|
TEXANSTexas
without Texans is like Antarctica without penguins -
in both cases the landscape
would be barren without them.
Texans just happen to be a lot more colorful.
"Every man's life is a fairy-tale written by God's fingers."
- Hans
Christian Andersen |
Two
Poems for George Jones
"If we all could sound like we wanted to,
we'd all sound like George Jones." - Waylon JenningsThe
Possum by David Knape 4-27-13A
Picture of Us Without George by Luke Warm 4-27-13 |
| | World
War II
George
Olsson Short
(1920-2003)
Chapter Three
Surviving
WWII, and Arriving Home
How
his soldier brother became his savior and how he managed to get home to a post-war
Texas life
3-15-13 |
Pat
Garrett Clay Coppedge 4-9-13
Because he killed Billy
the Kid in New Mexico, Pat Garrett’s name is more associated with that state than
it is with Texas but Garrett drifted in and out of the Lone Star State for most
of his life.Mrs.
Anson Jones by Wanda Orton 4-7-13
It was a day to
remember, April 21, 1836, and in years to come the former refugee in the Runaway
Scrape – better known in Texas history as Mrs. Anson Jones – often told the story...The
Day Oscar Ekelund and I Met the Hotel’s New Manager by Bill Cherry
3-18-13
Moments before, George Mitchell had finished up the stuff necessary
for him to buy the long out of business flop house called the Belmont Hotel...Women
Bandits Hijack Cotton in Civil War Texas by Mike Cox 3-7-13
None
of the truly decisive battles of the Civil War took place in Texas, but in other
ways the bloody conflict between the North and South had a major impact on the
state. Andy’s
Antics in Austin by Wanda
Orton 2-21-13
The next to youngest child of Sam
and Margaret Houston drove everyone nuts with his shenanigans. One might say that
Andrew Jackson Houston was a brat. |
| | Mrs.
A.P. Borden by John Polk 2-4-13
"I spent many
hours with Mrs. Borden and Theo O’Neal as a 10 year old boy." Here is the
complete story. |
| Secession:
Texas leaves the Union by Jeffery Robenalt 2-1-13
After
the election of Abraham Lincoln in November 1860, events moved swiftly toward
secession. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union and other
states in the old south quickly followed suit, but in Texas newly elected Governor
Sam Houston stubbornly refused to call a convention to even discuss the issue.
|
The
English Gentleman and the Beer Joint by Bill Cherry 2-8-13
Not
one soul thinks he isn’t a better person from having known him. And everyone has
his own story to tell with a smile in remembrance. Bullet
Riddled Buddies by Clay Coppedge
2-1-13
Whitey Walker
met Frazier in the prison hospital at Huntsville. The two men soon realized they
had a lot in common, including gunshot wounds...The
Island’s Domestic Goddess by Bill Cherry 1-10-13
It
seems to be more generic to Galveston than any other place I know about. I’m talking
about this special breed of people who seem to intuitively know how to make money,
how to contribute to the whole... Frontier
Journalism in Texas by Clay Coppedge
1-3-13
The people
who started newspapers on the frontier weren’t a lot different from others who
of that time and place. They were an independent and outspoken lot, generally
not afraid to “settle the matter in cowhide” as one editor put it... Crockett's
Grandson Died a Bully by Mike Cox 12-19-12
While
anyone with even a passing knowledge of Texas history knows Davy Crockett died
at the Alamo in 1836, what happened to his grandson and namesake four decades
later has largely been forgotten.“Silent
Night” Revealed a Lot about the Man by Bill Cherry 12-10-12
It
was in the days when the homeless and bums were classified by the law as vagrants...Dying
Doctor Bequeaths a Library by Mike Cox
12-6-12
Dr. Eugene Clark must have been a particularly skillful and
compassionate physician. Certainly, as events would show, he also believed in
the importance of public libraries in a democracy. Hughes
Who in Oil Field by Wanda Orton 12-2-12
Howard Robard
Hughes Sr. & Howard R. Hughes Jr.
The
Bone Wars Clay Coppedge
11-30-12
The role
two Texans - geologist Robert T. Hill and naturalist Jacob Boll - played in the
Bone Wars.Albert
Pike in Comancheria by Clay Coppedge 11-18-12
Albert
Pike was one of the most remarkable but enigmatic figures in American history
and also one of the first white men to venture onto the Llano Estacado in the
Texas Panhandle when that land was the heart of Comancheria...Joanna
Troutman by Luke Warm 11-9-12
“Betsy Ross of Texas”Sally
Skull by Clay Coppedge
11-1-12
Well-behaved
women rarely make history, the saying goes, and a woman known to history as Sally
Skull can be used to reinforce the point.
Dr.
Pat Wagner and the "Come & Take It" Cannon by Murray Montgomery
10-16-12
"He was determined to prove that the cannon he purchased
from Robert Vance of Refugio was truly the little gun that had started the Texas
Revolution at Gonzales on October 2, 1835." Joyous
Occasion Taught an Unexpected Lesson by Bill Cherry 10-12-12
"Sometimes
evidence proves our suppositions of our friends’ well-beings are wrong... What
we do to address it goes a long way in defining for us who we really are."The
Home Run that Never Was by Charles Watson 10-9-12
"Joe Bauman hit 72 home runs that year, but he would have had 73 had it not
been for a sandstorm..." A
Snakebitten Legacy
by Clay Coppedge 9-17-12
Father
Leopold Moczygemba, who founded the country’s first Polish community, first Polish
Catholic School and who also consecrated the first Polish Catholic Church, was
one person who had to pay a price in his own time for an honored place in history...Ashbel
Smith's Foster Daughter by Wanda Orton
9-14-12
Native Baytonian and retired Lee College professor
Robert “Bob” Wright has many recollections of his grandmother, Anna Allen Wright,
foster daughter of Dr. Ashbel Smith... Francisco,
Rudy, and Mr. Russell’s New Adventure by Bill Cherry 9-6-12
"What’s
the lesson? I’m not sure that I know. Perhaps it is that self-importance often
isn’t as grand in the eyes of the public as it is in our own."
