the voters of Texas . . . [Announces his candidacy for re-
election as commissioner of the General land office.] [Austin?
1857?] Broadside. 1 p. 19.2x24.5 cm. (16.6x16.1 cm.) 840*
TxU.
Democratic
party.
Texas.
"Banks." The constitution must be preserved. [n.p.] Broad-
side. 1 p. 19.5 x 61 cm. (18.5 x 52.3 cm.) 841*
Includes proceedings of the Democracy of Hill county, met in convention
in Hillsboro, April 11, 1857.
TxU.
Proceedings of the state convention of the Democratic party
of the State of Texas, which assembled at Waco, Monday,
May 4th, 1857. Austin: Printed at the Texas State Gazette
office. 1857. 15, xvi p. 21 cm. ppw. 842
Tx. TxGR. TxSa. TxU.
Verhandlungen der Staats-Convention der demokratischen
Partei des Staates Texas, die sich am Montag, den 4ten Mai,
1857, zu Waco versammelte. San Antonio: Druck der Texas
Staats-Zeitungs office. 1857. 17, xiv p. 21 cm. 843
Printed in German type.
TxU.
Evans,
L.
D.
Synopsis of the speech of the Hon. L. D. Evans. Marshall
Texas, June 6th, 1857. [Marshall,] Harrison Flag --extra.
Broadside. 1 p., printed in three columns. 30.5x35.5 cm.
(19 x 28.5 cm.) 844
Tx.
Frazer,
C.
A.
Report of Hon. C. A. Frazer on the penal code. Printed by
order of the Legislature. Austin: Printed by John Marshall
& co., state printers. 1857. 30 p. 21 cm. 845
The report is dated, Marshall, Texas, Aug. 22, 1857.
Tx. TxU.
Freemasons.
Texas.
Proceedings of the Grand commandery of Texas of Knights
templar, at the annual convocation, held in Huntsville, Texas,
June 22, A.D. 1857, and of the order, 739. Rt. Em. Sir E. W.
Taylor, G. C., Houston. Em. Sir James M. Hall, G. R., Crockett.
Galveston: Printed on the Civilian steam book press. 1857.
61 p. 20 cm. 846
IaCrM. NNFM. TxU. TxWFM.
Proceedings of the Grand council of the royal and select
masters of Texas. Second assembly held at Huntsville, June
22d, A.D. 1857, A. Dep. 2857. Wm. M. Taylor, M. P. Grand
master, Crockett. Andrew Neill, Rt. P. Grand recorder, Seguin.
Galveston: Printed on the Civilian steam book press. 1857.
14 p. 20 cm. 847
IaCrM. NNFM. TxHSJM. TxU. (1897 reprint.)
The constitution of the Grand lodge of Free and accepted
masons of Texas. Revised and adopted at the grand annual
communication, held at Galveston, January, A.D. 1856, A. L.
5856. Austin: Printed at the "Southern Intelligencer" book
and job office. 1857. 32 p. 22 cm. ppw. 848
TxU.
Proceedings of the M. W. Grand lodge of Texas, at its
twentieth annual communication, held at the town of Palestine,
commencing the third Monday in January, A.D. 1857, A.L. 5857.
Ordered to be read in all the lodges under this jurisdiction, for
the information of the brethren. Wm. Stedman, grand master.
A. S. Ruthven, grand secretary. Galveston: Printed at the
News book and job office. 1857. Title, [3] -- 352 p. 20 cm.
ppw. 849
The imprint on cover reads: "Galveston: Printed at the News job
establishment. 1857."
LNMas. MBFM. Tx. TxU.
Circular . . . [Announces the names of the Grand officers
elected for the ensuing year.] Grand secretary's office, Galves-
ton, January 30th A. L. 5857, A.D. 1857. A. S. Ruthven, grand
secretary. [Galveston, 1857.] Broadside. 1 p. 21.5x26.5
cm. 850
PPFM.
To the W. M., wardens and brethren of the subordinate lodges
of A. F. & A. masons, of Texas . . . [Announces his plan to
republish the proceedings of the past twenty years.] A. Ruth-
ven, grand secretary. Galveston, March, 1857. [Galveston,
1857.] Broadside 1 p. 21.5 x 27.5 cm.
PPFM.
Proceedings of the Grand lodge of Texas, from its organiza-
tion in the city of Houston, Dec. A.D. 1837, A. L. 5837, to the
close of the grand annual communication held at Palestine,
January 19, A.D. 1857, A.L. 5857. By A. S. Ruthven, grand
secretary, and past grand master. Compiled from the original
records and documents now in possession of the Grand lodge,
together with the constitutions which have been severally
adopted up to the present time; also, an interesting history of
the origin, rise, and progress of the masonic order in Texas. In
two volumes. Vol. I. [II.] Published by authority of M. W. Wm.
Stedman, G. master. Galveston: Richardson & co., News office.
1857. v. 1, 640 p.; v. 2, 308 p. 1 1., [3]-352 p. 22 cm. 852
At the foot of page 640 of volume 1 is this note: "Stereotyped by
L. Johnson & co. Philadelphia." Volume 2 does not contain this note;
doubtless it was stereotyped by the same firm.
The proceedings of the Grand Lodge for 1857, issued separately (no. 849),
were printed from the same plates as those in volume 2, pages [3]-352.
The former has the usual title page, the latter omits the title page, and
has in its place a statement by the compiler.
DLC. IaCrM. LNMas. MBFM. NNFM. OCM. Tx. TxComT. TxDW.
TxDaN. TxSa. TxSh. TxU. TxWB. TxWFM.
Grand masonic celebration [sponsored by Caledonia lodge
no. 68 of Columbus, Texas, December 28th, 1857.] [Columbus,
1857.] Folder, with one page of print. 10.2 x l6 cm. (7.5 x 11.5
cm.) 853*
Tx.
Constitution of the General grand chapter of the United
States, and the Grand royal arch chapter of Texas. Galveston:
Printed at the book and job establishment of the "Galveston
News." 1857. 34 p. 21 cm. 854
PPFM.
Proceedings of the Grand royal arch chapter, of Texas at
the eighth annual convocation, held at the town of Huntsville --
commencing June 22, A.D. 1857, A.I., 2391, together with the
proceedings of the Council of the order of high priesthood, for
the State of Texas. M. E., A. S. Ruthven, G. H. priest, Galveston.
E., James M. Hall, G. secretary, Crockett. Galveston: Printed
at the book and job establishment of the "News." MDCCCLVII.
151, [1] p. 21.5 cm. ppw. 855
IaCrM. LNMas. NNFM. PPFM. TxHSJM. TxU.
Galveston,
Texas.
Charter and revised code of ordinances of the city of Galves-
ton, passed in the years 1856-7. 1857. Galveston, Texas:
Printed at the Civilian book and job office. xv, 153, [1], x. p.
19.5 cm. ppw. 856
MB. TxGR. TxU.
Commercial statistics of the Port of Galveston, Texas. For
the commercial year 1856-57, commencing on the 1st of Septem-
ber 1856, and ending on the 31st of August, 1857. Compiled for
the Galveston "Union" from the records of the U. S. Custom-
House at Galveston. Published for L. Frosh &
Co., merchants,
Galveston. [Die Union, Galveston, 1857.] Broadside. 1 p.
45.5 x 28.5 cm. (43.6 x 22 cm.) 857*
TxU.
Annual statement of Galveston Price-current. J. S. Sullivan's
Exchange office. Printed at the News office, Galveston, Septem-
ber 8, 1857. Broadside. 1 p., printed in three columns. 20 x 25
cm. (16.5 x 22 cm.) 858
TxU.
Circular . . . [Mather, Hughes & Saunders, announce the
formation of a copartnership for the purpose of transacting
business as general commission merchants.] T. Mather, C. R.
Hughes, Wm. Saunders, Jr., Galveston, 1st July, 1857. [n.p.]
Four page folder with one page of print. 21 x 27 cm. (16.7 x 21.3
cm.) 859*
TxU.
Circular. "We beg to resume our market advices," . . . Wood
& Power, cotton factors, general commission and forwarding
merchants. Galveston, September 15, 1857. [n.p.] Folder with
one page of print. 28 cm. 860
TxU.
Grand
temple
of
honor
of
Western
Texas.
Proceedings of the second annual session of the Grand temple
of honor, of Western Texas, held at the city of Houston, May
25th, 26th, 27th and 29th, 1857. Dallas: Printed at the office of
the Dallas Herald. 1857. 21 p. 20.3 cm. 861
TxU.
Gray,
P.
W.
Report of Hon. P. W. Gray on the penal code. Submitted to
the Legislature by its authority. Austin: Printed by John
Marshall & co., state printers. 1857. 25 p. 20.6 cm. 862
The report is dated, October 15, 1857.
Tx. TxU.
Haldeman,
T.
J.
To the public. Gen. Chambers committing perjury. Bastrop.
Oct. 15th, 1857. [n.p.] Broadside. 1 p., printed in four columns.
29.4 x 6l cm. (23.8 x 54.6 cm.) 863*
TxU.
Hamilton,
John
F.,
subject.
Funeral notice. The friends and acquaintances of John F.
Hamilton, are requested to attend his funeral at Mr. Swenson's
building . . . tomorrow, at 10 o'clock A.M. Austin, Friday, 23d
January, 1857. [Austin, 1857.] Folder with one page of print.
10.3 x 16.7 cm. (10 x 6.2 cm.) 864*
TxU.
Hemphill,
John.
Eulogy on the life and character of the Hon. Thomas J. Rusk,
late U. S. Senator from Texas. Delivered in the Hall of the
House of Representatives of the State of Texas, on the seventh
of November, 1857. By John Hemphill. Printed by order of the
House of Representatives of the 7th Legislature of Texas.
Austin: Printed by John Marshall & co., state printers. 1857.
24 p. 22 cm. ppw. 865
A-Ar. CSfCW. MH. MH-L. OCHP. PHi. RPB. ScC. Tx. TxU.
Hanford,
Albert,
publisher.
.
. . Texas State Register, for the year of our Lord, 1857, . . .
Galveston: Published by A. Hanford. 1857. 71, [1] p. 19 cm.
ppw. 865a
All editions of this work were printed in New York City (Register
for
1876,
p. 2.) At head of title page: Vol. II, no. 2. Published annually.
Tx. TxDa. TxH. TxU.
Houston
&
Texas
Central
railway
company.
Fourth annual report of the President and directors of the
Houston & Texas Central railway company to the stockholders.
Houston: Telegraph power press book and job office. 1857.
38 p. 1 1. 23 cm. ppw. 866*
TxU.
Howth,
W.
E.
Hear the old Texan! . . . [Announces his candidacy for Con-
gress.] Post Oak Place, Austin county, May 27, 1857. W. E.
Howth. [n.p.] Broadside. 2 p., printed in four columns.
33 x 36.3 cm. (23.2 x 33 cm.) 867
TxU.
Independent
order
of
good
Samaritans
and
daughters
of
Samaria.
Texas.
Proceedings of the third semi-annual session of the Grand
lodge of the Independent order of good Samaritans and daugh-
ters of Samaria of the State of Texas. Convened at Houston,
Texas, January 27, 1857. Houston: G. W. Perkins, printer --
Merchants & Mechanics job office. 1857. 34 p. 17.7 cm. 868*
Cover title.
Tx.
La
Grange,
Texas.
Charter, amendments, and revised ordinances of the town of
La Grange. Ordered to be published by vote of the Council,
July 8, 1857. Galveston: Printed on the Civilian steam book
press. 1857. 36, iii p. 22 cm. ppw. 869
Tx. TxU. (photostat.)
Larissa
college.
Larissa,
Texas.
Catalogue of Larissa college, 1856-57. [n.p.] 12° 870
DLC.
Liberty.
Citizens.
Invitation. [Ball complimenting the Misses Ewing.] Liberty,
November 25, 1857. [n.p.] Folder with one page of print.
9x13.5 cm. (5.7x7 cm.) 871
TxHSJM.
McKenzie
institute.
Clarksville,
Texas.
Sixteenth annual catalogue, of the students of McKenzie
institute. Near Clarksville, Texas. July, 1857. [Clarksville:]
"Standard" print. [1857.] 11 p. 22.5 cm. 872*
TxU. (photostat.)
McKinney,
Thomas
F.
Circular. To the voters of Travis county ... [A candidate for
representative, he publishes his views on public questions.]
[Austin? 1857.] Broadside. 1 p. 27.2x33.5 cm. (18.8x29.4
cm.) 873
TxU.
Memphis,
El
Paso,
and
Pacific
railroad.
Charter of the Memphis, El Paso and Pacific railroad: also
the laws of Texas on the subject of railroads: with a brief
history of the company. Paris: Published by order of the board
of directors, Lamar Enquirer book and job printing office. 1857.
16 p. 20.5 cm. 87
4*
Cover title.
TxU.
First annual report of the officers of the Memphis, El Paso, &
Pacific railroad company, May 9th, 1857. "Standard" print,
Clarksville, Texas. 1857. 43 p. 20.5 cm. ppw. 875*
TxU.
To the Hon[orable] Legislature of the State of Texas. . . .
[Petition by settlers on the Memphis, El Paso & Pacific railroad
reserve for a grant of 160 acres of land, including his improve-
ments, to each individual who had located upon and improved
any of the vacant public domain.] September 27th, 1857. [n.p.,
1857.] Broadside. 1 p. 20x26 cm. (17.8x19 cm.) 876
Four copies on white paper, each bearing numerous autograph signatures.
Tx.
Another edition. September 27th, 1857. [n.p., 1857.] 20 x 31.5
cm. (17.8 x l9 cm.) 877*
Three copies on blue paper, each bearing numerous autograph signatures.
Tx.
Moelling,
Peter
August.
Reise-Skizzen in Poesie und Prosa. Gesammelt auf einer
siebenmonatlichen Tour durch die Vereinigten Staaten von
Nord-Amerika. Von Peter August Moelling aus Neustadt a. M.
Rheinpfalz, Bayern. Illustrirte Ausgabe. Galveston, Texas.
Gedruckt in der office des "Apologeten" [1857?] und dasselbst
zu haben beim Verfasser. 384 p. 20.5 cm. 878
CtHC. DLC. MoSHi. TxU.
Nacogdoches
chronicle.
Nacogdoches,
Texas.
Nacogdoches Chronicle. Extra. E. W. Cave, editor. Nacog-
doches, August 18, 1857. . . Election returns. [Nacogdoches,
1857.] Broadside. 1 p. 6.5x51 cm. 879*
TxU.
Nueces
county,
Texas.
Citizens.
Memorial from the citizens of Nueces county. To the Hon.
the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Texas.
. . . [Within the last two years, large herds of stock cattle
have been driven into and herded in this and adjoining counties,
between the San Antonio and Rio Grande rivers, by parties
who do not own a foot of land in this district. The citizens ask
protection.] R. Parkinson, chairman. J. B. Mitchell, secretary,
[n.p. 1857.] Broadside. 1 p. 20 x 30.5 cm. (16.2 x ll cm.) 880
Tx.
Public Meeting . . . [At a meeting held December 5, 1857,
opposition to the memorial, signed by Parkinson and Mitchell,
was expressed, and a counter memorial was addressed to the
Legislature.] D. H. Lawrence, chairman. J. W. Moses, secretary,
[n.p. 1857.] Broadside. 1 p., printed in three columns. 20 x 32
cm. (16x22.5 cm.) 881*
Tx.
Odd-fellows.
Texas.
Proceedings of the R.W. Grand lodge, of the I.O.O.F. of the
State of Texas, at its annual communication, held at Galveston,
February 2, 1857. 1857. Galveston, Texas: Printed at the
Civilian steam job office. [573]-638, [1] p. 3 fold. tables.
21.5 cm. ppw. 882
Tx. TxWB.
Proceedings of the R.W.G. Encampment, of the I.O.O.F. of
the State of Texas, at its annual communication, held at Galves-
ton, February 2, 1857. 1857. Galveston, Texas: Printed at the
Civilian steam job office. 23 p. 21.5 cm. 883
These two pamphlets have one cover in common, entitled: "Proceedings
of the R.W. Grand lodge, and R.W.G. Encampment, of the I.O.O.F. of the
State of Texas, at the annual communication, held at Galveston, February
2, 1857. 1857. Galveston, Texas: Printed at the Civilian steam job office."
Tx. TxWB.
Protestant
Episcopal
church.
Texas.
Journal of the eighth annual convention, of the Protestant
Episcopal church, in the Diocese of Texas, held in the Church
of the Epiphany, Austin, May 21, 1857. Austin, Texas. Printed
at the Southern Intelligencer book office. 1857. 54, [1] p. 1 fold.
table. 21.8 cm. ppw. 884
IU. MB. MBD. MiD-B. MWA. Tx. TxU.
Rembert,
S.
S.
An argument on the Christian religion; or, A dissertation on
the coincident mysteries of nature and revelation, with their
correlative attestations and analogies. [Ten lines of poetry.]
By S. S. Rembert. Galveston: Printed at the News office. 1857.
215 p. port. 19 cm. ppw. 885
Binder's title: Nature and revelation.
NjR. Tx. TxU.
Richardson
&
co.
Galveston,
Texas.
The Texas Almanac, for 1858; giving annual statistics of the
State, and the progress of improvements in agriculture, com-
merce and manufactures, the increase of population, wealth and
revenue; of churches, schools, charitable institutions, etc.; lands
patented and unpatented; statistics and description of all the
counties; custom houses, light houses, fortifications, military
posts, railroads, river improvements, etc. Lives of distinguished
Texians; history of Texas, continued annually, and designed to
embrace many original documents and important historical
facts, furnished by living witnesses, never before published.
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1857, by
Richardson & co., in the Clerk's office of the District court of
the United States for the eastern District of Texas. Galveston:
Prepared, printed and published by Richardson & co., at the
"News" office. 1857. 3 p. 1., 7-192 p., 5 plates, 42 unnumbered
leaves containing advertisements. 21 cm. ppw. 886
The Almanac for 1858 contains two supplements: pages 177-192, and
193-194. Attention is directed in the preface to the engravings (S. F.
Austin, Lamar, Rusk, Sherman, and the Capitol,) and the map. The map
is not identified and only one copy of the Almanac has been seen by the
editor that contains a map; it is entitled: Map of the State of Texas
from the latest authorities, by J. H. Young. Published by Charles Desilver,
Philadelphia. 1857. Engraved by J. L. Hazzard. 36 x 29.2 cm.
Two insets: Map of Galveston bay, from the U. S. Coast Survey, and
Northern Texas. The map was copyrighted by Charles Desilver in 1856.
CSt. ICN. KHi. MB. MH. MWA. NNA. OClJC. PHi. PPL. Tx.
TxAbH. TxDa. TxDaN. TxGR. TxH. TxHSJM. TxHuT. TxSa. TxU.
TxWB. WHi.
San
Antonio,
Texas.
Charter and digest of ordinances of the city of San Antonio.
Approved July 18, 1857. San Antonio. Printed at the Ledger
office. 1857. 148 p. 1 1. 18 cm. bds. 887
Tx. TxU.
Grand dress and military ball... for the benefit of the "Alamo
Rifles," at the New Casino hall, San Antonio, 18th Dec., 1857.
[San Antonio, 1857.] Folder with one page of print. 18.8
cm. 888*
TxU.
San
Antonio
and
Mexican
Gulf
railroad
company.
Annual report of the San Antonio and Mexican Gulf railroad
company in the State of Texas .. . 1857. San Antonio: Printed
at the Texas Staats-Zeitung, 1857. 889
CSmH.
Smith,
vs.
Power.
Supreme Court of the State of Texas, at Galveston, January
term, A.D. 1857. Sarah D. Smith, adm'trix of the estate of
Henry Smith, dec'd, appellant, vs. Tomasa Power, executrix of
the will of James Power, dec'd, appellee. [n.p. n.d.] 16 p.
20.8 cm. 890
Signed at end: S. D. Smith, adm'x, by her agent and attorney in fact,
Joseph F. Smith.
Caption Title.
TxU.
Tate,
Fred.
To the people. . . . [The circular consists of four letters:
1. Fred Tate, La Grange, June 22, 1857, to B. Shropshire and
J. T. Holman, requesting a written statement of the views on
the bank question expressed by his opponent, Capt. C. C. Herbert
2. Shropshire's reply, June 30, 1857 3. Holman's reply, July 1,
1857. 4. Tate's answer, July 15, 1857, to Holman's letter, stat-
ing his own position. [La Grange: True Issue print? 1857.]
Broadside, 2 p., printed in two columns. 20.5 x 6l cm. (12.3 x 51
cm.) 891
Tx.
The Public Debt. To the voters of Fayette, Austin and
Colorado counties. [Gives his answer to the question "whether
the action of the Legislature upon the public debt is to be made
a finality."] Fred Tate. La Grange, July, 1857. Brenham En-
quirer copy. Broadside. 1 p., printed in two columns. 19x61
cm. (12.3 x 5l cm.) 892
TxU.
Texas.
Attorney
general
(James
Willie.)
Annual report of the Attorney general, made to the Governor,
November, 1857. Printed by order of the Legislature of Texas.
Austin: Printed by John Marshall & co., state printers. 1857.
30 p. 20.7 cm. 893
Tx. TxU.
Same, German edition. 894*
Not seen: Zeitung office, New Braunfels, printed 1500 copies. (Senate
Journal,
p. 664.)
Texas.
Blind
institute.
Report of the committee to the trustees of the Blind asylum.
Southern Intelligencer print, Austin. Broadside. 1 p., printed
in three columns. 28x43 cm. (19.5x22.5 cm.) 895
The report of the committee of visitors is dated, July 16, 1857.
TxU.
First annual report of the trustees of the Institution for the
education of the blind. Presented to his excellency the Governor,
Oct. 28, 1857. Austin: Printed by John Marshall & co., state
printers. 1857. 15 p. 21 cm. ppw. 896
MWatP. Tx. TxU.
Same. German edition. 897*
Not seen: Zeitung office, New Braunfels, printed 1500 copies. (Senate
Journal,
p. 664.)
Texas
Christian
Advocate.
Galveston,
Texas.
Texas Christian Advocate office, and book, job and fancy
printing establishment. . . [Publisher's circular.] David Ayres,
publishing agent, Galveston, Oct. 8th, 1857. [Galveston, 1857.]
Folder with one page of print. 25 cm. 898
TxU.
Texas.
Board
of
commissioners
to
invest
special
school
fund.
Report of the Board of commissioners to provide for the in-
vestment of the special school fund in bonds of railroad com-
panies incorporated by the State of Texas. Austin: Printed by
John Marshall & co., state printers. 1857. 7 p. 21.5 cm. 899
The board comprised the Governor, Comptroller, and Attorney general.
It is also called the Board of school commissioners.
Tx.
Texas.
Commissioners
to
investigate
the
land
boards
within
Peters'
colony.
Report of the Commissioners to investigate the land boards
within Peters' colony. Austin: Printed by John Marshall & co.,
state printers. 1857. 15 p. 21.5 cm. 900
Cover title.
E. P. Nicholson and H. G. Hendricks were the commissioners.
Tx. TxU.
Texas.
Court
of
claims.
Report of the commissioner of the Court of claims. Printed
by order of the Legislature of the State of Texas. Austin:
Printed by John Marshall & co., state printers, 1857. 22 p.
21.5 cm. 901
James C. Wilson was commissioner till June 1, 1857, pages [3]-13;
James O. Illingsworth was his successor, pages 13-22.
Tx. TxU.
Same. Austin: Printed by John Marshall & co., state printers.
1859. 22 p. 22 cm. 902*
Texas.
Deaf
institute.
First annual report of the president and officers of the Texas
institution for the education of the deaf and dumb. Austin:
Printed by John Marshall & co., state printers. 1857. 16 p.
21 cm. 903
Tx. TxU. WHi.
Same. German edition. 904*
Not seen; Zeitung office, New Braunfels, printed 1500 copies. (Senate
Journal,
p. 664.)
Texas.
General
land
office
(Stephen
Crosby.)
Report of the commissioner of the General land office, for
the years 1856-57. Printed by order of the seventh Legislature.
Austin: Printed by John Marshall & co., state printers. 1857.
14 p. 21 cm. 905
Tx. TxU.
Same. German edition. 906*
Not seen; Zeitung office, New Braunfels, printed 1500 copies. (Senate
Journal,
p. 664.)
To the Honorable Legislature of the State of Texas. . . .
[Petition requesting the Legislature "to pass a law providing
a way for the State to ascertain and recover all lands claimed
by or through all grants from Spain and Mexico which grants
were made and issued for more than one league and labor of
land each, and have escheated or been forfeited to the State
by any means, or which are for any cause null and void."]
[n.p. 1857.] Broadside. 1 p. 20.3 x 32 cm. (15.5 x 23.5
cm.) 907
Five copies, each bearing numerous signatures of citizens of Brazos,
Henderson, and Navarro counties.
Tx.
Texas.
Governor,
1855-1857
(E.
M.
Pease.)
Circular. . . [Calls for an enumeration of insane and idiots
in county, in 1857.] E. M. Pease. Executive office,
Austin, Texas, June 30, 1857. [Austin, 1857.] Folder with three
pages of print. 24.5 cm. 908*
TxU.
Message of the Governor of the State of Texas to the seventh
Legislature. Austin: Printed by John Marshall & co., 1857.
29 p. 21 cm. 909
The message is dated, November 2, 1857.
IaHi. Tx. TxSa. TxU.
Same. German edition. 910*
Not seen; 1500 copies were printed. (Senate Journal,
p. 663.)
Mensaje del gobernador del Estado de Texas, a la septima
legislatura. Austin: John Marshall i compania. 1857. 27 p.
21.5 cm. 911
NjR.
& co., state printers. 1857. 14 p. 21 cm. 912
The message is dated, November 11, 1857.
Tx. TxU.
Botschaft der Executive in Bezug der mexikanischen Karren,
mit biegefügten Documenten. Austin: 1857. 16 p. 19.5 cm. 913
NjR.
Informe del Gobernador del estado de Tejas, i documentos
relativos a los asaltos contra los carreteros mejicanos. Traducidos
por J. A. Quintero. Austin: John Marshall i compania, impresoree
del estado. 1857. 14 p. 21 cm. 914
Cover title.
TxSa. TxU.
Proclamation by the Governor of the State of Texas. . .
[Orders an election to be held March 2, 1857, to fill the vacancy
in the office of judge of the 1st Judicial district, that will result
from the resignation of James H. Bell, effective May 7, 1857.]
E. M. Pease. Austin, January 30, 1857. Broadside. 1 p.
30.5 x 45.5 cm. (22.6 x 35.5 cm.) 915*
Tx.
The State of Texas. [Proclamation by the Governor.] . . .
[Orders an election to be held August 3, 1857, to fill a vacancy in
the office of District attorney of the 10th Judicial district that
will result from the resignation of John L. Harper, effective
August 1, 1857.] E. M. Pease. Austin, June 29, 1857. Broad-
side. 1 p. 33.8 x 36 cm. (27 x 29.8 cm.) 916
Tx.
The State of Texas. [Proclamation by the Governor.] . . .
[Orders an election to be held December 28, 1857, to fill the
vacancy in the 21st Senatorial district, occasioned by the
resignation of E. M. Millican.] E. M. Pease. Austin, December
12, 1857. Broadside. 1 p. 34 x 37.3 cm. (23.3 x 33.3 cm.) 917*
Tx.
The State of Texas. Proclamation, by the Governor. . .
[Orders an election to be held January 25, 1858, for District
judge and District attorney of the 19th Judicial district.] E. M.
Pease. Austin, Dec. 19, 1857. Broadside. 1 p. 30x44.5 cm.
(23 x 32.3 cm.) 918*
Tx.
Report of the Governor, State engineer and Comptroller ap-
pointed by act of the Legislature to apportion the river fund
among the navigable waters of Texas. Austin: Printed by John
Marshall & co., state printers. 1857. 8 p. 21 cm. 919
Tx. TxU.
Texas.
Governor,
1857-1859
(H.
R.
Runnels.)
Message, vetoing "An act to amend the charter and for the
relief of the Houston and Texas Central railroad company." 920*
Not seen; 150 copies were ordered to be printed (Senate
Journal,
p. 266,
672.)
Texas.
Laws,
statutes,
etc.
The penal code of the State of Texas. Adopted by the sixth
Legislature. Galveston: Printed at the News office. 1857. xi,
167. xxxix p. 21.5 cm. 921
C. CU. Cu-B. DLC. IU. Ia. IaU-L. InSC. Ky. L. LU-L. MdBB.
Mi-L. Nb. NcD. Nj. NN. NNC-L. OLIW. OrSC. R. RPL. T. TMeC.
Tx. TxGR. Tx-SC. TxU. TxU-L. TxWB. W. WHi. WaU. Wy.
Codigo penal del estado de Tejas. Adoptado por la sesta
Legislatura. Version espanola por J. A. Quintero, abogado y
consejero en leyes. Austin: Impreso por orden del gobierno,
en la oficina de la Gaceta del Estado, a cargo de Marshall i Old-
ham. 1857. 1 p. 1., [vi.] 112 p., printed in two columns.
29.5 cm. 922
TxU.
The code of criminal procedure of the State of Texas. Adopted
by the sixth Legislature. Galveston: Printed at the News
office. 1857. vi, 188, xliv p. 21 cm. 923
C. CU. CU-B. Ct. DLC. Ia. IaU-L. In-SC. IU. Ky. L. M.
MdBB.
Mi-L. Ms. NN. NNC-L. Nb. NcD. Nj. OClW. Or-SC. R. RPL. T. Tx.
TxDaM-L. TxGR. Tx-SC. TxU. TxU-L. W. WaU. WHi. Wy.
Texas.
7th
Legislature
(Nov.
2-Feb.
16,
1858.)
Obituary addresses on the occasion of the death of General
James Hamilton, of South Carolina, delivered in the Supreme
court, Senate and House of Representatives of the State of
Texas. Austin: Printed by John Marshall & co., state printers.
1857. 32 p. 21.5 cm. ppw. 924
Cover title. Printed by order of the Senate and House of Representatives.
CSmH. DLC. MH. Tx. TxDaM. TxU.
Programme of inauguration. 925*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed for the Senate, 200 copies for the
House (Senate
Journal,
p. 658, 671.)
Proceedings at the inauguration of Hardin R. Runnels,
Governor of the State of Texas. Printed by order of the Legis-
lature of the State of Texas. Austin: Printed by John Marshall
& co., state printers, 1857. 16 p. 21 cm. 926
Tx. TxSa. TxU.
List of the names, with the nativities, ages, time of emigra-
tion, residences, occupations, and post offices, of the Senators
and Representatives of the seventh Legislature of Texas --
1857-'58. [Austin, 1857?] Broadside. 1 p., printed in tabular
form. 22.8 x 66.5 cm. (17.5 x 63.8 cm.) 927*
Tx.
Texas.
7th
Legislature
(Nov.
2-Feh.
16,
1858.)
Senate.
List of the standing committees of the Senate. 928*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Senate
Journal,
p. 670).
The rules of the Senate. 929*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 9, 670.)
A bill for the relief of the Galveston, Houston and Henderson
railroad company, and in amendment of the act of incorporation
thereof, and of the acts amending the same and in addition
thereto. 930*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 270.)
A bill to provide for the sale of the public domain. 931*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 86, 670.)
A bill in relation to pre-emption settlers. 932*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 670.)
A bill to set apart and appropriate a fund for the establish-
ment and endowment of a State University. 933*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 88, 670.)
A bill supplemental to and amendatory of an act to regulate
railroad companies, approved February 7th, 1853. 934*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 88, 670.)