The
Oilman and the Sea
by Clay Coppedge 9-3-12
Alfred
Glassell, Jr. wasn’t your typical Texas oilman, if there is such a thing...Born
to be a Texas Ranger, the life of John Coffee (Jack) Hays by Murray Montgomery
8-27-12Neil
by David Knape 8-26-12Hoxie's
Moxie by Mike Cox
8-23-12
Thirty-seven years after the Army abandoned Fort Davis, a celluloid
cowboy announced plans to convert the old cavalry post into a motion picture colony
and resort. Sam
Bell Maxey
by Clay Coppedge 8-18-12
To the people
he served in his lifetime he was respected as the man who kept the Yankees out
of Texas during the war. David
Levi Kokernot by
Wanda Orton 8-15-12
Never
before or since he made his home on the shores of Scott’s Bay – and later on Cedar
Bayou -- has Texas experienced such a colorful and controversial character. Radio’s
Vandy Anderson and Fr. Frank Fabj Had a Common Denominator by Bill Cherry
8-14-12
If you were to interview almost any man whose career is in the field
of radio broadcasting, you would find that as a child he was making believe that
he was on the air. Vandy V. Anderson, Jr. was one of those. Tex
Ritter - A Texas Original by C.
F. Eckhardt 8-5-12
Woodward Maurice Ritter was
born near Murvaul, Panola County, in the piney woods of deep East Texas in 1907.
He grew up on a cotton farm near Beaumont and graduated as Valedictorian of his
high-school class. He enrolled at what was then the only University of Texas... |
| The
Meusebach-Comanche Treaty by Jeffrey Robenalt 8-1-12
In early spring of
1847, a remarkable treaty between German settlers and Native Americans was negotiated
on the banks of the San Saba River in the hill country north of Fredericksburg,
Texas. |
The
Ranger Formerly Known as Pidge
by Clay Coppedge 7-22-12
From the front lines of the Texas Rangers, this Pidge
character wrote first-hand accounts of the Taylor-Sutton Feud, John Wesley Hardin
and the pursuit of Juan Cortina along the border. He wrote about rustlers and
outlaws, good guys and villains, and usually with a laugh or two thrown in for
good measure. But who was Pidge? Captain
Hamer's Barber by Mike Cox 7-19-12
Knowing I had written some books on
Texas Ranger history, Jim mentioned one visit that I sure ought to talk with Mr.
Frost if I ever found him in the shop. Back in the day, he had been the legendary
Capt. Frank Hamer’s barber. |
| Sam
Walker Texas Ranger and the "Walker" Colt by Jeffrey Robenalt 7-1-12
Thirty-two
years is not a long life as measured against most men, but Texas Ranger Sam Walker's
brief years were an epic adventure filled with Indian battles, wars, public renown,
and honor. |
"The
Indians are coming! The Indians are coming!" by Mike Cox 7-11-12
Destined
to gain a national reputation as a fearless Texas Ranger captain, when William
Jesse McDonald came to the Panhandle in the winter of 1891 he expected to stay
busy as a law enforcement officer in a still sparsely settled section of the state.
But he sure didn’t anticipate what happened on the night of January 29 that year.
"Ten-Gallon
Hats / Pint-Sized Brains"
Otis P. Driftwood recalls Nacogdoches
by Mike Cox 7-4-12
A runaway mule in Nacogdoches helped change American entertainment
history.
The Forgotten Indian
Traveler by Mike Cox 6-21-12
The men were Richard Irving Dodge, a young
Army officer who would serve in the military for 41 years and John Conner, a noted
Delaware Indian. The meeting happened at Fort Martin Scott... |
| | Rope
Walker
by Dianne West Short
6-17-12
In the old
Hebrew Cemetery in Corsicana, Texas is a headstone with only two words on it,
“Rope Walker.” Almost nothing is known of the man in the grave except the manner
of his death... |
|
Kit
Carson at Adobe Walls by Clay Coppedge 6-16-12
When historians talk about
the Battle of Adobe Walls they are usually talking about the Second Battle of
Adobe Walls... The First Battle of Adobe Walls occurred some 10 years earlier
and featured a man who was a legend in his own time... |
| |
Combat
Over Texas by Dan
Heaton 6-8-12
No listing of the key locations in the
early days of flight – particularly the development of military air power – would
be complete without a reference to the southern Texas city of Brownsville. It
was from there that America’s first combat mission was flown, way back in 1915.
Aviation pioneers Byron Q. Jones & Thomas D. Milling |
Hello,
Sucker by Clay Coppedge 6-6-12
Necessity may be
the mother of invention but it can also be the mother of re-invention. Other than
perhaps Kinky Friedman, nobody exhibits that twist on the old axiom more than
Mary Louise Cecilia Guinan, known to history as Texas Guinan and for her famous
greeting: “Hello, Sucker.” |
|
Sam Houston and Mirabeau Lamar: A Contrast of Visions by Jeffery Robenalt
5-1-12
Former Presidents of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston and
Mirabeau Lamar, differed in many ways. Their vastly different visions for the
new Republic would do much to shape the future of Texas. |
TEXANS
- Browse by Category |
Celebrated
& Uncelebrated TexansActors,
artists, athletes, musicians, photographers, singers, writers ... |
Two
Poems for George Jones
"If we all could sound like we wanted to,
we'd all sound like George Jones." - Waylon JenningsThe
Possum by David Knape 4-27-13A
Picture of Us Without George by Luke Warm 4-27-13 |
Frontier
Journalism in Texas by Clay Coppedge
1-3-13
Two of the
best and best-known newspaper editors in early day Texas were Edgar Rye and George
Robson...The
Home Run that Never Was by Charles Watson 10-9-12
"Joe Bauman hit 72 home runs that year, but he would have had 73 had it not
been for a sandstorm..." Radio’s
Vandy Anderson and Fr. Frank Fabj Had a Common Denominator by Bill Cherry
8-14-12
If you were to interview almost any man whose
career is in the field of radio broadcasting, you would find that as a child he
was making believe that he was on the air. Vandy V. Anderson, Jr. was one of those.
Tex
Ritter - A Texas Original by C.