State geological survey. Report of the committee on State
affairs. Austin: Printed by John Marshall & co., state printers.
1857. 6 p. 20.5 cm. 935
The report was made by Louis T. Wigfall, chairman; it is accompanied
by "a bill to be entitled an act to provide for a geological and agricultural
survey of the State."
TxU.
A bill to incorporate the Western artesian well company. 936*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 111, 670.)
A bill to permit free persons of African descent to select their
own masters and become slaves. 937*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 124, 671.)
A bill for the relief of certain counties therein named. 938*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
130, 671.)
A bill to be entitled an act to provide a mode of securing a
fair and impartial prosecution and trial in criminal cases under
certain circumstances. 939*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 146, 671.)
Texas.
7th
Legislature
(Nov.
2-Feb.
16,
1858,)
House
of
Rep
-
resentatives.
Standing committees House of Representatives. Printed at
the State Gazette office, by John Marshall & co., state printers.
[Austin, 1857.] Broadside. 1 p. 26.8x59.2 cm. (22.5x46.6
cm.) 940*
Tx.
Hand bill inviting bids to supply wood. 941*
Not seen; 25 copies were printed (Senate
Journal,
p. 655.)
Rules of the House of Representatives. 942*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
655.)
A bill to be entitled an act for the relief of pre-emption
settlers. 943*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
656.)
A bill for the relief of the Galveston, Houston and Henderson
railroad company, and in amendment of the act of incorpora-
tion thereof, and of the acts amending the same and in addition
thereto. 944*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 655.)
A bill to provide for a geological and mineralogical survey
of the State. 945*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 656.)
Report proposing a monument to the memory of Thomas J.
Rusk. 946*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 656.)
Joint resolution appropriating ten thousand dollars for the
erection in the Capitol of a statue of Gen. Thomas J. Rusk. 947*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 656.)
Both report and Joint resolution appear also in House
Journal,
p. 123-124.
Committee substitute for a bill to authorize the location,
sale, and settlement of the Mississippi and Pacific railroad re-
serve. 948*
Not seen; 200 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 656.)
A bill to invest school fund in bonds of railroad com-
panies. 949*
Not seen; 200 copies were printed (Ibid., p. 656.)
Resolutions, with the remarks of Bee, Munson, and Buckley,
on the death of Gen. James Hamilton. 950*
Not seen; 1000 copies were ordered to be printed (House
Journal,
p. 186.)
A bill concerning free persons of color. 951
*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Senate Journal,
p. 657.)
Report and Joint resolution urging the "necessity and justice
to us, [for] the negotiation of treaty stipulation with Mexico,
for the surrender on the part of that government, of fugitive
slaves and fugitives from justice, when demanded by the au-
thority of our government." 952*
Not seen; 500 copies were printed (Ibid., p. 658.)
The report and Joint resolution appear also on pages 274-276 of the
House
Journal.
Committee substitute for bill for protection of property and
persons on the highways. 953*
Not seen; 200 copies were printed (Ibid., p. 657.)
A bill to be entitled an act supplementary to and amendatory
of an act to regulate railroad companies, approved Feb. 7th,
1853. 954*
Not seen; 200 copies were printed (Ibid., p. 658.)
The Special committee, appointed to consider the expediency
of providing relief for the people of certain counties in the
State, which have failed to make crops during the last season,
report a bill. 955*
Not seen; 200 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 658.)
The Committee on state affairs have examined a bill to en-
courage the reclamation of fugitive slaves escaping beyond
the slave territories of the U. S., and recommend a substitute
for same. 956*
Not seen; 200 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 658.)
The Senate's Court of claims bill, with the amendments pro-
posed by the Committee of the House. 957*
Not seen; 100 copies were printed (Ibid.,
p. 658.)
A report and treatise on slavery and the slavery agitation.
Printed by order of the House of Representatives of Texas.
December, 1857. Austin: Printed by John Marshall & co., state
printers. 1857. 81, vi p. 21 cm. ppw. 958
John Henry Brown was chairman of the committee that prepared this
report.
A-Ar. ICN. MH. NcU. OC1WHi. OO. PHi. Tx. TxDaM. TxU.
Same. German edition. 959*
Not seen; Die Union office, Galveston, printed 1500 copies (Senate
Journal,
p. 669.)
Informe i tratado sobre la esclavitud i la discusion acerca de
ella. Impreso por orden de la camara de representantes de
Texas, Diciembre, 1857. Austin, John Marshall i compania,
impresores del estado. 1857. 98 p. 22 cm. 960
NjR. TxU.
Texas.
Penitentiary.
Report of the directors, superintendent and agent of the
Texas penitentiary, for the years 1856-'57. Austin: Printed by
John Marshall & co., state printers. 1857. 46 p. 21 cm. 961
Tx. TxU.
Same. German edition. 962*
Not seen; 1500 copies were printed (Senate
Journal,
p. 664.)
Informe de los directores, superintendente i ajente de la
penitenciaria de Tejas. . . Austin: Juan Marshall i compania.
1857. 963
NjR.
Texas.
Secretary
of
State
(Edward
Clark.)
Report of the Secretary of state [covering the period since
Dec. 21, 1855.] [Austin, 1857.] 6 p. 22.5 cm. 964
Caption title. The report is dated, October 29, 1857.
Tx. TxU.
Texas.
State
engineer.
Report of the State engineer in relation to river and bay
improvement. Printed by order of the Legislature of the State
of Texas. Austin: Printed by John Marshall & co., state printers.
1857. 18 p. 21 cm. 965
Tx.
Texas
State
Gazette.
Austin,
Texas.
Texas State Gazette printing house. . . [Calendar for 1857,
time of holding District courts, etc.] John Marshall & co.
Austin, January, 1857. Broadside. 1 p. 23.5 x 34.3 cm. (20 x 29
cm.) 966
Tx.
State Gazette office, Austin, Texas. . . [Collection letter.]
John Marshall, W. S. Oldham. [Austin, 1857.] Folder with one
page of print. 19.7 cm. 967
TxU.
State Gazette -- extra. Austin, Wednesday evening, August
5, 1857. . . [Announcement of the death of Gen. T. J. Rusk,
United States Senator from Texas.] Broadside. 1 p., printed in
three columns. 25.5 x 36.5 cm. (18.5 x 32.3 cm.) 968
TxU.
Texas
State
Times.
Austin,
Texas.
Carrier's address to the patrons of the Texas State Times.
Austin City, Texas, January 1, 1857. [Austin, 1856?] Broad-
side. 1 p., printed in two columns. 36 x 51 cm. (28.5 x 45
cm.) 969
Tx.
Texas.
Supreme
court.
Reports of cases argued and decided in the Supreme court
of the State of Texas at Austin, 1855. By O. C. & R. K. Hartley.
Vol. XV. Galveston: Printed at the Civilian book office. 1857.
viii, 673 [1] p. 22.5 cm. 970
Ar-SC. Ct. G. Ia. IaDaGL. In-SC. KyLxFL. L. MdBB. Me-LR.
Mi-LC. Mn. NN. Nb. Nc-S. Nj. Nv. OrSaW-L. PPB. PPiAL. PU-L.
RPL. TxGR. TxSaSM-L. TxU-L. TxWB-L. W.
Reports of cases argued and decided in the Supreme court of
the State of Texas during Galveston session, and part of Tyler
session, 1856. By O. C. & R. K. Hartley. Vol. XVI. Galveston:
Printed at the Civilian book office. 1857. vii, 729, [1] p. 22.5
cm. 971
Ar-SC. Ct. G. Ia. IaDaGL. In-SC. MdBB. Me-LR. MiDB. Mi-L. NN.
Nb. Nc-S. Nj. OrSaW-L. PPB. PPiAL. PPTU-L. Pu-L. RPL. Tx-Sc.
TxDaM-L. TxGR. TxHSJM. TxSaSM-L. TxU-L. TxWB-L. W.
Reports of cases argued and decided in the Supreme court
of the State of Texas during the latter part of Tyler session,
and the former part of Austin Session, 1856. 0. C. &
R. K.
Hartley. Vol. XVII. Galveston: Printed at the Civilian book
office. 1857. 2 p. 1., xi, 745, [1] p. 2 1. 23 cm. 972
Ar-SC. Ct. G. Ia. IaDaGL. In-SC. KyLxFL. MdBB. Me-LR. MiDB.
Mi-L. Mn. NN. Nb. Nc-S. Nj. OrSaW-L. PPB. PPiAL. PPTU-L. PU-L.
RPL. Tx-SC. TxDaM-L. TxGR. TxSaCiA. TxSaSM-L. TxU-L. TxWB-L. W.
Texas.
Treasurer
and
ex-officio
superintendent
of
schools
(James
H.
Raymond.)
Report of the state Treasurer as ex-officio Superintendent of
schools, for the years 1856-'57. Printed by order of the Legis-
lature of Texas. Austin: Printed by John Marshall &
co., state
printers. 1857. 72 p. 21.5 cm. 973
"Abstract of reports of County courts, under 10th section of act of
August 29, 1856," p. [32]-56.
Tx.
Thomson,
F.
A.
Great railroad excitement. A good location for the next
depot. . . F. A. Thomson, Gay Hill, Washington County, Texas,
January 5, 1857. Brenham Enquirer print. Broadside. 1 p.,
printed in two columns. 18.7 x 30 cm. (15 x 22.9 cm.) 974*
List of land for sale in various parts of Texas.
TxHSJM.
U.S.
Army.
Department
of
Texas.
Orders no. 9. San Antonio, March 14, 1857. . . [on a routine
matter.] By order of Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston. Bvt.
Major Irwin McDowell, A.A.G. [n.p. 1857.] 2 p. 975*
Argosy Book Stores' catalog no. 221, item 353.
Waco
female
seminary.
Waco,
Texas.
Catalogue of Waco female seminary for 1856 and 1857, and
Prospectus of Bosque female seminary, and Male college, for
1857 and 1858. Bosque, July, 1857. Printed at the "Southerner"
office, Waco, Texas. 1857. 24 p. 22.3 cm. ppw. 976
This catalogue announces the passing of Waco female seminary and con-
tains a prospectus of Bosque female seminary.
TxU.
Ward
&
Simon,
publishers.
The Austin city chart. Frederick Ward and F. E. Simon,
publishers and proprietors. 1857. Printed at the "Southern
Intelligencer" book and job office, Hickory Street, Austin, Texas.
Broadside. 1 p. 81 x 6l cm. (74 x 55 cm.) 977
TxU.
Willie,
James.
A reply to Judge Frazer's review of the Penal code. By James
Willie. Austin: Printed at "Texas State Gazette" office. 1857.
63 p. 21 cm. 978
The reply is dated Austin, October, 1857.
Tx.
Woolridge,
John
R.
To the voters of Travis, Bastrop and Fayette. . . [Announces
his candidacy for representative.] Austin, June 16, 1857. John
R. Woolridge. [Austin, 1857.] Broadside. 1 p. 20.2x30.5 cm.
(15.5x25.5 cm.) 979
TxU.
Notes and Documents
Dr. John Sibley and the Louisiana-Texas
Frontier,
1803-18l4
Natchitoches July 17th 1811
About one Month ago Three or four Spanish Gentlemen from
Saint Antonio came to this Town,
89 they brought with them
about Twenty Thousand Dollars in Cash which they layed out
here in Merchandise which they took away Packed on Mules,
90
on their return home they were waylaied at the River Sabine
by fifteen or sixteen Armed Men all said to be Citizens of the
United States & Robed of all their Goods. The Spaniards pro-
ceeded on to Nacogdoches, as well as they Could & the Robbers
encamped on this side the Sabine with their booty. Three or
four days after the officer Commanding at Nacogdoches Sent
about thirty Soldiers (Cavalry) Accompanied by the persons
who had been Robbed, who Crossed the Sabine attacked the
Camp of the Brigands, Several discharges of Musquetry passed
between them the result was, the Spaniards Carried the Camp
retook all their Goods &
what property they could find belong-
ing to the Robbers, Consisting of twenty or thirty Horses &
Mules, Some Money, Goods, Saddles, Value-less Clothing etc
&
returned to Nacogdoches with the whole. The Spaniards
killed one of the Robbers a man formerly from Kentucky by
the Name of John Villers, wounded another by the Name of
Taylor from Georgia & took another Prisoner by the Name of
Middleton I believe from Virginia, there were four of the Span-
iards wounded one of whom Dangerously. The Robbers I be-
lieve have a Camp or place of Rendezvous at some place on
what they call Neutral Ground Between the Rio Honda & Sabine
& I believe they are sending emmissaries to Rapides, Oppolousas
[Opelousas] & to this Town to engage Recruits, for Some
other Outrage.
91
Yesterday Another party of Spaniards Came here Consisting
of fifteen Armed Men, tis said have brought with them a much
larger sum of Money to purchase goods with.
92 An Eschort of
Soldiers we understand Came with them Over the Sabine to
near this Town, but did not appear here, are waiting, till the
Spaniards return with the goods they purchase to Conduct them
Back. From Accounts from Nacogdoches there has lately Ar-
rived there Six hundred troops & it is said that the whole
Number Destined for that place is two Thousand, for what
purpose Such a Number are Collecting at Nacogdoches is not
ascertained;
93 but it probably may be from a Report having
Reached Mexico that Men were recruiting in the United States
& preparing to enter the Dominions of Spain for the purpose
of Aiding the Revolutionists, & it is no doubt true, that in this
Town, at Rapides &
Oppolousas some Efforts have been made
to Engage Men pretendedly for that Service, and that a Cor-
respondence in writing has been Carried On upon that Subject
between persons here &
leading Characters of the Revolutionary
party in the Spanish Country.
94 all the Troops at Nacogdoches
are Commanded by European Spanish officers or those Attached
to Ferdinand the Seventh who Seem to have gained An Ascend-
ency throughout the Kingdome of Mexico. About three or four
Months ago at the time when all the Country on this Side of
the River Grand appeared to be revolutionised the people were
proclaimed free & Independent.
95 An officer from the other
Side of River Grand of the Rank of General in the Revolu-
tionary Army Arrived at St. Antonio with an Eschort of about
thirty Men on his way to the United States, with a Very large
quantity of Money & Uncoined Barrs of Gold & Silver for the
purpose of procuring Assistance in Men &
Arms to Aid the
Revolutionists.
96 On his Arrival at St. Antonio thinking himself
Amongst his friends, Conceived all danger of being intercepted
at an end, when a Conspiracy was formed Against him by
leading Characters at St. Antonio tempted by the Immense
Sum of Money he had, he was Seized, delivered over to his
enemies & hanged with his brother &
several persons who ac-
companied him,
97 a Self Created Council was formed who took
Charge of his property, & are now purchasing goods with it
& pretend to be attached to Ferdinand the Seventh. The per-
sons who are Coming here to trade are members of that Council,
who pretend to Exercise both Civil &
Military Jurisdiction.―—
Besides the Encampment of Robbers on this Side of the River
Sabine, there is another Collection of Bad Men &
Some Women
at the Pecan Point On Red River a Most beautiful place between
the Caddo & Panis Tribes of Indians. I understand there Num-
ber is about Twenty and are daily Augmenting, Some of them
from this place, Some from Arkensa, Washita & Most of them
have Escaped from different Jails in the United States, the
Indians have repeatedly Complained to me of their Ill Conduct,
they are enemies to all Law & Good Order, & If suffered to
remain there long Undisturbed they will become so Strong that
it will Cost the Government an expensive expedition to remove
them. They are building Cabbins & Planting Corn &
doing
Great Mischief Among the Indians, And Inticing Negroes from
their Masters & receiving them as comrades. The Indians in
this quarter are all quiet & friendly to our Government & would
generally Conduct well was it not for their having too much
Intercourse with Bad white People, with which this frontier
of the United States is too much Invested.
I am Sir, with great esteem
Your Obt. Hble. Servt.