F. Eckhardt 8-5-12
Woodward
Maurice Ritter was born near Murvaul, Panola County, in the piney woods of deep
East Texas in 1907. He grew up on a cotton farm near Beaumont and graduated as
Valedictorian of his high-school class. He enrolled at what was then the only
University of Texas...Hello,
Sucker by Clay Coppedge 6-6-12
Necessity may be
the mother of invention but it can also be the mother of re-invention. Other than
perhaps Kinky Friedman, nobody exhibits that twist on the old axiom more than
Mary Louise Cecilia Guinan, known to history as Texas Guinan and for her famous
greeting: “Hello, Sucker.” |
The
Story of Franny Kay’s Bout with Lew’s Piano by Bill Cherry
2-19-12
Over the years, Lew Harris’ song, “These Are the Things I Love,”
has been recorded by Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra... But to Galvestonians, the
most memorable version was sung by Robert Goulet, because it was the theme song
for Lew Harris’ wife, Frances’ 54-consecutive year radio program for the Island’s
KGBC-AM. Cotton
Gottlob and Coach Red Pierce Were a Heck of a Team by
Bill Cherry 9-7-11
"A
baseball player from Galveston’s Ball High, Don “Cotton” Gottlob, talked Sam Houston
State Teachers College’s coach, Paul “Red” Pierce, into letting him try out for
quarterback. Maybe he saw a Doak Walker mentality in Gottlob..." Max
Hirsch, Healer and Winner Clay Coppedge 8-8-11
We’re
not quite sure why Max Hirsch ran away from home to become a horse trainer. He
was already working with and riding horses on the Morris Ranch near his hometown
of Fredericksburg when something got into him and he decided to cast his fate
with some horses bound for Baltimore, Maryland... Remembering
J. Evetts Haley
by Mike Cox 7-7-11
During
his long life, J. Evetts Haley held down some of the best “jobs” a person can
have: Collector of historical documents for a university library, rancher, and
writer. Honoring
a bull riding legend by Bob Bowman 6-4-11
Myrtis
Dightman has finally received the attention he should have had decades ago. Born
in Crockett in 1935, Dightman was a legendary bull rider who set all types of
records for riding raging bulls in rodeo arenas across the United States. Carnie
Philosophyby
Mike Cox 4-28-11
Edgar
Stephens and Robert “Sunshine” Stubblefield spent most of their lives on the road
traveling from town to town in Texas with the Bill Hames carnival. The
Caudles: A Family of Entertainers
by Robert G. Cowser 3-29-11
On those evenings after we
had visited the Arthurs, my parents would tell my brother and me about the performances
of the Caudle troupe they had seen before I was born.
An Outspoken Man
by Bob Bowman 2-20-11
Many towns and cities in
East Texas have in their history individuals who ascended to greatness, but fell
to earth when they opened their mouth at the wrong time. Such was Medford Bryan
Evans, a college professor, author and editor...The
sculptress and a paper mill by Bob Bowman 1-31-11
We
recently learned that Texas historian Light Cummings is writing a book about sculptress
Allie Tennant of Dallas... The
Duke of Texas by Maggie Van Ostrand 12-14-10
With
the impending opening of the Coen Brothers' remake of 1969's "True Grit," where
Wayne's Oscar-winning role is being re-interpreted by Jeff Bridges, this seems
a good time to revisit some interesting facts about this star of stars. John Wayne
may have been born in Iowa, but he was a Texan just the same... Babe
Ruth in East Texas by Bob Bowman 10-10-10
Imagine,
if you can, baseball slugger Babe Ruth walking around a field and shoveling cow
manure... Brownwood
has a lot to be proud about by Britt Towery 10-6-10
Artist
Blanche Westerman SpringerGraves
of the Famous by Bob Bowman 8-22-10
A reader called
a few days ago, asking where John Wesley Hardin, one of East Texas’ most famous
outlaws, was buried. His call brought up the question of where other famous people
are buried in Texas and elsewhere...
Peppy Blount by Britt Towery 8-21-10
On a flight
from Baltimore to Dallas, seated next to me was Ralph Eugene Blount, better known
as Peppy, Southwest Conference official and Texas Judge... Ivory
Joe Hunter by Bob Bowman 6-27-10
When historians
in Southeast Texas unveiled a Texas State Historical Marker for Ivory Joe Hunter
at a cemetery near Kirbyville, they stirred memories of one of America’s greatest
musicians... Willie
Morris by Mike Cox 5-27-10
Morris was a Southern
writer, not a Texas writer, but those of us who are prideful Texas nationalists
can rest assured that Morris’ Texas years added to the quality of his writing
in the same way that a charred oak barrel helped the bourbon he drank too much
of...Eck
Robertson by Clay Coppedge 5-19-10
Of the pioneer
types who helped establish a standard for Texas fiddle playing, Eck Robertson
deserves the most credit...Sally
Rand and Yesterday's ‘House of Tomorrow’ by Clay Coppedge
5-1-10
News that Sally Rand would come to Texas for the
Forth Worth Frontier Centennial in 1936 was met with outrage by some and curiosity
by many. Her reputation, gained at the 1933 World Fair in Chicago in 1933, preceded
her... Honoring
Lightnin' by Bob Bowman 4-4-10
Earlier this year,
Lightnin’ Hopkins, the late legendary blues musician, was awarded a Texas Historical
Marker to be placed in Houston...Remembering
Bob Ramsey by Linda Kirkpatrick 3-7-10
The true storyteller
can take you on a journey through time until at the end, you want to say, “It
can’t be over yet!!” Mr. Ramsey was the best of the best... Ten
Things to Know About Jerry Bywaters by John Troesser
1-13-10
Artist and Champion of Texas Arts and Artists George
Kendall by Clay Coppedge
12-1-09
The man for
whom Kendall County is named is credited with being America’s first war correspondent
and the father of the sheep business in Texas. Even without those notations in
the state’s history, we would know him as a survivor and chronicler of the ill-fated
Santa Fe Expedition... The
Quebe Sisters by Bob Bowman 11-15-09
If
Bob Wills were around today, the chances are good that he would be delighted with
three teenage sisters from Burleson...Ignacy
Paderewski and Amelia Earhart in Toyah, Texas 11-11-09Mr.
Guevara’s Neighborhood: Arts Flourish in Midday San Antonio
10-9-09
Carlos
Cortés, an artisan in the rather unusual medium of cement...Country
Legend Gene Watson by Bob Bowman 10-4-09
Someone
once asked country singing legend Ray Price to name his favorite singers. Price
paused a minute and finally said, “I have too many to name, but Gene Watson would
be right at the top.”...Alex
Sweet and His Siftings by Clay Coppedge
8-26-09
In terms
of popularity and a reputation for being a real Texas wise guy, Alex Sweet could
be called the Kinky Friedman of his day. Sweet’s day was roughly the last half
of the 19th Century, a time when Texas was by all accounts wild and wooly. To
Sweet, it was also funny... Roy
Crane and Captain Easy by Clay Coppedge 7-31-09
Comic strips hardly existed when Crane was born in 1901. He would be one of the
people who would help create a crucial part of that art form, if you’re willing
to call it that.There’s
Got to Be More to His “Galveston” Than That Glen Campbell Sings It by Bill
Cherry 7-3-09
If you know singer Glen Campbell’s real
relationship with the island, you can’t help but wonder if there isn’t more to
the story than that a songwriter named Jimmy Webb wrote these words and tune,
and that Glen sang them...Blast
From The Past: The Houston Colt 45s by Clay Coppedge 6-19-09
The
first major league baseball team in Texas was the Houston Colt .45s, now the Houston
Astros. Of course, we also have the Texas Rangers baseball team now but it all
started with Houston, and the determination of legendary Houstonian Roy Hofheinz...The
Legendary Stardust Cowboy by Clay Coppedge 6-3-09
The
Legendary Stardust Cowboy (real name Norman Carl Odam) from Lubbock...The
Billionaire Developer: George P. Mitchell by Bill Cherry 6-1-09
George
P. Mitchell was born on Galveston Island 90-years ago May 21st. And for all 90
of those years, he’s been making history, and with a good portion of that history
he has made life better for other people and for future generations... Sideshow
Texans by Mike Cox 5-28-09
Phineas Taylor (“There’s
a sucker born every minute”) Barnum knew talent when he saw it... The Shields
boys, Tarver and Erlich-Earle...Charlie
Bullock: “Art’s a luxury” by Byron Browne 5-27-09
“Art’s
a luxury,” Charlie Bullock says... Of course, Bullock is talking for us non-artists.