John Sibley
[Manuscript illegible]
(No title or number)
FOOTNOTES:
staged a counter-revolution in San Antonio, reestablishing the rule of the
Spaniards. They imprisoned Casas, with other rebels and the envoys of
Jiménez. These latter included Ignacio Aldama, Father Juan Salazar, two
Franciscans, and several soldiers; their coffers were heavy with silver bars.
They were commissioned to the United States to obtain supplies and men.
For details see Garrett, Green Flag Over Texas, 50-58; J. Villisana Haggard,
"The counter-Revolution of Béxar, 1811," The Southwestern Historical Quar -
terly, XLIII, 222-235.
established by the rebels between Texas and Louisiana, was abolished.
However, the restored Spanish government in San Antonio sent officials
to Natchitoches to trade; their purses were filled with the money they
had taken from Jiménez's envoys. In December, 1811, Don Nemesio, who
had forbidden even communication with Louisiana, authorized trade with
Natchitoches in order to obtain gifts for distribution among the Indians.
M. Salcedo to N. Salcedo, Mapimí, August 14, 1811; same to same, Béxar,
September 18, 1811, Historia Operaciones de Guerra; Salcedo, Manuel,
1810-1812, A.G.N., transcript BL., 67-69 (hereafter cited Operaciones,
Salcedo).
as a temporary settlement of the boundary dispute between Spain and the
United States, naturally became a haven of desperadoes, because in this
area neither the laws of Spain nor of the United States applied, nor did
any law of man exist. Marshall, A History of the Western Boundary of
the Louisiana Purchase, 27-30.
to Natchitoches, since Spanish documents report that large sums were
involved. Salazar stated in his trial for treason that the rebel chief
Jiménez had ordered all silver on hand at the Río Grande, as well as the
money he had collected, to be placed in the strong box of the church at
Monterrey. Jiménez afterward countermanded the order, sending it to
Casas in San Antonio. However, Salazar said that he knew nothing of the
silver. "Trial of Friar Juan Salazar," Historia Independiente, MS., vol.
412, A.G.N. The Junta of San Antonio reported that Casas had received
from Jiménez thirty-three and one-half loads of silver bars, and that
the Junta was waiting orders concerning the disposition of the wealth.
"Report of the Texas Deputies," MS., Nacogdoches Archives. In March,
1811, the commandant-general ordered Salcedo to return from Coahuila
to Texas as soon as possible, in order to direct to Vera Cruz the silver
seized in Béxar. Documentos Históricos Mexicanos. Obra conmemorativa
del primer centanario de la independencia de México, VI, 102-103. As late
as January, 1817, officials continued to investigate the loss of 125,000 pesos
carried from the Holy Church Cathedral in Monterrey by Jiménez in
1811. Historia Operaciones de Guerra, Arredondo, José Joaquín, 1811-1820
A.G.N., transcript BL., IV, 205 (hereafter cited as Operaciones, Arredondo.)
because at this time, Don Nemesio was pleading with the viceroy of
Mexico to send troops, as "Texas was destitute", and threatened with
invasion by French agents and American insurrectionists. Also, at this
time, Herrera, former commander of Texas troops, who had been seized
in the Casas revolution in San Antonio, sent as prisoner to Coahuila,
and later liberated during the counter-revolution in Coahuila, was return-
ing to Texas as governor to restore order. N. Salcedo to Viceroy Venegas,
Chihuahua, September 15, 1811, Historia, MS., vol. 331, A.G.N.; Docu -
mentos de la Independencia, Publicación de Secretaría de Educación Pública
(Mexico, 1928), I, 393-394.
States as minister to the American Government from the Supreme Junta
of Spain, had remained in Washington as an informer of French in-
trigues and aggressive plans of the United States in regard to Spanish
dominions. In April, 1811, both Onís and the Junta of Texas informed
their superiors of several designs of American revolutionists threatening
to invade Spanish territory to aid the rebels; Sibley's name was con-
nected with such an enterprise. Hatcher, The Opening of Texas, 212-213;
Onís to Viceroy Venegas, Philadelphia, April 24, 1811, Historia, Opera -
ciones de Guerra, Notas Diplomáticas 1809 á 1820, A.G.N., transcript
Béxar Archives (hereafter cited as Operaciones; Notas Diplomáticas)
III, 55-57.
chiefs Jiménez and Hidalgo, the envoys Aldama and Salazar were sent
to Monclova where they were tried for treason, and executed. "Trial of
Friar Juan Salazar in Monclova," Historia Independiente, MS., vol. 412,
A.G.N.
Texas Collection
President L. W. Kemp announced the appointment of the
first Ways and Means Committee of the Association at the
Austin meeting on April 27. The Executive Council gave hearty
approval to the following persons:
Leslie Waggener, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Republic
National Bank, Dallas, Chairman.
George P. Isbell, Southern Steel Company, San Antonio.
E. C. deMontel, Attorney, Wichita Falls.
David Donoghue, Consulting Geologist, Fort Worth.
Dr. Henry Maresh, The Maresh Clinic, Houston.
In general it is hoped that this group of Texas businessmen,
each one with a special interest in Texas history, will take a
business interest in the affairs of the Association. At present
we are, of course, much more concerned with possible incom-
ing funds than with the expenditure or investment of accumu-
lated funds. Accumulated funds and reserves are small, as a
glance at the Treasurer's Report in this number of the Quar
-
terly
will reveal. On the basis of the record it should be reason-
able to expect a larger financial support of the Association from
Texas sources.
There are, of course, hundreds of institutions in Texas worthy
of support: churches, hospitals, civic organizations, patriotic
societies, schools, and regional historical groups. Probably few,
if any, however, have operated on as restricted a budget as the
Association. Always we have kept expenses closely budgeted
against income. Dr. Barker explains that the Association has
existed for decades on a policy of "nickel nursing."
To use but a single example, one church in Texas, with a
membership smaller than that of the Association, recently
raised over $300,000. The Association has no idea of compet-
ing with any institution for funds, but there is no doubt that
with more funds we could multiply our services.
mittee has will have to come from the cooperation of the mem-
bership. As a starting point it has been suggested that the
committee's work might be initiated along three lines:
(1) The establishment of permanent publishing foundations for the
Association.
(2) The securing of additional advertising for the Quarterly.
(3) The encouragement of members to become Life Members, Sustain-
ing Members, and Patrons.
If given yeomen's coöperation from the membership, this
committee willl become a vital force for the promotion of Texas
history. The opportunities are great.
The Tentative
List
of
Subjects
for
the
Handbook
of
Texas
has produced no less than a flood of letters, comments, and sug-
gestions. An effort has been made to acknowledge all letters, but
the mass of correspondence has been so great that it has been
impossible to discuss in detail the merits of each case presented.
In practically every case the suggestion made has been helpful,
although it will not be possible to incorporate in the Handbook
each and every additional suggestion. To give some idea of the
problems involved and the monumental amount of work that
must yet go into the making of the Handbook
I am appending
hereto about one-third of the suggestions of Henry T. Fletcher,
of Marfa, who says, "Some of the enclosed may be duplicates
and some of them, in the opinion of the Handbook
Advisory
Council, may not be worthy of inclusion, which will not dis-
courage me enough to keep me from making other suggestions
as they occur to me." Such fine and helpful attitudes from
"Henry T. Fletchers" all over Texas eventually will make the
Handbook
the encyclopedic record of Texas which it proposes
to be. Mr. Fletcher says that the following list was suggested
largely by Francis Bernard Heitman's Historical
Register
and
Dictionary
of
the
United
States
Army,
II, 301-375.
The acquisition of the Beauregard Bryan Papers by the
University is announced in the Library
Chronicle,
I, No. 2, 32-34.
Thomas W. Streeter, of Morristown, New Jersey, the donor of
these highly important papers, has for many years been a life
member of the Association. Mr. Streeter is a generous con-
tributor to the book auction each year and, also, a prominent
purchaser.
An important accession to the Archives Collection in the Library was
made when Mr. Thomas W. Streeter of Morristown, New Jersey, presented
to The University of Texas the Beauregard Bryan Papers. Mr. Streeter
is a distinguished collector, a bibliographer of the first rank, and amicus
curiae
to a number of libraries that foster collections of early Americana.
Mr. Streeter has several excellent private collections. His Texiana before
1860 is unexcelled. Many will remember the rare pieces from this collec-
tion exhibited at the Texas Centennial in Dallas, and at the dedication of
the San Jacinto Museum of History. To acquire an original of every Texas
imprint, and of every piece relating to Texas printed elsewhere, before
1846, has been his goal. His wish to prepare a bibliography as complete as
possible for Texas, for the period 1795-1846, has played no small part in his
collecting. The bibliography is progressing satisfactorily. However, Mr.
Streeter discovered that the Beauregard Bryan Papers contained a dozen
or more broadsides that he lacked. To obtain them it was necessary for him
to buy the entire collection.
The Beauregard Bryan Papers comprise the private papers of his grand-
father, Ira Randolph Lewis, the papers of his father, Moses Austin Bryan,
and a small group of his own.
Ira R. Lewis was born in Virginia in 1800. He was educated in Cincinnati,
lived for several years in Mississippi and in Louisiana, and in 1831 came to
Texas. He was a member of the Permanent Council from Matagorda in
October, a member of the Consultation in November, 1835, and a member
of the Council in February, 1836. The greater part of 1836 he spent in the
United States, soliciting funds and enlisting volunteers in support of the
Texas cause. He attained eminence as a member of the Texas bar. He
died at the home of his son-in-law, Moses Austin Bryan, at Independence,
in August, 1867.
Moses Austin Bryan was born in Missouri in 1817. When his employers,
Perry & Hunter, determined to move to Texas, he accompanied W. W.
Hunter with the goods down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and thence to
Texas. He landed at Brazoria, January 5, 1831, and a few weeks later
the store was reopened at San Felipe. Stephen F. Austin, his uncle, was
in Saltillo at this time. When Austin returned home he made Moses Austin
Bryan his secretary, and took him to Saltillo for the next session of the
legislature. Austin visited Texas in the fall of 1832, but left Bryan in
Saltillo whither he expected to return. Instead, Austin went to Mexico to
seek relief for the colonists. When Austin returned, Bryan again served as
his secretary. He participated in the siege of Bexar, and in the battle of
San Jacinto. He was a planter, took an active interest in education, and
helped to organize the Texas Veterans. He served as secretary of the Texas
Veterans from May, 1873, till April, 1886. He died at the home of his son,
Beauregard Bryan, in Brenham, March 16, 1895.
Beauregard Bryan was born in Brazoria County in 1862. He was edu-
cated at Baylor and The University of Texas, established the Herald
at
Wichita Falls, practiced law at Brenham from 1885 to 1902. He was a
member of the Board of Regents of The University of Texas from 1895 to
1907, and was for ten years vice-president of the Texas State Historical
Association. He died at El Paso in 1918.
There are upwards of two thousand documents in the Beauregard Bryan
Papers. The Moses Austin Bryan papers in the collection possess the
greatest interest. Recollections of his uncle, Stephen F. Austin, a series
of 225 letters from his brother, Guy M. Bryan, and the correspondence of
the Texas Veterans deserve special mention. However, the entire collection
makes substantial additions to the information contained in other collec-
tions previously given to the University, such as the Austin Papers, the
Guy M. Bryan Papers, the James F. Perry Papers, and the Texas Veterans
Papers. Each is strengthened by this gift. The Beauregard Bryan Papers
constitute the last large collection of papers relating to the early history
of the family of that remarkable man, Moses Austin, with whom "the idea
of forming a settlement of North Americans in the wilderness of Texas
originated."
* * *
The Library
Chronicle
(Spring, 1945) also reported on two
interesting items of Texana.
The University was recently given a volume entitled An
Abstract
of
the
Original
Titles
of
Record
in
the
General
Land
Office.
Printed
in
accordance
with
a
resolution
of
the
House
of
Representatives,
passed
24th
May,
1838.
(Houston, National Banner Office -- Niles & Co., printers, 1838) 182 p.
32cm. The Resolution required the Commissioner of the General Land Office
"to have printed one thousand copies of the abstract of the books of his
office prepared by the clerk to the Committee on Public Lands." It was the
first publication of this kind issued by the Republic of Texas. Since Texas
retained her public land when she entered the Union, other volumes of
abstracts of titles followed until the series now numbers over sixty volumes.
The titles listed in this volume are grouped under the name of the agent
who issued them; for example, "A list of titles issued by Talbot Chambers,
commissioner for Milam's Colony," " A list of titles issued by Jose Antonio
Navarro in Green DeWitt's Colony," "A list of titles issued by the com-
missioner, George W. Smyth, in various places, in 1835." The information
about each title includes the name of the grantee, date of the title, quantity
of land, and its location. The location is indicated by reference to an
adjacent river, creek or other geographic feature; for instance, "Bernard,
W. side; Caney Creek, joins John Stevenson"; "Mill Creek, E. fork, W.
side"; "Yegua, joins J. P. Coles"; "San Jacinto, W. side, first above junc-
tion."
The Library now has four copies of this Abstract;
all of them are incom-
plete. However, between them they supply the parts necessary for a com-
plete volume. The poor condition of these copies results from the fact that
this document, like all others published by the Republic, was unbound. Also,
it was much used. Two of the Library's copies have title-pages: on one
appears the autograph of Ashbel Smith; on the other, the new copy, the
autograph of George W. Smyth, both men of prominence in the Republic
and State of Texas.
The first Association of Baptists to be organized in Texas was the "Union
Baptist Association, begun and held in the Town of Travis in Western
Texas, October 8, 1840." It still survives, and to it have been added at least
250 more such associations. From the beginning the Union and other
Associations printed their minutes each year. The total number of such
minutes is not known, but it would probably run to between 7,500 and
10,000. The University of Texas is one among a few libraries in Texas that
collects these minutes, now having 962 pamphlets of which a lot of 120 was
acquired during the present quarter. This recent acquisition represents
minutes of Associations scattered over the state and for the period 1888-
1941. Association minutes deal with such subjects as education, missions,
orphanages, temperance, religious literature, and the internal government
of the Associations, and are useful sources of biographical material through
their obituary notices.
* * *
Harry Pennington, president of the Sons of the Republic of
Texas, has announced the following as winners of the James
Monroe Hill Texas History Essay Contest for 1945.
Clarendon, Texas
Miss Mary Hill
El Paso, Texas
Ball High School
Galveston, Texas
The subject for 1945 was "The Navy of the Republic of
Texas." Dr. Ira Thomas Taylor, county school superinten-
dent of Jackson County and a well-known local history enthus-
iast, was chairman of the Essay Committee.
Mr. Pennington has presented Miss McCrary, the first place
winner, with a year's membership in the Association. Also the
Sons have published Miss Crary's paper in an attractive pam-
phlet with an illustration of the Texas flagship, Austin,
on the
cover. George A. Hill, Jr., a vice-president of the Association,
sponsors this contest each year.
R. H. Porter, director of publications for the Steck Com-
pany of Austin, writes regarding the book auction:
The book auction does valuable service in arousing interest in Texas
books, and we are glad to contribute any of our facsimile reproductions in
which there may be interest. The more Texas books we can get onto the
bookshelves of Texans, the better the market for books will be.
* * *
Brigadier General J. Watt Page, state director of Selective
Service, has presented to the Association a copy of the book-
let: State
of
Texas
Veterans
Program.
The color scheme of
the cover embodies an attractive use of the star and colors of
the Texas flag.
* * *
Mrs. Merle McClellan, of the department of history of Bay-
lor University, has again scored a splendid success in the ar-
rangement of a regional historical program. The March 6 re-
gional meeting of the Association at Baylor was another link
in Mrs. McClellan's chain of valuable services to the Associa-
tion. From beginning to end the program was well planned
and executed. There was no lost motion, and the approximately
one hundred and twenty-five persons in attendance had an en-
joyable time winding along the trails of Texas history. A copy
of the program follows:
TEXAS STATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
REGIONAL MEETING
WITH BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
First
Session,
March 6, 2:30 P.M., Baylor Studio Theater
Presiding:
Mr. L. W. Kemp, President, Texas State Historical Associa-
tion, Houston, Texas.