For himself, art is as much a necessity as eating... Jim
Reeves and Cheyenne by Bob Bowman 5-24-09
As
a one-time reporter, I covered the funerals of numerous East Texans, but the one
I remember the most was that of Jim Reeves, the iconic country singer who grew
up at Galloway in Panola County... Play
Misty For Me - A Reprise by Bill Cherry 5-4-09
Barry
KilgoreBoyce
House by Mike Cox 3-19-09<
Chances are, you’ve never
heard of Boyce House. But he deserves to be remembered... House improved the communities
he served as a hard hitting newspaper editor, he made a couple of generations
of Texans laugh and he offered himself as an unsuccessful political candidate.
What he did best, however, was collect Texas stories --folktales, jokes, history--and
preserve them in books, articles and newspaper columns...Pistol
Packing Mamma by Bob Bowman 3-8-09
One of the most
popular songs in the U.S. during the mid-1940s was “Pistol Packing Mama.” But
few know that the song came from East Texas and was written and performed by an
Cherokee County musician Al Dexter. Leon
Breeden by Bill Cherry 3-7-09
The Man from Oklahoma
and Jazz: They Brought Academic Notoriety to a Podunk Teachers College.
Leon
Breeden and his One O’clock Lab Band
Owen Wister by Mike Cox 1-15-09
The cultured gentleman from Philadelphia generally credited with inventing the
Western novel, a genre that evolved into film and eventually television, spent
some time in West Texas on his way to becoming a nationally-known writer...Alley
Oop is a Texan? by C. F. Eckhardt 1-14-09
Alley Oop,
the cave-man character created by Victor T. Hamlin in 1932, is a native Texan.
The area around present Iraan, Texas was a gold mine of dinosaur fossils. This
gave Hamlin the idea for a comic strip...Bob
Wade by Byron Browne 12-5-08
From Austin to Houston
to San Antonio to Abilene his over-sized, sometimes monstrous, oftentimes Titanic
creations have become so iconic, so much a part of our landscape that they frequently
define the area that they inhabit.Mance
Lipscomb by Clay Coppedge 10-19-08
Songster and guitarist
Mance Lipscomb spent most of his 80 years as a tenant farmer around Navasota,
in Grimes County before becoming an overnight sensation when he was 65...Love
in the Time of Diphtheria by Luke Warm 10-14-08
Scupltress
Elizabet Ney, Dr. Edmund Montgomery and Liendo PlantationGussie
Nell Davis by Archie P. McDonald 8-25-08
Gussie Nell
Davis and the Kilgore RangerettesGideon
Lincecum: King of Texas’ Wild Frontier by Clay Coppedge
8-24-08
If, as Russian novelist Mikhail Zoschenko once
put it, “’Man is excellently made and eagerly lives the kind of life that it being
lived” then Lincecum was what the Russian had in mind. The life Gideon Lincecum
so eagerly lived is the one a lot of us can’t help but think we would have lived
had we been in that time and in those places... Johanna
Domodora of South Texas by Linda-Kirkpatrick 8-18-08
Out
of the PWA the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was born. Thanks to the WPA
and the monies paid to writers, we now have a collection of interviews of people
whose stories would have been lost in history. Florence Angermiller's interview
with Johanna July of Brackettville, Texas is a story that I have read over and
over... Howard
Hughes by Archie P. McDonald 7-28-08
Howard Robard
Hughes Sr.Jackie
Gleason and Michael DeBakey Apparently Shared A Passion by Bill Cherry
7-14-08
It was the early spring of 1972. We had gone to Washington,
D.C....El
Paso’s Beautiful People: 1921-1946 6-5-08
Photographer
Alfonso Casasola and The Casasola Photo CollectionA
gifted writer by Bob Bowman 6-1-08
Landon Bradshaw
wrote only one book, “These People Actually Lived in East Texas.” People who have
copies cherish it with an affection reserved only for their wives and rich uncles.
The
first Elvis impersonator by Bob Bowman 3-10-08
Former
radio personality Norman Johnson of Nacogdoches holds a unique place in East Texas
history: He was the first known Elvis impersonator. The
Printer Fires Both Barrels by Archie P. McDonald 2-18-08
Archer Fullingim The
Killer and Me by Clay Coppedge 2-3-08
Jerry Lee
Lewis once offered me a drink of whiskey but I turned him down because I was sixteen
years old and conducting my first ever interview with anyone but myself. It happened
in 1969 at the Bigger ‘N Dallas nightclub...Kathy
Dell: A Cowboy's Sweetheart; the life of a famous unknown by Mel Brown
2-18-08
"Dell’s true importance to the state’s music history
is found in the pioneering spirit and unconventional accomplishments of her career...
in two male dominated professions, first as a rodeo star and then as a country
musician and band leader.""Always
Late" by Archie P. McDonald 2-3-08
Lefty FrizzellBuffalo
Bill by Mike Cox 1-24-08
Granddad worked for Buffalo
Bill Cody. No, he didn’t travel the nation with the old scout’s famous Wild West
Show... Remembering
Claire Perry by Robert Cowser 1-15-08
I first contacted
Claire Perry, the widow of the Texas writer George Sessions Perry, when she was
living in Guilford, CT in 1963...J.