Address
of
Welcome:
President Pat M. Neff, Baylor University
Response
to
Welcome:
Mr. George P. Isbell, San Antonio, Texas
Address:
"Masonry in the Early Days of Texas,"
Judge Joseph W. Hale, Waco, Texas
"Activities of the Baylor Historical Society"
Mrs. Lily M. Russell, Director of Public Relations, Baylor University
Motion
Picture
:
"Historic Spots of Texas," photographed and shown by
Mrs. A. R. Wilson, Waco, Texas
Second
Session:
Tea, 5:00 p.m., Texas History Library
Third
Session:
Banquet, 7:00 P.M., Catherine Alexander Hall
Presiding:
Dr. Herbert Gambrell, Director of the Hall of State, Dallas,
Texas
Invocation:
Dr. F. G. Guittard, Head of Department of History, Baylor
University.
"Texas Our Texas," Miss Dorothy Wilbanks, Waco, Soprano, Pupil of
Robert Hopkins, Baylor University School of Music
In
Memoriam:
"Dr. Kenneth Aynesworth"
Dr. Bailey Carroll, Professor Guy B. Harrison
"Judge William Sleeper and Mr. Clint Padgitt"
Address:
"Baylor University 1851-61."
Dr. J. D. Bragg, Department of History
Baylor University
President Neff, Mrs. Russell, George. P. Isbell, and Herbert
Gambrell all brought out in their remarks that in the past cen-
tury Baylor had, at times, given little emphasis to Texas his-
tory. Such is not now the case; Baylor University now stands
in the front ranks of the Texas institutions giving due atten-
tion to the historic past of the state. Mrs. Russell brought out
that the impetus for the creation of the Baylor Historical So-
ciety came from the Association's regional meeting there in
1941.
Baylor University was chartered by the Republic of Texas in
1845 and is now celebrating its centenary. This regional meet-
ing was a part of several centennial observances, all under the
general direction of Mrs. Lily M. Russell of Baylor.
* * *
As work progresses on the Handbook
of
Texas,
it becomes
increasingly important to furnish prospective writers and con-
tributors samples of well-done articles already finished. Mrs.
Alice Duggan Gracy's "Lamb County" is presented here as an
example of an excellent and thoroughly acceptable county his-
tory sketch.
Lamb County is located on the South Plains in the Texas Panhandle. It
is almost square in shape, being thirty miles from east to west and thirty-
four miles from north to south. Although the surface gives the appearance
of being level, actually there is a slope upward from the southeast to the
northwest with a rise in elevation from about 3,550 to 3,750 feet. The out-
standing physical features of the county include: three tributaries of the
Brazos River, namely, Running Water Draw, Yellow House Draw, and
Blackwater Draw, termed the Double Mountain Fork on recent maps; two
gypsum lakes, Bull and Illusion; the countless "wet-weather" lakes, so-called
because they become lakes only when it rains; and the line of Sand Hills,
which extend across the northern part of the county in such a way that
approximately one-third of it lies to the north and two-thirds, to the south
of this natural barrier.
The climate is typical of a semi-arid region, with the rainy season coming
during the summer months. The average rainfall is 17.64 inches; the aver-
age snowfall is 7.4 inches. Sand storms are associated particularly with
the early spring, and hail storms frequently come with summer. The mean
temperature is 62.5 degrees. The average velocity of the wind is 12 miles
an hour. There is no timber, but trees have been planted along the high-
ways and around the homes. No minerals were listed for Lamb County
until late in 1944, when oil was discovered. Once a land where men died of
thirst, Lamb County is now known to be in the shallow-water belt of the
South Plains; this means that sufficient water is found at depths of 20 to
120 feet. The soil is sandy loam, red, brown, and reddish brown. The crops
are those especially adapted to dry-land farming: the grain sorghums,
cotton, and some wheat, north of the Sand Hills. In 1940, 941/2 per cent of
the entire county was in cultivation; only 2.3 per cent of this acreage was
irrigated. Lamb County was first a ranching country, then a farming
country, but now it is a combination of both, a stock-farming country.
On August 21, 1876, the Fifteenth Legislature of Texas created Lamb
County from Bexar Territory. The new county was named for Lieutenant
George A. Lamb,qv a South Carolinian, who was killed in the Battle of San
Jacinto. Lamb County has passed through five definite periods in its
transition from a part of the Great American Desert to a modern county
of the twentieth century. First, there were the Indians, who used the South
Plains as a refuge and as a meeting place for trading with the New Mexi-
cans. One much used Comanchero trail crossed Lamb County in the south-
west corner, touching Bull Lake; another trail, later named the Mackenzie
Trail,qv followed the well-known water holes across the northern part of
the county. By 1872, however, the soldiers were in close pursuit, and the
Indians were no longer safe even on the South Plains; by 1875 they had
ceased to be a menace. Following the soldiers came the buffalo hunters, who
virtually cleared the Plains of the buffalo by 1878. This opened the way for
cattlemen and large ranches. Lamb County was one of the ten counties from
which the 3,000,000 acres was taken to pay for the present State Capitol.
A great part of the county was patented to the Capitol Syndicate and was
by it, in 1885, incorporated into the Yellow House and Spring Lake Divisions
of the XIT Ranch.qv In 1901 these two divisions were sold. In 1907 and
1908, the first subdivision, which was in the northeast part of the county,
was put on the market. It was quickly sold out to the permanent settler,
the farmer, whose advent marked the beginning of the fifth and present
period.
Lamb County was organized May 12, 1908. Olton, which is north of the
Sand Hills, was named the county seat. In 1912 the development of the
southern part of the county began. By January 1, 1914, traffic was mov-
ing over the recently completed Santa Fe Railroad, which remains the only
one in the county. Three towns are located along this railroad: Amherst,
Littlefield, and Sudan. Other communities in the county are Fieldton,
Lum's Chapel, Hart's Camp, Earth, Spring Lake, Spade, Pleasant Valley,
and Yellow House Switch. There are four paved highways which cross
Lamb County: U.S. 24, U.S. 70, State 51, and one as yet unnumbered. The
population in 1940 was 17,606. Littlefield, the largest town in the county,
has an approved airport. The educational system ranks high, since every
school is standardized and accredited. The facilities for medical care are
excellent, as there are three hospitals in the county, the one in Amherst
being a cooperative hospital of proved success. The county, in 1945, had
the following industries: a flour mill, a compress and warehouse, a cotton
oil company, a creamery, feeding pens for a packing company, and num-
erous gins and grain elevators.
Alice Duggan Gracy
Mrs. Gracy's letter accompanying the article contains a par-
agraph that provides an example of the interest in and need
for the Handbook.
Before typing this, I sent a copy to a friend of mine in Littlefield
to read for any possible errors of statement I might have made. She wrote
that she wanted a copy for the school; she teaches in the system there.
She continues, "You have no idea how many children are always seeking
information about our county and I am sure the school will be glad to
have this on file." This article, of course, does not belong to me; it is your
property; so they will have to wait for the Handbook
of
Texas.
I hope that
it will not have to be too long, for it is clear that the need is great.
* * *
The
Junior
Historian
of the Pennsylvania Federation of
Junior Historians for February, 1945, reports as follows:
The fine publications of the Texas State Historical Association, The
Junior
Historian,
and of the New York State Historical Association, The
Yorker,
are received regularly in the Federal office. Congratulations are
due to the officers of these organizations and the editors of the publications
for the excellent material contained in both.
* * *
An article by William D. Hoyt, Jr., assistant director of the
Maryland Historical Society, in New
York
History,
April, 1945,
entitled "Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, Jr., at West Point, 1850"
points out that after Bonaparte's graduation from West Point
in 1852 he served for two years at frontier posts in Texas. Dr.
Hoyt portrays Bonaparte as a prolific letter writer:
He sent reports on passing events ... at least once a week . . . during
the entire period from 1850 to 1870. Last winter this voluminous corres-
pondence, amounting to more than 460 separate epistles -- all carefully
labelled and filed by his father -- came to light in a chest at the Maryland
Historical Society, in Baltimore. I say that Jerome was a good letter
writer, and that is true in more than one meaning of the word. He wrote
well, expressing himself on all sorts of subjects at length and with con-
siderable style. There are letters from West Point, Texas, Paris, Algiers,
Sevastopol, Algiers again, and desert camps, Italy, etc. -- each one a
delight to read. One feature which makes these papers definitely first rate
is Jerome's wonderful sense of humor.
The letters from frontier Texas should be valuable commen-
taries, and steps are being taken to make them available in the
Quarterly.
* * *
The following notice from the Centennial of Statehood Com-
mission will be of interest to history minded Texans and
especially to the public school officials of the state. The notice
projects a program for remembering the centennial of state-
hood with appropriate local ceremonies. The time is of course
highly auspicious for the consideration of annexation, its back-
ground, and its consequences: one hundred years of statehood.
The Texas Centennial of Statehood: Patriotic and
Educational Program
In 1941 the Forty-seventh Legislature authorized the organization of the
Texas Centennial of Statehood Commission. Prior to 1941, through the
Texas State Historical Association, Sons of the Republic of Texas,
Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Sons of the American Revolution,
and other patriotic bodies there has been conducted a campaign for an
observance of the centennial of annexation.
For four years preparations have been in the making, with no blaring of
trumpets but with a great deal of painstaking effort, earnest thought, and
study. The work has been almost exclusively in the hands of a few members
of the commission, of which Mr. Karl Hoblitzelle is chairman. Without an
appropriation and with a war yet to be won, plans have been initiated
that the observance may be of lasting benefit and not just a brief flag-
waving event.
Expressions of sentiment in favor of such an enterprise have been made
manifest in numerous resolutions, in thousands of letters received by the
commission, almost universally in the Texas press, in a state-wide high
school essay contest conducted by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas,
and through group gatherings held at various points throughout the state.
At the historical group assembly called by Commissioner A. Garland
Adair held March 21, 1945, at Austin, it was resolved that programs should
be held all over Texas, beginning with the opening of the 1945 fall term
of the public schools and extending into 1946, with a central observance at
Austin during the month of February. A resolution to this effect was
authorized to be prepared by former Senator T. J. Holbrook for presen-
tation to the legislature. The resolution was introduced by Hon. S. J.
Isaacs, met with the unanimous approval of House and Senate, and ap-
proved by Governor Stevenson. This has been accepted as a pattern to
follow in planning the historical phases. The present Forty-ninth Legis-
lature approved the general features of the program for the 1945 and 1946
observances of annexation as submitted by the Centennial Commission and
extended the life of the Commission through that period.
In co-operation with the victory schedule and in order to take the Cen-
tennial to all the people, the Commission has adopted the twenty-one con-
gressional district divisions as geographical units for the various ob-
servances.
Timely programs are suggested as follows: At Washington-on-the-Brazos
sometime in June, commemorating the meeting of the last Congress of the
Republic; at Austin sometime in July or August, the centennial of the Con-
gress which drafted the first state constitution; during September, programs
in the schools of Texas commemorating adoption of the constitution and
ratification of annexation by the people; during October and November,
county programs commemorating elections held in 1845 to name the first
Texas state officials; at Washington, D. C., program on December 29, 1945,
when a centennial postage stamp will be issued; at Galveston early in Jan-
uary, 1946, programs to commemorate the arrival in Texas of the first
news of annexation; at Houston starting in January, 1946, programs com-
memorating annexation events, to be climaxed with timely features of
observance at San Jacinto.
Matters such as these are receiving attention: organization of a speakers'
bureau; publication of historical brochures, bulletins, pictures, and other
literature; distribution of motion picture films; encouragement of pageants,
radio broadcasts, and other programs; and, to promote the Good Neighbor
Policy of the state and the nation, district programs at El Paso, Browns-
ville, and other intermediate points on the Rio Grande or at such points
as may be decided upon, with a central Latin American assembly at San
Antonio and with timely historical commemorative features at the Alamo.
Regional and county gatherings are suggested to plan their own com-
memorative events. In these democratic assemblies proposals may be sub-
mitted for clearance through the commission which will direct the co-
ordination of the programs wherever and whenever requested to do so.
The Austin unit, in like co-ordinated effort, will plan the central observ-
ance for the Capital City during February, 1946.
* * *
A mimeographed copy of an Index
of
Indexes
and
Minor
Col
-
lections
in
the
Library
of
The
University
of
Texas
has been re-
ceived from Donald Coney, librarian. This index makes a
record of numerous items not fully displayed in the main card
catalog. Entries are given below which relate to Texas material
that will be of value to individual researchers and to local Texas
librarians interested in interlibrary borrowing.
NEWSPAPERS (Archives Collection; card catalog trays)
42 indexes to more than 400 yearly volumes of Texas newspapers (1829-1934), intended as a
generally useful guide to the names of people figuring in Texas news of the times; arranged
alphabetically by name of person.
OLD HOUSES SURVEY PHOTOGRAPHS (Archives Collection; drawer
in filing cabinet)
Collection of photographs of old houses and public buildings in Texas; arranged in envelopes
alphabetically by county.
PICTURE FILE (Archives Collection; card catalog tray)
Index to pictures, largely of Texas people and scenes; arranged alphabetically by subject.
POPULATION SCHEDULES OF TEXAS, 1850 and 1860 (Archives Col-
lection; card catalog trays)
Index to microfilms, in Archives, of Texas census reports of 1850 and 1860; arranged
alphabetically by name of head of family.
SCRAPBOOKS (Archives Collection; card catalog tray)
Index to scrapbooks of newspaper clippings about Texas counties and subjects and people
of historical interest; arranged alphabetically by subject.
TEXAS MANUSCRIPTS CATALOGUED (Archives Collection; card cata-
log trays)
Index to photostated and typed copies of documents from the United States, Spain, and
Mexico, relating to Texas history; arranged alphabetically by subject.
TEXAS MAPS (Archives Collection; card catalog tray)
Index to collection of various kinds of maps of Texas; arranged by date and by subject.
TEXAS PHYSICIANS, MEDICAL PRACTICES, AND HOME REME-
DIES (Archives Collection; card catalog trays)
Index to biographical material on Texas physicians before 1870 and to transcripts of news-
paper articles relating to medical practices and home remedies before 1870; arranged
alphabetically by subject.
TEXAS STATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION PUBLICATIONS. IN-
DEX. (Archives Collection; Southwestern
Historical
Quarterly,
V. 41,
No. 1, July, 1937)
Index covers publications from July, 1897, through April, 1937 ; arranged in three parts: to
articles arranged (1) alphabetically by author, (2) by topic, (3) to book reviews and notes,
arranged topically and alphabetically under name of reviewer.
TRANSCRIPTS UNCATALOGUED (Archives Collection; card catalog
tray)
Index to uncataloged transcripts of documents relating to Texas history; arranged alpha-
betically by subject.
UNION CATALOG OF TEXIANA (Z Section, third floor, main stacks)
Card catalog of material on Texas in many college and public libraries in the State; arranged
alphabetically by author and giving location of copies.
NEWSPAPER INDEX (Newspaper Collection, Main B. 4; card catalog
trays)
Selective subject index to numerous files of Texas and other newspapers; arranged alpha-
betically by subject.
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF TEXANS (Texas Collection, Archives,
Bibliographer's Office; 7 typewritten volumes)
Index of 165 separate works in The University of Texas, State, and private libraries, con-
taining biographical sketches of nearly 50,000 Texans ; explanatory key on pp. 1-8 of each
volume; card index from which sheets were typed held in Archives for future cumulations.
MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS
FROM 1846 TO 1939. INDEX. (Texas Collection stacks)
Typewritten index, arranged alphabetically by name of legislator; call number: T328.7648
T3l2rm Index
PAMPHLET FILE. TEXAS (Texas Collection; vertical file)
Pamphlets and other material; arranged alphabetically by subject in folders.