Frank Dobie and Colonel Jack Jenkins by Mel Brown 1-1-08
Two Texans become friends in War-torn England
Urban
Landscapes of Jacinto Guevara by Johnny Stucco 10-11-07
“If this all seems mystical, trust me, it is for me too.” Good
Night Irene by Archie P. McDonald 10-1-07
Since
Shreveport and Caddo Parish were once members of the old East Texas Chamber of
Commerce, it is appropriate for the East Texas Historical Association to consider
Huddie Leadbetter, better known as Leadbelly, as part of our past—especially since
at least one of his prison sentences was served in this region... Thomas
Lovell 1852 - 1911 10-1-07
Builder George
Roy Clough Invents Call-in Radio by Bill Cherry 8-15-07
By the time the Federal Communications Act was established in 1938, radio broadcasting
was already a big business in Galveston. The Moody family was broadcasting over
its station in the Buccaneer hotel, and George Roy Clough was operating his first
station, KFLX out of make shift studios in the living room of his home...John
Henry Faulk by Archie P. McDonald 7-30-07
Johnny Faulk had once been atop the show business ladder in New York City, only
to tumble when falsely accused during the era of McCarthyism of being a communist...Robert
Leroy Ripley by Mike Cox 7-31-07
Believe it or not,
Robert Leroy Ripley did not hail from Texas, but the Lone Star State proved to
be a rich source of material for the syndicated newspaper cartoon that made him
famous... The
Magnificent Montague by Bill Cherry 7-15-07
The
Magnificent Montague I want to talk about isn’t fictional, and he’s not white,
he’s black, and he’s probably one of the most important contributors to American
black culture that has ever lived. Someone you should know about... Charles
W. Pressler by Mike Cox 6-27-07
Chief draftman of
the 1879 Texas-sized Texas map.Korley’s
Kolumns by Bob Bowman 6-25-07
Some seventy years ago, a self-educated farmer and justice of the peace in Henderson
County starting writing letters to the Athens Daily Review. In a few months, Cicero
Witt Corley... Powers
of Texas by Maggie Van Ostrand 6-17-07
Surely there are more powers in the great republic of Texas than can be listed
in any single article, or even in any single book. This is about one of them:
Powers Boothe...What
Stanley Walker Saw by Clay Coppedge
Stanley Walker, the legendary journalist
and editor from Lampasas, was a man ahead of his time. Though he lived and worked
in a time far removed from ours, his perceptions and comments hold merit more
than 40 years after his death... Bring
'Em Back Alive: Frank Buck Archie P. McDonald
Before the late Steve Ervin
wrestled his first crocodile, before Jane Goodall learned to communicate with
chimps, before swimming champion Johnny Weissmuller personified Edgar Rice Burroughs'
Tarzan and Jungle Jim in movies and serials, and before John Wayne performed in
a film titled "Hatari!" about a professional trapper of animals for zoos, Frank
Buck captured American and international audiences with tales of his adventures
doing just those kinds of things everywhere on the planet... Texas'
Most Civilized Soul by Clay Coppedge
Roy Bedichek has been called the
most civilized soul Texas ever produced. If that's so - and it has never been
seriously disputed - the seeds of Bedichek's civilized nature and his love of
the natural world were sown in Falls County, where he grew up...Enrico
Filiberto Cerracchio
Italian born Texas sculptor
and his Equestrian Statue of General Sam Houston Photographer
Louis de Planque by Mike Cox
Like many creative types, Louis de Planque
had his eccentricities. He expressed his artistry on the glass plate photographic
negative; he indulged his penchant for the mildly outlandish in his dress. Raoul
Josset (1899-1957)
"They Might be Giants - then again, they might be the work of Raoul Josset.
The Franco-American sculptor who made larger-than-life Texas Statues...""My
Blue Heaven: Gene Austin" by Archie P. McDonald
Gainesville, in Cooke County, gained a native son named Eugene Lucas on June 24,1900.
Lucas became one of the nation's most popular entertainers during the 1930s, but
by then he used his stepfather's name-Austin... O.
Henry and the Shoal Creek Treasure by C. F. Eckhardt
Before he became
known as O. Henry, a former consumptive from South Carolina-William Sidney Porter,
everybody who knew him called him Bill-lived and worked in Austin. One of his
first jobs there was with the state's General Land Office... The
Babe by Archie P. McDonald
Mildred Ella Didrikson,
the greatest woman athlete of the twentieth century, was the sixth child born
to Norwegian immigrants Ole Nickolene and Hannah Marie Olson Didriksen, in Port
Arthur, Texas, in 1911... Kim
Stanley: Daughter of Texas by Maggie Van Ostrand
Kim Stanley made very few films, and was nominated for the Oscar for nearly every
one, even that of Pancho Barnes in "The Right Stuff" though she was onscreen fewer
than ten minutes. She preferred stage acting, and electrified audiences with performances
as Cherie in "Bus Stop"... Conan
in Texas: The Robert E. Howard Story by C. F. Eckhardt
"Though Howard is best remembered as the creator of Conan the Cimmerian,
mostly today called 'Conan the Barbarian,' he also created King Kull of Atlantis,
Solomon Kane, ... Bran Mak Morn, 'El Borak,' sailor Steve Costigan, and dozens
of others. He wrote in virtually every genre with the possible exception of romance,
under at least 100 different pseudonyms..."Steven
Fromholz BioVictor
T. Hamlin & Alley Oop by C. F. Eckhardt
Victor Hamlin
was not a newspaper man at the time he created Alley Oop. He was a cartographer
for an oil company, making site maps. He was also a cartoonist who had a mildly-successful
science-fiction strip featuring the 'mad scientist' Dr. Wonmug and his sidekick
Oscar Boom...The
Height of Celebrity by Maggie Van Ostrand
"Since the media harps
on the public's right to know, be it the names of secret agents, who's dating
whom, or who's gender bending, why not ease our minds and let us know who's walking
tall and who's walking small? Like former-planet Pluto, some stars need to be
downsized. To that end, help is on the way from the Height Detective."Bob
Wills: The Greatest Fiddle-Player of Them All by C. F. Eckhardt
"...He
was a shirt-tail kid from Turkey, where they put both city limits signs on the
same post. He had a fiddle and a Model T, and he pushed that Tin Lizzie to anywhere
anybody would pay $3 or $4 to hear him fiddle all night and sometimes well into
the dawn while they danced to old songs. Sixty years after that beginning ..."Kris
Kristofferson and Mickey Newbury: A Texas Connection by Dorothy Hamm
"...We
knew nothing about Kristofferson then. We would come to learn that his life was
far more interesting than any song he could ever write. Perhaps that's why he
had to write them. His story is well known, born in Brownsville, Texas..."