REFERENCE FILE (Texas Collection; boxes in bookcase)
Ready reference questions and answers on cards ; arranged alphabetically by subject.
TEXAS BOOKS. INDEXES (Texas Collection; boxes on mezzanine
shelves)
Card indexes of some 43 separate books dealing with Texiana, such as C. M. Barnes's
Combats
and
Conquests,
J. C. Duval's Early
Times
in
Texas,
Sowell's Texas
Indian
Fighters,
Wilbarger's Indian
Depredations
in
Texas
arranged alphabetically by subject. Some 12 of
these books are indexed by Biographical
Index
of
Texans.
TEXAS PERIODICALS. INDEXES (Texas Collection; card catalog
trays)
Card indexes of 12 periodicals of Texas significance and interest; arranged alphabetically by
subject, usually biographee. Periodicals indexed include Alcalde, Cattleman, Confederate
Veteran, Frontier Times, Holland's Magazine, Hunter's Magazine, Southern Pharmaceutical
Journal, Southwest Review, Texas Bankers Record, Texas Magazine, Texas State Journal of
Medicine, and Texas Weekly.
WHO'S WHO. INDEX (Texas Collection; card catalog tray)
Card index to personal names of Texans in Who's
Who
in
America
(1899-1933) ; arranged
alphabetically by name of biographee; typewritten copy of index on sheets in Bibliographer's
Office.
DR. BATTLE'S LIBRARY (M. B. 2701)
Approximately 11,000 volumes, largely on classical subjects (some books on Texas).
* * *
Boone McClure reports as follows on the annual meeting of
the Panhandle-Plains Historical Society:
The Panhandle-Plains Historical Society held its twenty-sixth annual
meeting in Canyon, Texas, on May 11, 1945, on the campus of West Texas
State College. Splendid attendance and much optimism for the future of
the society and its program highlighted the entire proceedings of the day.
A majority of the eighty members was present for the meeting of the
Board of Directors; approximately one hundred persons attended the Gen-
eral Business Session; and about two hundred members and friends were
seated at the dinner.
At the meeting of the Board of Directors, presided over by John L.
McCarty of Amarillo, plans were formulated for the resumption of work
on the second unit of the Museum Building, and the ground work was laid
for a financial campaign to finance this construction. The second unit of
the museum was under construction at the outbreak of the war, when work
was halted because of labor conditions. The Board of Directors also elected
the following new group of officers for the ensuing year: President, Newton
Harrell of Claude; First Vice-President, Hamlin Y. Overstreet of Farwell;
Second Vice-President, Harold D. Bugbee of Clarendon; Executive Secre-
tary, L. F. Sheffy of Canyon; Treasurer, W. L. Vaughan of Canyon.
Retiring officers are: President, James D. Hamlin of Farwell; First Vice-
President, W. T. Coble of Amarillo; Second Vice-President, J. A. Hill of
Canyon. The new Executive Committee is composed of the new officers and
five directors to be selected at a meeting of the Board of Directors to be
held in Amarillo on June 9.
At the General Business Session J. Evetts Haley read a paper on Jeff
Milton, Texas Ranger. Haley's literary style, so rich in the vernacular of
the range, was enthusiastically received by the audience composed largely
of his own kind, the pioneers and the cowmen of the plains. The paper was
taken from Haley's forthcoming book on the life of Jeff Milton; and his
inimitable style added much flavor for his home audience.
Floyd V. Studer, Director of the Museum, Boone McClure, Assistant
Director of the Museum, and W. L. Vaughan, Treasurer of the Society,
made annual reports.
The evening meeting of the Society, always held as a part of the annual
dinner for the members, honored the Benefactors of the Museum, namely:
James D. Hamlin of Farwell; Floyd V. Studer of Amarillo; and O. T.
Nicholson of Shamrock, who were presented certificates by L. F. Sheffy.
Judge Hamlin was toastmaster of the dinner and introduced H. Bailey
Carroll, who delivered the address of the evening in which emphasis was
put on the work of the Texas State Historical Association in the publica-
tion of the Handbook
of
Texas
and the sponsorship of the Junior Historian
movement in Texas. He explained the aims and purposes of these two monu-
mental contributions to Texas history and reported briefly on the progress
of each undertaking. He urged the Panhandle-Plains Historical Society to
cooperative both collectively and individually with the state association in
accomplishing the aims of these two endeavors.
J. Evetts Haley announced the establishment of the Earl Vandale Award,
an annual grant of one hundred dollars to the person adjudged to have
written the best paper on some phase of Panhandle-Plains history.
* * *
In the steady expansion of the Association's membership
many new members from outside Texas have been added to the
rolls. The following letter from R. I. Nesmith, 50 East 42nd
Street, New York, New York, is from one of these new out-of-
state members.
The president of the Spring Valley New York Historical Society, Mr.
W. B. Talman, made me a member of the Association for a Christmas
present and introduced me to L. W. Kemp when I was in Texas in January.
You can blame them for having an old buccaneer and treasure hunter on
your membership.
Through your magazine, I am grateful for the discovery of one of the
most helpful books I have ever seen: Haggard, Handbook
for
Translators
of
Spanish
Historical
Documents.
I have ordered copies for Dr. A. F.
Pradeau of Los Angeles, author of The
Numismatic
History
of
Mexico,
and
for the library of the American Numismatic Association. But for your
Quarterly,
I would have never known about it.
If my Texas researchers and I ever dig up a Spanish galleon that we
think is still along your shore, I will have an article for the Quarterly.
Although we do not seriously expect to find any treasure, I do want a
couple of weeks vacation on the Gulf and some Texas sunshine.
* * *
Mrs. Lipscomb Norvell of Beaumont is the newest life mem-
ber of the Association. Mrs. Norvell will be remembered by
many generations of Texans as the "Queen of King's Highway."
As far back as 1915 she began fighting for the preservation of
El Camino Real and as a product of her labors saw the old road
marked in 1936 all the way from the Pendleton Crossing on the
Sabine to Laredo on the Rio Grande.
Now Mrs. Norvell is taking an active part in the Natchez-
Natchitoches-San Antonio Parkway Association, which is seek-
ing to have constructed a monumental parkway from Washing-
ton, D. C., to Mexico City. The proposed memorial parkway
would of course coincide with the route of El Camino Real
across Texas. The parkway would, in every sense of the word,
be a living memorial to early heroic pioneer achievement in
Texas.
We welcome Mrs. Norvell as a worthy addition to our dis-
tinguished group of life members.
* * *
Joe B. Finley of Encinal, manager of the Callaghan Land and
Pastoral Company, has kindly sent to the office copies of Paul
I. Wellman's book, The
Callaghan:
Yesterday
and
Today.
It is
the story of the Callaghan Ranch, with its 250,000 acres in the
Brasada, from shortly after the Civil War to the present. With-
in its eighty-two pages the book is generously and beautifully
illustrated. It is a splendid story of the development of one of
our major Texas ranches.
* * *
Maury Maverick, chairman of the Smaller War Plants Cor-
poration, Washington, D. C., sends the following information
and inquiry:
I should like to contact some expert on the Civil War who could tell me
the author of the Confederate marching song sung by the Infantry of
General John Hood's army on the way from Nashville in December, 1864.
The words were put to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas," and the
only stanza I know is:
And now I'm going Southward
For my heart is full of woe
I'm going back to Georgia
To find my Uncle Joe
You may sing about your dearest maid
And sing of Rosalie
But the gallant Hood of Texas
Played hell in Tennessee.
If possible, I should like also to find out if there are any more stanzas,
if the complete song has been, printed, and where I can find it.
* * *
Clinton P. Anderson, new secretary of agriculture, has been
a member of the Association since 1941. He takes his history
seriously and has contributed historical articles to the New
Mexico
Historical
Review.
His Texas connections are many:
he has been for many years an avid book collector; and he was
the director of the Coronado Cuarto Centennial Commission.
Agriculture is a highly important phase of the life of the Amer-
ican people, and one does not make more than an initial step
into the field without needing a knowledge of the history of the
topic under consideration. Secretary Anderson brings to the
Department of Agriculture a rich background of experience.
* * *
Judge William Hawley Atwell, of Dallas, rendered a real
service to the office by sending a clipping from the Dallas Morn
-
ing
News
of May 3, 1945. The clipping was of an article by
Kenneth Foree entitled "A Giant Who Threatened to Boot a
Governor." The article begins, "Few Dallas Countians have
ever heard of Big A. Bledsoe. But they should." The giant Bled-
soe crossed swords with Governor E. J. Davis and won an over-
whelming victory. All Texans could review the Bledsoe record
with profit.
* * *
Leslie Waggener, chairman of the Executive Committee of
the Republic National Bank, Dallas, has furnished the Associa-
tion a photostatic copy of the scarce first Catalogue
of
the
Uni
-
versity
of
Texas,
1883-4.
Mr. Waggener's father, Leslie Wag-
gener, is listed as Professor of English Language, History, and
Literature, with I. H. Bryant as assistant in the department.
The first history offerings at the University are described on
page 26.
Prof. Waggener. Assistant, I. H. Bryant.
History
I Class.--History of Greece. Smith's.
History of Rome. Leighton's.
Lectures on Roman Constitution.
II Class.--History of Middle Ages. Hallam's.
Modern History from Fall of Constantinople to French Revo-
lution. Michelet's.
III Class.--History of England. Green's Short History.
Constitutional History of the United States. Von Holst, Vol.
II. Lectures.
* * *
Judge James E. Wheat, Woodville, Texas, sends the follow-
ing communication:
Dr. S. W. Geiser, in the January issue of the Quarterly,
in a note on
demised Masonic Lodges, refers (p. 422 n.) to Tyler Lodge No. 50, at Town
Bluff, Texas. I have been making some investigations on the early history
of Masonry in Tyler County, and find that although Town Bluff is now a
ghost town, it was not such in 1854, when the charter of Tyler Lodge No.
50 was revoked.
Town Bluff was the only town in Tyler County when the county was
created in 1846. The county seat was located and named "Woodville" in
1847, while George T. Wood was governor of Texas. However, Town Bluff
on the Neches continued to be the largest town in Tyler County until the
coming of the railroads in the eighties.
While the list of demised lodges given in several issues examined of the
Proceedings
of
the
Grand
Lodge
states that Tyler Lodge was chartered in
1854 and demised in 1858, these dates obviously do not cover the period of
the lodge's activity.* On page 276, Vol. I, of A. S. Ruthven's Proceedings
of
the
Grand
Lodge
of
Texas,
1837-1857
(1860) it is reported (January 16,
1849) as follows:
Since the close of our last Grand Annual Communication, dispensa-
tions have been granted for the following lodges, to-wit:
Florida Lodge, No. 46, Fayette County, Teutonia Lodge, No. 47,
Galveston; Liberty Lodge, No. 48, Liberty; St. John Lodge, No. 49,
Columbia, Tyler Lodge, No. 50, Town Bluff, Tyler County; Tannehill
Lodge, No. 52, Dallas, Dallas County; St. John Lodge, No. 53, Tyler,
Smith County; Grand Bluff Lodge, No. 54, Grand Bluff, Panola County.
All of which I trust will be forthcoming during the present session
and show an account of their labors.
The minutes of the Woodville Lodge No. 62 are now in the possession
of Magnolia Lodge No. 495. The first entry in these minutes shows that
the officers of Woodville Lodge were installed in Tyler Lodge No. 50 at
Town Bluff on March 18, 1849, by Z. Williams Eddy, DDGM of the Third
Masonic District, with Wyatt Hanks acting as installing officer.
Mrs. T. M. Milam of Fort Stockton, Texas, has in her possession a letter
written January 26, 1889 by N. B. Charlton to her father, William W.
Arnett. In this letter Charlton says:
I was made a Master Mason at Town Bluff in 1844 by Taylor, author
of the Taylor Monitor.
I assisted in the organizing of the Woodville
Lodge and lived with them a number of years.
Charlton was installed as Junior Warden of the Woodville Lodge at the
installation ceremonies above mentioned.
While it is doubtful that the lodge functioned from 1844 to 1849, with-
out any authority, it is obvious that the lodge was in informal existence in
1848, when the dispensation was issued by the Grand Secretary as reported
in January, 1849. It is also possible that those who organized the Wood-
ville Lodge in 1849, were all members of Tyler Lodge No. 50 before the
town of Woodville was located.
It is generally understood that Tyler County was named for President
John Tyler, who was very active in securing the annexation of Texas to
the United States. However, his term of office expired in 1844, and James
K. Polk was President in 1846, when Tyler County was created. Doubtless
Tyler Lodge also was named in honor of the former President.
At any rate, the history of Tyler Lodge No. 50 was not a long one. In
1853, the Grand Lodge passed a resolution requiring the Deputy Grand
Master to make investigation of the affairs of the lodge.
At the next meeting of the Grand Lodge, in January, 1854, he reported
that he went to Town Bluff on November 3, 1853, and notified the Worship-
ful Master to summon all members of the lodge to meet him, and that he
required a statement from each member, which he committed to writing
and submitted to the Grand Lodge.
He reported that the lodge had been guilty of immoral and unMasonic
conduct in the following particulars:
1. In permitting the vices of intemperance and gambling to be
indulged in to too great an extent by its members, without calling them
to account and punishing them therefor; which conduct is contrary to
ancient Constitutions of Free Masonry, and much calculated to bring
it into disrepute and diminish its usefulness.
2. In initiating a candidate when he was too much intoxicated to
understand what he was doing.
3. In conferring the Fellow Craft's Degree on a candidate who was
too much intoxicated to receive it.
4. In permitting spiritous liquors to be brought to the anteroom of
the Lodge, contrary to all the ancient usages of Masonry as well as
the express written provisions of the Constitution of the Grand Lodge
of Texas.
5. In retaining several members in good standing, to the number
of at least three or four, who are notoriously and habitually drunkards
and constant and unscrupulous gamblers, and who are of notoriously
depraved moral character, and cannot be confided in as men or Masons.
He further stated that he suspended the action of the lodge until the
meeting of the Grand Lodge. At that meeting, the Grand Lodge passed a
resolution revoking the charter of Tyler Lodge No. 50.
It does not appear in any further proceedings of the Grand Lodge; and
I see no reason, except simple error, why the Grand Lodge Proceedings
should show that it was chartered in 1854, and demised in 1858.
As I mentioned above, however, the forfeiture of the charter was caused
by the misconduct of the members and not because they moved away. The
dates of Tyler Lodge No. 50 should, then, be "1849 to 1854."
*
*
*
Selma Metzenthin-Raunick has an interesting Texas item,
"New Braunfels, 1845-1945," in the American-German
Review
for June, 1945. The article sketches the background of the
Mainzer Adelsverein, the immigration society which promoted
the Comal County settlement of New Braunfels, names the ves-
sels which brought the settlers to Texas, and gives something
of the personnel of the group. The settlement began with a
semi-military atmosphere with the construction of the Sophien-
burg, which Prince Solms-Braunfels ordered built as a fortress
but which was actually a roomy log cabin with a veranda. The
article emphasizes the cultural influence of the German-Texans.
* * *
The Dallas Morning
News
has always been in the forefront
in Texas in its intelligent advocacy of our historic past.
The Hartford Courant
was recently quoted in the "What
Other Papers Say" column of the News:
The University of Maryland is taking an unprecedented step in adopting
a new freshman curriculum that will devote more time to American history,
government and literature than to any other group of subjects. This drastic
revision has been made to remedy the appalling situation revealed by a
survey conducted by the New York Times
that showed 90 per cent of
American college graduates to be abysmally ignorant of American history.