Tennessee
Williams' Texas Director by Bob Bowman
Without the interest of an East
Texas woman, American theater icon Tennessee Williams might still be writing high
school plays in a small town.Honky
Tonk Man by Archie P. McDonald
Johnny Horton Pedro
Gonzalez-Gonzalez by John Troesser
A Guy So Nice - They Named Him Twice
During his career he performed alongside such actors as Glenn Ford, Lee Marvin,
Karl Malden, James Garner and James Arness. Freddy
Fender by Ken Rudine
"Freddy Fender is probably the greatest singer,
writer and musician of Mexican-American heritage." "Lady
Godiva": Adah Isaccs Menken by Archie P. McDonald
The lady on the
horse
Willie
by Dorothy Hamm
Native Texan Willie NelsonNorm
Cash
"Cash, a left-handed hitting first baseman, had a distinguished
career in major league baseball, with the Chicago White Sox (1958-1959) and Detroit
Tigers (1960-1974)."Millard
Lewis Cope by Archie P. McDonald
"Tip O’Neil reminded us that 'all
politics is local.' Millard Cope taught us that the best journalism is local,
too."The
Quebe Sisters by Bob Bowman
"If Bob Wills were around today, the
chances are good that he would be delighted with three teenage sisters from Burleson."Dana
X. Bible and the Twelfth Man by Archie P. McDonald
A story about the
life and contributions to Texas football by Dana Xenophon Bible Hallettsville
Photographer Left a Legacy of Memories by Murray Montgomery
Henry Jacob
Braunig John
Trlica by Clay Coppedge
"Every picture tells a story only as long
as people know the story.
A visit with Dan Martinets is in order if you want
the story on the photographs collected in the book "Equal before the Lens: Jno.
Trlica's Photographs of Granger, Texas" by Barbara McCandless..."The
Light Crust Doughboys are on the air! by Archie P. McDonald
"Truett
Kinsey’s voice came out of Philcos and Zeniths and other radios all over East
Texas, and eventually much of the South, each day at noon to announce the beginning
of a performance of the most popular fiddle band ever assembled..."Jackass
in Heaven by Mike Cox
Clay McGonagill may have been the ropingest cowboy
Texas ever produced. He’s for sure one of the Lone Star State’s least-known characters,
though cowboys still tell stories about him around the campfire or over a cool
beverage after a hard day in the saddle.The
Other Babe by Archie P. McDonald
"Babe" Didrikson, the outstanding woman
athlete of the twentieth century.Johnnie
High: People Told Him It Would Not Work by Dorothy HammBoxcar
Willie by Dorothy Hamm
Lecil Travis Martin,
known around the world as Boxcar Willie.Joe
Tex by Clay Coppedge
The singer that critic John Morthland of Texas Monthly
called "by far Texas' greatest contributor to soul music."Casablanca’s
East Texan by Bob Bowman
Dooley Wilson, the piano player who sang "As
Time Goes By" in CasablancaMy
Friend Morris by Bob Bowman
"Morris Frank, who gained fame
for his newspaper columns in the Houston Chronicle and his speeches throughout
America..."James
Brown, Desdemona's Celebrity Actor by Linda Ruhl
Lt. Rip Masters of "Rin
Tin Tin"George
Sessions Perry by Clay Coppedge
Traces of the town that George Sessions
Perry knew and wrote about in the first half of the Twentieth Century can still
be found in Rockdale. O.
Henry by Mike Cox
"The mustachioed young man from North Carolina
hardly seemed the martial type, but as a citizen soldier in the Austin Grays he
demonstrated the qualities of a leader – even if it was to keep from spending
the night in the guardhouse."The
Eerie Demise of Johnny Horton by Clay Coppedge
"Despite Johnny Horton's
wild-at-heart looks and voice, he was a man haunted for years by ominous premonitions
of his own death."Etta
Moten Barnett by John Troesser
November 5th, 1901 - January - 2004
"Life does not owe me one thing."
"While her birth in Weimar, Texas may
have just been chance, it's her accomplishments after she left Weimar that deserve
a closer look. When she died last year of cancer (in Chicago) at the age of 102,
Etta Moten Barnett had had a rich and full life.. She is now remembered as an
actress, singer, and philanthropist ..."
Linda
Darnell by Archie P. McDonald
The brief but brilliant life of actress
Linda Darnell began in Dallas on October 16, 1923...Pardner
Jones by Mike Cox
"Jones was the go-to guy for shooting hats off
actor’s heads or cigars out of their mouths. A la William Tell, he also could
make instant apple sauce, albeit with a bullet instead of an arrow."Mollie
Bailey by John Troesser
"Circus Queen of the Southwest"Never
another like Bill Pickett by Clay Coppedge
Bill Pickett invented the practice
of what we know as bulldogging, or steer wrestling....Katherine
Anne Porter in East Texas by Bob Bowman
"Porter apparently never
forgot her life in East Texas. Many of her short stories reflect the geography,
rural traditions and language of the pineywoods."Texas
Guinan by Luke Warm
She may have been Waco's Answer to Mae West - but
no one remembers the question...Jules
Bledsoe
Ten
Thing you should know about Jules Bledsoe by John Troesser, Photos courtesy
The Texas Collection, Baylor University
His role as "Joe" in Jerome Kern's
Showboat made "Ol' Man River" an American classic.
"The
Light Crust Doughboys are on the air!" by Archie P. McDonald
The most
famous, and most successful, western swing group in Texas in the 1930s
Hondo
by Mike Cox
Hondo, a word made famous by Louis L'Amour. Gene
Autry
Cowboy
Gene by Mike Cox ("Texas Tales")
Gene Autry the Singing CowboyRoger
Miller by Maggie Van Ostrand
Country Music Hall of Famer
Anecdotes
of Roger and friends, quotes and stories.
Nuggets
of History Bob Bowman
Ginger Rogers, La Salle, Custer and his men...Jack
Teagarden from Vernon, TexasThe
Big Bopper by Archie P. McDonald Lightnin'
Hopkins by Bob BowmanOur
Celebrities by Bob Bowman ("All Things Historical")
"...
I continue to be amazed how many famous people are from the Piney Woods..."
Robert
Howard
Barbarians
At The City Limits - Arnold is from Austria - Conan is from Cross Plains, Texas
by Brewster Hudspeth
Robert had the build and look of a fighter but the melancholy
loneliness of a poet. No one knows how this tiny town so far from exotic places
(unless you count Abilene) inspired young Robert to write such vivid fantasy.Dan
Blocker
The
Mighty Hoss by Archie P. McDonald
Dan Blocker's story begins and ends
in DeKalb, in Bowie County, located in uppermost Northeastern Texas, though most
of it played out in West Texas and in Hollywood.
Dan
Blocker
Ten Things You Never
Knew About "Hoss" Cartwright. by John TroesserAdah
Isaccs Menken: The lady on the Horse by Archie P. McDonald 12/8/02Sissy
Spacek and Rip Torn by John TroesserRoy
Orbison
Wink, Roy Orbison's
Boyhood HomeHank
Thompson - 1999 Texas Country Music Hall of FameOl'
Rip, The Entombed Horned Toad of Eastland County
The story of Ol' Rip,
the horned toad entombed in the Eastland County Courthouse for 31 years.Bob
Wills, the King of Western Swing Baseball
Players - Shelby Edwin Cropper & Elzie Wheat 1910 photoJim
Reeves Tex
Ritter Architect
Alfred C. Finn - "The man who built Houston"
Crossing
Paths in TexasHoxie's
Moxie by Mike Cox
8-23-12
Thirty-seven years after the Army abandoned Fort Davis, a celluloid
cowboy announced plans to convert the old cavalry post into a motion picture colony
and resort. "Ten-Gallon
Hats / Pint-Sized Brains"
Otis P. Driftwood recalls Nacogdoches
by Mike Cox 7-4-12
A runaway mule in Nacogdoches helped
change American entertainment history. Frederick
Law Olmsted by Clay Coppedge 4-13-12
One of the
most important people from American history that most people have never heard
of was Frederick Olmsted Law.
What
happened to Charles Francis Coghlan by Mike Cox 9-2-10
His
story is either one of the most incredible tales ever told, pure legend or a mixture
of fact and fiction. Mexico’s
Gift to Opera, Rolando Villazón by Maggie Van Ostrand
1-2-10
You don’t have to know anything about opera to appreciate Villazón’s voice. When
you hear him sing, your jaw drops, your eyes glaze over, and the hairs on your
arm stand to attention... I felt like Al Capone must have felt the first time
he heard the voice of Enrico Caruso. Marx
Brothers by Clay Coppedge
The Marx Brothers weren’t funny at all until
they came to Texas...A
letter from Mark Twain by Bob Bowman
When William H. Hamman, a two-time
candidate for Texas governor, was murdered on the streets of New Birmingham in
1890, he left a legacy as an enterprising businessman and investor. But often
overlooked was his friendship with Samuel Clemens...Brando
by Maggie Van Ostrand
"April 3 is Marlon Brando's birthday and, if you
ask any actor, it should be declared a national holiday..."Hoyt
Axton: Artist Unclassified by Dorothy Hamm
"He could never be pinned
down to one genre; he made his mark wherever he happened to land. Record companies
were unsure how to categorize his music. One catalogue listed his music as "Unclassified."
Hoyt's friends thought it was a totally appropriate label for the music and the
man." The
Most Distinguished Tramp by Murray Montgomery
"...The Feb. 25, 1910,
issue of the Herald had an interesting story about old "A-No. 1" - the headline
read, "The most distinguished tramp in the world paid this city a visit Monday.
Traveled 468,450 miles at a cost of $7.61". The paper told its readers to look
for the tramp's work during their travels. The article said that "A No. 1" would
always carve that name under his work, along with the date and an arrow to show
what direction he was heading when he left..."Hank
Williams and Patsy Cline Still Mean A Lot by Dorothy Hamm
Although tragedies
ten years apart ended the young lives of Hank Williams in 1953 at age 29 and Patsy
Cline in 1963 at age 30, they continue today as two of country music's best loved
and most enduring stars... Super
Comic, Super Star, Super Man by Maggie Van Ostrand
Mario Mareno Reyes
was the sixth son of 15 children, who became a world-wide cinema super star, was
married to the same woman for over 30 years, and made enormous financial contributions
to the Mexican poor. You may not think you know of him, but you do. He was known
as Cantinflas... East
Texas and the Black Sox by Bob Bowman
The 1919 World Series is best remembered
as the most famous scandal in baseball history, but lost in that history is an
East Texas connection to the scandal.Mexican
Beauty: Dolores del Rio by Maggie Van Ostrand
"Sinuous and sensual,
she was widely regarded as the female Rudolph Valentino. ... Precious few other
actresses have retained both beauty and stardom for over fifty professional years."Donna
Reed - Perfect Worlds by Dwight Young
"... I distinctly remember
more than one afternoon when I thought, sitting there in the plushly upholstered
splendor of the Granada, “I wish the whole world was like this.” A decade later,
Donna Reed brought that sentiment into our living rooms..."Maurice
Barrymore in Marshall
"Marshall was indirectly responsible for launching
the Barrymore Dynasty..." |
| | Rope
Walker by Diane Short
6-17-12
In the old
Hebrew Cemetery in Corsicana, Texas is a headstone with only two words on it,
“Rope Walker.” Almost nothing is known of the man in the grave except the manner
of his death... |
| Texas
Empresarios
by Jeffery Robenalt
10-1-11
Thanks
to Stephen F. Austin, "the Father of Texas," and many other dedicated Empresarios,
the population of Texas stood at nearly 20,000 citizens by 1830, most of them
from the United States.Texas
Filibusters by Jeffery Robenalt 9-1-11
The
brief, but bloody, expeditions of the Texas filibusters (Spanish for pirate or
freebooter). |
Last
President of the Republic by Murray Montgomery 5-13-13
The
opium war, Texas style by Clay Coppedge 5-11-13
The
slandeourous and libelous who lurk among us today have unprecedented avenues for
any and all spurious allegations cast upon the character of any individual, public
or private. In days of yore, the avenues were few but the character assasins were
just as relentless. Take Sam Houston, revered father of Texas...Andy’s
Antics in Austin by Wanda Orton 2-21-13
The
next to youngest child of Sam and Margaret Houston drove everyone nuts with his
shenanigans. One might say that Andrew Jackson Houston was a brat. Joanna
Troutman by Luke Warm 11-9-12
“Betsy Ross of Texas”
Dr.
Pat Wagner and the "Come & Take It" Cannon by Murray Montgomery
10-16-12
Those of us who love Texas history can thank Dr. Wagner for
the little cannon that is presently on exhibit at the Gonzales Memorial Museum.