Praiseworthy as this educational innovation may be, the basic weakness
in our educational system has been the lack of adequate history courses
in our secondary schools. Too frequently the teaching of history in high
schools has been considered a mere adjunct to the principal job of coaching
the football or basketball team. The feeling has been all too prevalent that
anybody could teach history. This specious thinking stems from the idea
that history is mere collection of dates. Therefore, it was reasoned, it is
only necessary to drill students in a few milestones of American history
and the job is done.
sonalities who appeared as the spearhead of certain ideas are nearly so
important as the ideas themselves. To be a good teacher of history then
implies an intellectual capacity to assay the march of events and to draw
from them a parallel with contemporary thinking. With such a historical
perspective the student is better protected against the virus of shallow-
thinking demagogues and political opportunists.
Without such historical perspective it is almost impossible to evaluate
correctly either men or events. It is not a job for our colleges alone, but
should be a continuing process beginning at the lowest educational levels
and permeating to the highest. Nor is it necessary to adulterate our history
with Parson Weems' type of maudlin idealism. Even small children are
responsive to the true, simple stories of American beginnings. There is, in
the story of the founding of practically every town ... as much stirring
drama as can be found in any novel. The wise history teacher knows this,
and uses the history of the town as an introduction to the wider canvas of
national affairs.
The University of Maryland is to be congratulated on the adoption of
this new curriculum, mandatory for all students regardless of the course
they are taking. The best kind of citizenship is founded on knowledge of
America, the idea that lay behind its founding and the way we have come
in seeking to attain full realization of that idea.
* * *
Claude Elliott, professor of history and registrar at San Mar-
cos State College, has an article, "Georgia and the Texas Revo-
lution," in the December, 1944, Georgia
Historical
Quarterly,
XXVIII, No. 4, 233-250. Professor Elliott is an outstanding
member of the Association and a member of the Executive
Council. He has recently been awarded through the Associa-
tion a Rockefeller grant for the completion of a manuscript deal-
ing with Union activities in Texas during the Civil War.
* * *
February 23 the Associated Press carried a brief note on the
Handbook
of
Texas
stating, "The book, when completed, will
be a 'what's what and where in Texas.' It will include such in-
formation as the height of the San Jacinto Monument near
Houston. . . ." The statement about the height of the monu-
ment was wholly off-hand with no thought that there was any
question beyond the physical facts. But even the recording of
physical facts may present problems as is demonstrated by ex-
cerpts of a letter from Albert W. Woods, clerk of the Committee
on Public Buildings and Grounds, House of Representatives,
Washington, D. C.
I hope you get the correct height of the San Jacinto Monument which
the Houston Chamber of Commerce publishes in various pamphlets as:
570 feet, 570 4/10 feet, and 570⅛ feet. The Austin Tribune
shows 567 feet.
Cochran & House, Insurance, Houston, show 564 feet. Mr. Finn, the
architect who planned the monument, says that it is 567 feet from the
grade line, but that it is 552 feet from entrance to top. The last figure
seems to be correct. You ask Mr. Finn.
Now, in all seriousness, how high is the San Jacinto Monu-
ment? What is the historian to say?
* * *
A bulletin edited by Edgar H. Duncan, The
Humanities
in
Higher
Education
in
the
South
(A Report of a Conference held
at Vanderbilt University, July 24-29, 1944) makes the follow-
ing recommendation (p. 16) regarding
History should play an important role in the training of all students: It
gives a background or a perspective for other studies; it shows the student
his own place in society and informs him about the forces and ideas which
have made him what he is and have created the society in which he is to
live. The first contribution of history, then, is to give the student his bear-
ings -- by giving him an understanding of the history of his own country
and of the history of the rest of the world. As history has given less
attention to battles and to kings, and devoted itself to a teaching of the
cultural development of the peoples of the world, it has become increas-
ingly humanistic in its effects upon man.
Accordingly, it is recommended that all students study the history of
Western Civilization and of the United States, and at some time in their
training, either in high school or in college, become acquainted with the
history of the Ancient and Mediterranean civilizations. Furthermore, as
the student's world comes to include the Orient, significant aspects of
Oriental history will demand inclusion.
* * *
Brigadier General J. Watt Page, state director of selective
service, has forwarded to the office for deposit in the archives
certain documents which will be basic in the final history of
the 36th Infantry (Texas) Division. Especially important are
letters of Major General Fred L. Walker, who commanded the
division for almost three years and won for himself a special
place in the hearts of thousands of Texans. General Page is
considering placing with the Association after the close of the
war letters received from General Walker and others which re-
count the record made by the Texas Division. This is a splendid
thought for all Texans who have received letters from men of
the 36th. Send the letters to the archives, where they may have
their greatest research and memorial value. Letters kept in
private hands eventually -- somewhere down the line -- are
dissipated.
A copy of General Walker's address made at his farewell re-
view is given below:
Address of Major General Fred L. Walker at a Farewell Review
by the Troops of the 36th Division at Paestum, Italy, July 7, 1944.
I have been informed that I am to be reassigned to duty in the United
States. This is a great disappointment to me for I had hoped to remain
with you through your combat operations.
However, I am appreciative of the battle experiences I have had with
you and the friendships I have made. I have been with you nearly three
(3) years. Your loyalty, devotion to duty, gallantry in action, and pride
in your Division have been all that any commander could desire. You have
enthusiastically responded to every directive I have given. No one can do
more than that.
I greatly appreciate this ceremony and I know of no more appropriate
place for this last review in my honor than on these very fields which you
so gallantly seized after storming ashore here on the early morning of
the 9th of last September.
On that occasion you were the first American troops to land on the
mainland of Europe, opposed by experienced German forces. You have
a right to be proud of your achievements on these fields. Your success here
will long stand out as an example of soldierly courage, determination and
devotion to duty.
Last winter, while fighting your enemy in the mountains of Italy,
Maggiore, Lungo, Summucro, Castellone, you cheerfully endured hardships
that have never been exceeded by any troops anywhere. You have accom-
plished every mission that has ever been assigned to you except the cross-
ing of the Rapido. Your failure there was not your fault. You had been
assigned a mission that was incapable of being accomplished under the
circumstances. You gave everything you had. Your gallantry, loyalty and
devotion to duty on that ill-fated field will, someday, be pointed out to
soldiers of future armies as an outstanding example to be emulated.
Your brilliant maneuvers to outflank and capture Velletri broke the
German defenses east of Rome and opened the way for your relentless
pursuit of your enemy to, through and beyond Rome. In a period of just
30 days, by a series of well conducted and clever maneuvers you drove
your enemy a distance of 240 road miles, captured more than 3000 prisoners
and killed many thousands more. All this with relatively light losses to
yourselves.
to uphold the traditions of service which you have so nobly established
and that you will give the same loyalty and response to your next com-
mander that you have given to me.
Many of our comrades will never stand with us in ranks again. I know
that you, as well as I, are greatly grieved that they are not here with us
in person today. And yet, invisible, they are here in spirit. In their honor
let us observe a moment of silence . . . . . . . .
After the battle of the Rapido, I received a letter from the wife of one
of our captains who was killed there. She praised her husband saying
that he had gone into the service because he wanted to help remove
Hitlerism from this earth. She said that in each and every letter she had
received from him he had praised the courage and devotion of his men;
that he had spoken in the most complimentary terms of the unit com-
manders within his company and in his regiment. She said that she knew
he had died the way he wanted to die -- fighting for his country and the
principles he believed in. She spoke with enmity and malice of the Germans
and concluded her letter with the words, "General, give it to them." I
know of no more appropriate last words to you than to repeat those of
that brave and noble woman, "The next time you meet the Germans, give
it to them."
Wherever you go, whatever you do, you shall always have my deepest
personal interest and my very best wishes. Good-bye and good luck.
* * *
Five years ago, while Dr. S. W. Geiser of Southern Methodist
University, Dallas, was gathering data on early Texas natural-
ists in the Surgeon-General's Library in Washington, he paged
all of the volumes of Texas medical publications up to the year
1883 and scanned early Nashville, Atlanta, and New Orleans
medical journals for Texas items. His chief object was to find
papers on the natural history of Texas. Among his notes made
at that time, are the following papers, printed in out-of-the-way
places. This list has interest and value to Texas historians. The
titles are followed by a geographical index.
SOME EARLY MEDICAL WRITINGS ON TEXAS, OF
INTEREST TO HISTORIANS
Burroughs,
Sam
R.,
chm.
"Report of Committee on indigenous medical
resources of Texas." Transactions
of
the
Texas
State
Medical
Association,
1877, pp. 100-109. [With special reference to medical botany.]
Chinn,
Robert
H.
"Climate and diseases of Central Texas." New
Orleans
Medical
& Surgical
Journal,
XX (1867), pp. 312-19. [Caney, Matagorda
Co.]
Coleman,
W.
L.
"Yellow Fever in Calvert, Texas, in 1873." (At pp. 89-
95, of Greensville Dowell's Yellow
Fever
and
Malarial
Diseases,
embracing
a
history
of
the
Epidemics
of
Yellow
Fever
in
Texas
.
.
.
,
Philadelphia,
1876. [Hereafter cited simply as "G. Dowell, 1876."] -- "Yellow Fever."
New
Orleans
Medical
&
Surgical
Journal,
(N.S.), VI (1878/9), pp. 618-30.
Cowling,
James.
"Houston, Texas, as a residence for consumptives."
Galveston
Medical
Journal,
V (1870), pp. 216-64. ["Reprinted from N. 0.
Med. Jour., May, 1857."]
Dowell,
Greensville.
"Medical topography of Galveston." Galveston
Medical
Journal,
I (1866), pp. 123-29. -- "[History of Yellow Fever in
Texas.]" Ibid.,
I (1866), pp. 163-85. -- "Meteorological Table for Houston,
Dec. 1862-March, 1863." Ibid.,
I (1866), pp. 479-82.-- "[same for] May,
1863-August, 1863, at Houston." Ibid.,
II (1867), 517-20. -- " . . . August,
1863-November, 1863." Ibid.,
II (1867), pp. 565-68. -- " . . . December,
1863-March, 1864." Ibid.,
II (1867), 613-16. -- " . . . April, 1864-July,
1864." Ibid.,
II (1867), pp. 658-61 -- "... August, 1864-November, 1864."
Ibid.,
II, pp. 701-03. -- "... December, 1864-March, 1865." Ibid.,
II, 749-52.
-- " . . . April, 1865-July, 1865." II (1867), pp. 795-98. -- " . . . August,
1865-September, 1865; January-March, 1866." Ibid.,
II (1867), pp. 842-46.
-- "Topography and climatology of Galveston," at pp. 52-56 of his Yellow
Fever
and
Malarial
Diseases
.
.
.
,
1876. [Obituary of Greensville Dowell
in Texas
Medical
&
Surgical
Record,
I (1881), pp. 303-04.]
Farner,
W.
H.
"[Report on Yellow Fever in Galveston, 1864]" at pp.
42-44, of G. Dowell, 1876.
Galveston
Medical
College,
1865-72.
"Matriculants and Graduates, 1865-
69." Galveston
Medical
Journal,
IV (1869), 345-49. -- "[List of Graduates
of the Galveston Medical College from its commencement in 1864.]" Ibid.,
V (1870) pp. 196-200. -- "Matriculants of Galveston Medical College [7th
session, 1871-72.]" Ibid.,
V (1870), pp. 439-42.
Gammage,
W.
L.
"Topography, settlement, climate, population, botany,
and diseases of Cherokee County, Texas." New
Orleans
Medical
&
Surgical
Journal,
XII (1855/6), pp. 626-45, 723-43 -- "Dysentery: its history and
treatment." Ibid.,
XIII (1856/7), pp. 451-57. [Should be read by all desir-
ing to learn how dreadful epidemics could be on the frontier. Account of
an epidemic of "bloody flux," in Rusk and vicinity, July 12, 1856-October,
1856.]
Ganahl,
Charles.
"Galveston as a health resort." New
Orleans
Medical
&
Surgical
Journal
(N.S.), VI (1878/9), pp. 799-804.
Green,
Rowan.
"Abstract of an article on the medical topography of
Wharton, Texas." Atlanta
Medical
&
Surgical
Journal,
VI (1860-61), pp.
445-48. [Has been in Wharton only 10 months (paper published April,
1861.) The last three paragraphs show great interest in medical botany.
Last
sentence:
"This is a fine field for the botanist, and should scientific
examination be made of the medical botany of this country, there is no
doubt it will be found rich in such productions."]
Harrison,
R.
H.
"The epidemics of 1873 in Denison, Calvert, and Colum-
bus." Transactions
of
the
Texas
State
Medical
Association,
1875, pp. 80-94.
-- "The [Yellow Fever] epidemic of 1873, in Columbus, Texas." At pp.
109-24, of G. Dowell, 1876.
Texas." New
Orleans
Medical
&
Surgical
Journal,
XIII (1856), pp. 1-7.
[Valuable data on the weather conditions in different early years, and the
health conditions in correspondence.] -- "Report on medical topography,
meteorology, and epidemic diseases of Texas." Galveston
Medical
Journal,
III (1868), pp. 465-95. [abstract.]--"Meteorology and prevailing diseases
of Galveston." Ibid.
(N.S.), I (1880), pp. 85-90.
Kilpatrick,
A.
R.
"Epidemic Yellow Fever in Navasota, Texas, in 1867."
Galveston
Medical
Journal,
III (1868), pp. 177-83. -- "[Report on Yellow
Fever in Navasota, 1867]" in G. Dowell, 1876, pp. 69-72. -- "Report of the
section on 'State Medicine and Public Hygiene.'" Texas
Medical
&
Surgical
Record,
I (1881), pp. 4-24. [Excellent.]
Labadie,
N.
D.
"[Report on Yellow Fever in Galveston, 1864.]" At pp.
45-49 of G. Dowell, 1876.
Louisiana, University of (Medical Department). "[List of graduates
from beginning to date.]" New Orleans Medical & Surgical Journal, XVIII
(1861), pp. 350-56. [Lists many Texan physicians who graduated from
this school. See also, Catalogue of the Alumni, from 1834. to 1899, of the
Medical Department of the Tulane University of Louisiana . . . , New
Orleans, 1888. [Many Texan physicians are listed.]
McCraven,
William.
"On the Yellow Fever of Houston, Texas, in 1847."
New
Orleans
Medical
&
Surgical
Journal,
V (1848/9), pp. 227-35.--
"[Yellow Fever in Houston, Texas, in the fall of 1848.]" Ibid.,
VI (1849-
50), pp. 60-64.
Medical
College
of
Texas,
1861.
[On pp. 624/5, of the Atlanta
Medical
&
Surgical
Journal,
VI (1860-61), it is noted that they had received the first
annual announcement of the Medical College of Texas, to be opened the
third Monday of November, 1861 [Nov. 18]. Ashbel Smith was to be pro-
fessor of surgery, N. N. Allen (anatomy), G. A. Feris (theory & practice),
W. H. Gantt (obstetrics), W. S. Rodgers (dis. women & children), J. F.
Matchett (material medica & therapeutics), W. P. Riddell (chemistry &
medical jurisprudence), Thomas E. Brooks (physiology & pathology), B. P.
January (demonstrator of anatomy). These plans were seriously dis-
arranged by the onset of the war. The Galveston Medical College was not
organized until 1864.]
Menger,
R.
"Essay on injurious insects, parasites, and reptiles of Texas."
Texas
Courier-Record
of
Medicine,
II (1884/5), pp. 262-70.
Morison,
Gwyn.
"Rainfall at Wallace Prairie, Grimes County, Texas,
from April 1, 1876, to April 1, 1877, in inches and decimals." Transactions
Texas
State
Medical
Association,
1877,
p. 198.
Morse,
E.
M.
"Climate of North-Western Texas." New
Orleans
Medical
&
Surgical
Journal,
XX (1867), pp. 39-41. [Boerne, Kendall Co.]
Palmer,
E.
"[Yellow Fever epidemic in Calvert in 1873.]" At pp. 95-101,
of G. Dowell, 1876.
Pope,
John
H.
"Yellow Fever at Marshall, Texas [in 1873]." New
Orleans
Medical
&
Surgical
Journal
(N.S.), II (1874/5), pp. 508-21.--
"Climatology and epidemics [in Marshall, Texas]." Transactions
Texas
State
Medical
Association,
1875,
pp. 72-79. -- "Yellow Fever in Marshall,
Texas, in 1873." At pp. 80-88 of G. Dowell, 1876.
Reuss,
J.
M.
"[Report on Yellow Fever in Indianola]." At pp. 49-52 of
G. Dowell, 1876.
Roesch,
Carl
Heinrich.
"Aerztlicher Bericht ueber meine Reise nach
Texas." Medicinisches
Correspondenz-Blatt
d.
wuerttembergischen
aerztli
-
chen
Vereins,
Stuttgart, XXV (1855), pp. 6-8, 37-40, 53-55, 62-64, 68-72, 95.
[Left Germany, September, 1853. Sailed from Havre, October 3, on French
vessel, with wife and six children. Arrived New Orleans November 12.
Cholera broke out on shipboard. Arrived at Indianola; wife and daughter
died about December 5, 1853. The survivors left Indianola the same day,
and they lived in Coletto, DeWitt County, from January 1, 1854, to June
30, 1854. Gives meteorological records. Mentions (p. 95) the lack of pro-
fessional spirit among the German physicians of "West Texas."]
Smith,
Ashbel.
"On the climate, etc., of a portion of Texas." Fenner,
Southern
Medical
Reports,
185O,
vol. 2, pp. 453-59. -- "Yellow Fever at
Houston, Texas." Transactions
of
the
American
Medical
Association,
VII
(1854), pp. 530-36.
Smythe,
D.
Port.
"Pneumonia typhoides, as it appeared in an epidemic
form at Camp Nelson, Arkansas, during the autumn of 1862." Texas
Medical
Journal,
I (1867), 27-35.
Welch,
S.
M.
"A brief sketch of the epidemic of Yellow Fever in 1867,
in Galveston, Texas." Galveston
Medical
Journal,
III (1868), pp. 83-95.
* * *
Charmion Shelby, now with the Library of Congress, has an
article, "The Effect of the Spanish Reoccupation of Eastern
Texas Upon French Policy in Louisiana, 1715-1717," in the
Hispanic
American
Historical
Review
for November, 1944,
605-613.
J. Evetts Haley contributed a sketch of the life of Bob Smith,
son of Hank Smith, in the Amarillo Times
for June 3, 1945.
Mentioned in the account are Erwin E. Smith, George Patullo,
"Aunt Hank" Smith, C. P. Tasker, and the Old Rock House, at
Mount Blanco, still standing in Blanco Canyon as the headquar-
ters of the ranch. The historic rock house is still presided over
by a third-generation Smith with all the traditions of gracious
hospitality in West Texas originally established by Hank Smith.
* * *
Harriet Dickson, head of the Extension and Juvenile Di-
visions of the Houston Public Library, writes regarding the
services of the Junior
Historian.
We enjoy the Junior
Historian
magazine very much indeed. Your young
people write remarkably well and it is good to find articles by older friends
such as Ray Wood of Raywood, Texas.
The Junior
Historian
is useful in reference work. The article on the
first white child in Texas saved my life one busy afternoon and I use the
articles on salt whenever Texas Industries crop up as a term theme.
This may be out of your province, but two books greatly needed for
children are: (1) one of collective biography on Texans and (2) a new
geography. If you have any writing friends, please pass this information
along to them.
The following significant historical letter is from the Chief
of the Historical Section for the Army Air Forces, Pacific
Ocean Area -- Major James Taylor, a down-to-earth Texas his-
torian well known for years through the Texas collegiate circles,
having taught at Lamar College, Stephen F. Austin State Teach-
ers College, Texas College for Women, and the University
of Texas. Taylor was the luncheon speaker at an annual meet-
ing of the Association just before he entered military service.
He has kept up his interests in Texas while handling large war-
time assignments. In January he wrote from the Pacific:
"When this war is finished the biggest body of water I ever
want to see again is Lake Dallas."
Hq AAF-POA
APO 953
25 Feb 45
Dear Bailey:
Here is a slant at my work after thirteen months. My present job is
Chief of the Historical Section for Army Air Forces, Pacific Ocean Areas.
Lt. Gen. Millard F. Harmon, the commanding general, has command of one
big slice of the globe. Even to a Texan accustomed to plenty of space, the
distances are tremendous. From Hawaii to the Marshalls it is over 2,000
miles, and about the same back to the Mainland. From the Marshalls to
the Marianas over 1,500 miles, and then 1,600 on to the Japanese homeland.
Iwo Jima is right in the Jap front door -- only about 750 miles. There is
more water than my land conditioned mind comprehends readily -- even the
Marianas are only specks of land in one awfully big ocean.
My job is to see that every unit of the Air Forces in the Pacific Ocean
Areas writes a history and submits it through channels each and every
month. It makes no difference where the group, squadron, or battalion may
be stationed, the monthly history must be written and transmitted accord-
ing to appropriate directives. Surprisingly, the closer to the front, and the
rougher the going, the better the histories. Or perhaps it isn't too surpris-
ing, for in combat the historical officer feels there is something historic to
record. The histories cover everything -- strikes against the enemy, admin-
istration, training, morale, living conditions, mistakes made, lessons learned.
I have quite an array of academically competent assistants scattered
around in the various echelons. Some are officers and some are enlisted
men. To give you an idea of the academic character of the undertaking,
the list of historians includes men with training as follows: five (5) Ph.D.s
(Texas, Nebraska, Yale, Harvard, Wisconsin); ten (10) M.A.s (Columbia
(2), Brooklyn, Wayne, Syracuse, Emory, Cincinnati, Oregon); and a
variety of B.A. graduates.
At Headquarters we prepare consolidations based on the unit histories
and additional data we gather here. Naturally our product is highly classi-
fied, strictly anonymous, and definitely tentative. We are trying to con-
solidate data so that it may be of value during the war, but primarily our
job is to see that all the raw materials are gathered, organized, and pre-
served. Competent scholars after the war can do the definitive narration
in a leisurely fashion. Ours is a first draft which will serve as a basis or
guide for many of the final chapters. I am very fortunate in my two
assistants who are doing most of the research and writing. One is a Ph.D.
in American History from Nebraska, Lt. James C. Olson, and the other a
Ph.D. in Political Science from Wisconsin, Warrant Officer Wm. O. Farber.
Both are excellent writers, and I am optimistic about our project to record
history in the making.
It may be true that history ain't rung any cash registers (as the Dallas
cafe operator told the Centennial Committee in 1936), but the Army
believes the lessons to be learned are invaluable ones. It wants to know
what it did, and how it was done. If we don't preserve the history of this
Air Force, it's our fault, for we've been given the men and equipment and
access to everything. And, very important, it has been turned over to
professionally trained academic historians and scholars. All in all it is
quite an experiment.
* * *
Mr. G. B. Dealey of the Dallas Morning
News
has furnished
the Association a facsimile of Volume 1, Number 1, of the Pica
-
yune,
put out in New Orleans by George Wilkins Kendall on
January 25, 1837. This copy is now available in the archives.
* * *
lards and Glen L. Evans, Index to Mineral Resources of Texas
by Counties (Mineral Resource Circular No. 29, Bureau of Eco-
nomic Geology, The University of Texas), October, 1944.
* * *
This note is in the nature of a warning, and it also calls for
consideration of a matter of policy on the part of the Associa-
tion. In January we started the slow process of moving a large
part of the back numbers of the Quarterly
from the basement
to the attic of Garrison Hall. We outgrew the basement several
years ago, but had no additional space; so overcrowding was an
inevitable result. Another result was that a good inventory of
back numbers of the Quarterly
available could not be made. Dur-
ing the move we got together ten complete sets (except for Vol.
XLIII) and sent them to the bindery. The warning which
should be given is that when these ten sets are sold many other
volumes will join XLIII in being out of print. This brings up
a question of policy in which the membership should advise
with the Executive Council.
For many years it has been the policy of the Association to
keep all back numbers of the Quarterly
in print. It is doubtful
whether any other historical group in America has done so much
by way of reprinting back numbers. In the last five years some-
thing like five thousand dollars must have been expended in
reprints. But under present circumstances the process can not
be kept up. Twenty or twenty-five numbers will be exhausted.
Reprinting will cost around ten thousand dollars. That amount
is not available; but, even if it were available, should the money
be spent on back numbers or in increasing the size of current
issues?
A foundation of twenty-five thousand dollars given specifi-
cally for the purpose would keep all numbers of the Quarterly
constantly in print. This could be made a perpetual memorial
for some individual or family, for each reprint could show the
source from which it was derived.
At any rate, until such a foundation is forthcoming, it seems
but fair to state that although fairly complete sets of the Quar
-
terly
may now be obtained, such will not be the case within a
few months.
Dr. William E. Howard, 6616 Gaston Avenue, Dallas, Texas,
has recently issued a Calendar
of
the
Howard
Collection
of
Texana,
a pamphlet of forty-three pages. Dr. Howard has long
been known for his enthusiasm for Texana and for his generous
donations to museums. Peter Molyneaux in the introduction
writes:
There are Howard collections at the Hall of State in Dallas, at Alamo
Hall in San Antonio, at the San Jacinto Monument on the battlefield near
Houston, at the Texas Memorial Museum in Austin, and at the Gonzales
Museum and Amphitheatre at Gonzales. . . .
To have assembled any one of these collections would have been a
creditable achievement, especially for a man chiefly occupied with his
distinguished career as a medical specialist. That Dr. Howard is responsible
for all of them, that he has now completed another, that he is still collect-
ing-- all this is evidence of an enthusiasm which has seldom been rivalled
in this field of endeavor.
Henceforth research students in Texas history will scan Dr.
Howard's list of materials to learn where his collecting has
crossed their field of interest. The rewards will be many, for
Dr. Howard's collecting has blanketed Texas.
* * *
The American-German
Review
for February, 1945, has an
excellent account by Sister Joan of Arc on "The Sophienburg
Museum" at New Braunfels. The Sophienburg Memorial As-
sociation was founded in 1933 "for the purpose of perpetuating
the memory and spirit of the early pioneers of New Braunfels,
to encourage historical research into the history of New Braun-
fels, and to erect suitable structures to preserve places made
historic by the founding and the development of said city."
* * *
Harry M. Konwiser, editor of the Masonic
Philatelist,
wrote
an enthusiastic review of Dr. S. W. Geiser's article in the Jan-
uary Quarterly,
"Masonic Lodges as Time-Indicators of a Town's
Prosperity." The review appeared in the February, 1945, Phil
-
atelist.
Editor Konwiser is an authority on the postal system
of the Republic of Texas and the author of an article on that
subject for the Handbook.
For several years he has been a
member of the Association.
* * *
counties. He poses some interesting questions for the numis-
matists and makes a record of his interesting collection. He
would be pleased to hear from Quarterly readers who can give
him additional leads or information.
I am interested in scrip (sometimes called "shin plasters") issued by the
various Texas counties during the War Between the States. In my collec-
tion of 39 pieces, 21 counties are represented. Is there any recorded data
as to what other counties issued scrip? What value does this scrip have
from a collector's standpoint?
My collection includes the following items from Texas counties: Atascosa
County, $1, $5; Austin County, $1, $2; Bastrop County, $2.50; Burleson
County, $2; Caldwell County, $1; Calhoun County, $1; Dallas County, $3;
Ellis County, $2; Fayette County, $3, $5; Fort Bend County, $1, $2; Goliad,
25 cents; Guadalupe, 25 cents, $1, $2; Harris County, 75 cents; Jackson
County, $1, $2; Kerr County, $1; Lavaca County, 25 cents, $3; Madison
County, $2; McLennan County, $1; Travis County, 25 cents, 50 cents, $2.50;
Uvalde County, $2; Washington County, $2, $3.
* * *
Among the hundreds of books contributed to the book auction,
two volumes sent by Charles F. Heartman, of the Book Farm
at Hattiesburg, Mississippi, especially attracted my attention.
They were Chronicles
of
Stephen
C.
Foster's
Family
by Evelyn
Foster Morneweck. I was first drawn to the Confederate gray
binding, which led me to see that the books were a product of
the University of Pittsburgh Press. Much might be said fur-
ther concerning the distinctive end sheets, the attractive paper,
and the fine typography, including the compelling initial let-
ters; each component of the book contributes to the presenta-
tion of its message.
But on one page of the book is the explanation of what made
all this excellence possible. The page says:
IS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE GENEROSITY OF
JOSIAH KIRBY LILLY OF INDIANAPOLIS
FOUNDER OF THE FOSTER HALL
COLLECTON.
That page is the sine
qua
non
of the two volumes. Stephen
Foster made undying contributions to American life; Josiah
Kirby Lilly has also made an undying contribution: he has
made possible the preservation of a record. As a contributor to
American life and letters, Joshia Kirby Lilly has laid a lasting
foundation upon which a meaningful superstructure may be
erected.
But what does all this mean to Texas? It means much, but,
at present in a negative sort of way. Insofar as I am informed
there is not in all Texas a foundation in existence which pro-
poses to do for Texas and Texas subjects the service done Ste-
phen Foster and his time by the Lilly Foundation. We shall be
poorer with reference to our cultural inheritance until such
foundations are established.
Somewhere in Texas there should be a person or persons of
large resources interested in putting back into a civilized way
of life a part of their accumulated wealth. Our citizens have
supported hospitals, schools, colleges, and various worth-while
enterprises in a generous manner. It remains, however, for
some person to immortalize himself or herself in doing for the
publication of Texas materials what Carnegie did for libraries.
* * *
Van Dyke MacBride, 744 Broad Street, Newark 2, New Jer-
sey, is working on the Confederate invasion of the Territory of
New Mexico and would like all possible information on Sibley's
Brigade, as well as a map of the Territory of New Mexico after
the Gadsden Purchase (1854) and before the Arizona set-off
(1863). MacBride will also welcome information on the coun-
ties, towns, forts, and population figures of the period 1850-
1865, and especially anything bearing on postal usages and his-
tory in New Mexico in 1861 and 1862 during the Confederate
invasion and occupation.
* * *
The Public Relations Office of the San Antonio Army Service
Forces Depot, Grayson St. Station, San Antonio 8, Texas, has
made the following announcement regarding the preservation
of our wartime records.
The chronicler of this war will not be confronted with the almost impos-
sible task of wading through tons of unsorted and haphazardly stored
official documents.
The War Department, bearing in mind the chaotic condition of the last
war's records, has established a nation-wide program to collect, segregate
and organize the official records of this war.
typical of the eight other old records depots set up under the War Depart-
ment's plan. The depot receives all records, excepting clinical and civilian
personnel, from Army installations in the Eighth Service Command and
will soon store the records of all the Army Air Forces' Training Command,
presently covering 47 states. In addition Kelly and Tinker Fields, under
the Air Forces' Technical Service Command, and all installations under
their command authority which have been inactivated or have non-current
records, are to send their files to the depot.
The actual function of this depot, and others like it, is to act as an
intermediate storage point between the field installations and the National
Archives. The idea is to hold possibly needed documents in an inter-
mediate depot until all possible need for them has passed, when they will
go on to the National Archives. Those papers antedating 1913, however,
are shipped directly to the Archives after being sorted, since the chances
of their being needed are remote.
The procedure of weeding and sorting the documents eliminates those
that have absolutely no historical value. In this way endless masses of
shipping tickets and routine papers are disposed of and those that can be
of real use to the future historian are stored in an easily accessible manner.
The War Department works this plan in conjunction with the Archivist
of the United States, who has jurisdiction over all documents, War Depart-
ment or otherwise.
The Eighth Service Command Records Depot already occupies one whole
Quartermaster Warehouse, fully a block and a half long, but Captain K. V.
Olson, commanding the depot, states that it will need to expand to meet
expected demands.
* * *
Lieutenant (j.g.) Ike Moore was reported killed in action on
an escort carrier in the Pacific in May. He was on leave from
the directorship of the San Jacinto Museum of History, having
become the museum's first director in 1939.
Moore entered