Born
to be a Texas Ranger, the life of John Coffee (Jack) Hays by Murray Montgomery
8-27-12Sam
Bell Maxey
by Clay Coppedge 8-18-12
To the people
he served in his lifetime he was respected as the man who kept the Yankees out
of Texas during the war. David
Levi Kokernot by
Wanda Orton 8-15-12
Never
before or since he made his home on the shores of Scott’s Bay – and later on Cedar
Bayou -- has Texas experienced such a colorful and controversial character. The
Meusebach-Comanche Treaty by Jeffrey Robenalt 8-1-12
In
early spring of 1847, a remarkable treaty between German settlers and Native Americans
was negotiated on the banks of the San Saba River in the hill country north of
Fredericksburg, Texas.Sam
Walker Texas Ranger and the "Walker" Colt by Jeffrey Robenalt
7-1-12
Thirty-two years is not a long life as measured against most
men, but Texas Ranger Sam Walker's brief years were an epic adventure filled with
Indian battles, wars, public renown, and honor.Kit
Carson at Adobe Walls Clay Coppedge 6-16-12
When
historians talk about the Battle of Adobe Walls they are usually talking about
the Second Battle of Adobe Walls... The First Battle of Adobe Walls occurred some
10 years earlier and featured a man who was a legend in his own time... Ten
Things you should know about Anson Jones by John Troesser Volney
Erskine Howard by Mike Cox 4-5-12
Reading vintage
newspapers, it’s not hard to see how Texans early on helped to develop the long-standing
notion that people from the Lone Star State are folks with whom it is best not
to mess.David
E. Lawhon, Texas Ranger/Pioneer Publisher by Mike Cox 3-22-12
As
a pioneer newspaper editor, David E. Lawhon may have subscribed to the belief
that the pen was mightier than the sword, but as a Texas Ranger he never saddled
up without his rifle and pistol. |
A
Texan by Choice by Murray Montgomery 3-17-12
A story
about James Charles Wilson who was born in England and became, “by choice,” a
Texan and patriot from Gonzales County. Creed
Taylor by Clay Coppedge
12-9-11
Creed Taylor
saw more of the most interesting pieces of Texas history than anybody else. He
was one of the fortunate few who grew up with Texas and one whose personal history
most closely matches the state’s.Recalling
the lesser-known heroes of the Alamo by Murray Montgomery 4-11-11
Alamo messengers John William Smith and James L. Allen |
|
Fort Davis
and Colonel Benjamin Henry Grierson by Byron Browne 3-23-11
The
assignment to Fort Davis should have been relatively calm. However, the Mescalero
Apache chief Victorio saw to it that Grierson and his soldiers remained active...
|
Custer
in Texas by Clay Coppedge
2-23-11
It’s not
hard to figure that Gen. George Armstrong Custer’s time in Texas was controversial
and paradoxical. His entire military career was that way... Robert
F. Stockton by Byron Browne
2-1-11
Robert Stockton’s
life was one of those extraordinary events that persuades and affects the lives
of, not only those who were contemporaries, but also the generations that follow.Bose
Ikard by Clay Coppedge 2-1-11
Bose Ikard, born into
slavery, became rancher Charley Goodnight’s most trusted and respected cowhand.
For Ikard, more than most, the road to the history books was a long and winding
one. Old
Rangers and Sam Houston's Grave by Mike Cox 1-13-11
The
old Texas Rangers who gathered in Austin for a reunion in the early fall of 1897
surely figured they had fought their last fight. After all, they had battled and
survived Mexican soldiers, Comanches and outlaws. But that’s before they heard
what some folks in Tennessee were up to... |
| | The
Tar and Feathering of Father Joseph M. Keller, Slaton, Texas, 1920's by James
Villanueva 10-1-10
On a Saturday night, March 4, 1922,
in Slaton, what may have begun as a whisper, an aside, a comment, or just mindless
chatter amongst neighbors, transformed the community... |
The
Mystery Man by Bob Bowman 10-3-10
Daingerfield, the
county seat of Morris County, was named for Captain London Daingerfield, supposedly
a native of Nova Scotia, but beyond that and a few other facts, Captain Daingerfield
remains a mystery man... LBJ
and Sad Irons by Clay Coppedge 9-10-10
"Johnson
ran for Congress in 1937 to fill the 10th Congressional seat left vacant by the
death of James Buchanan. Running on the promise to use electricity from dams being
built in the Hill Country to bring electricity to that region, he defeated nine
other candidates in a hotly contested primary."George
Washington Littlefield by Luke Warm 9-1-10
Farmer,
Soldier, Cattle Baron, Banker, PhilanthropistSamuel
Bell Maxey by Nolan Maxie 9-1-10
United States Senator
and Confederate GeneralJohn
Henninger Reagan 7-2-10
Ten Things you should know
about John Henninger ReaganBernardo
de Galvez by C. F. Eckhardt 6-7-10
"If it hadn’t
been for a Spaniard named Bernardo de Galvez—and yes, Galveston is named for him—the
United States might not exist." Henry
Mordorff - A San Jacinto Veteran 5-18-10The
Mysterious Yellow Rose of Texas by Linda Kirkpatrick 4-1-10
This
is a story about Texas. It is the story of a woman---a mysterious woman closely
related to the song, “The Yellow Rose of Texas.” As I further delved into the
research, I found a story beyond anything that I had imagined. Is it myth or is
it fact, I do not know but I will share my discoveries and you can decide for
yourself...Ten
Things to know about James Webb Throckmorton by John
Troesser 1-1-10G.W.
Fly: Confederate soldier and Texas statesman by Murray Montgomery
1-1-10
The Fly name
is very prominent in the history of Gonzales...Ned
Green by Clay Coppedge
Ned
Green was one of the first and most colorful of Texas’ 20th Century millionaires....George
Kendall by Clay Coppedge
The
man for whom Kendall County is named is credited with being America’s first war
correspondent and the father of the sheep business in Texas....Clara
Driscoll
Savior of the AlamoTemple
Houston by Clay Coppedge
"Temple
lived a short but eventful life.... Like other Texas and Old West legends, much
of what has filtered down to us about Temple Houston is pure fiction.... The truth
is only the starting point..."
Zapata
by Maggie Van Ostrand
John
Steinbeck wrote it, Elia Kazan directed it, Marlon Brando starred in it: Viva
Zapata! But how close did these great artists come to the real thing? The answer
lay in a telling 1916 interview by reporter Guillermo Ojara, sent by his paper,
El Democrata of Mexico City, to interview Zapata himself. Here, greatly edited
for space, are bits of that interview...The
Adventures of Spencer Houston Jack by Murray Montgomery
More often than not, history books don’t tell us much about ordinary soldiers
who also served Texas in the cause of freedom. One such man was Spencer Houston
Jack...Davy
In East Texas by Bob Bowman
Now,
a new book has captured the details of Davy's journey to Texas and the Alamo,
where, as every schoolchild knows, he died on March 6, 1836, with more than 180
other defenders. A
Confederate Soldier in Texas: Full Metal Corset by Maggie Van Ostrand
Upon
examination, the astonished medic found that Lt. Harry T. Buford was not an ordinary
case, not by a long shot...Ten
Things To Know About Henry Smith by John Troesser
Scant mention is made
of Henry Smith in Texas history texts, but the Centennial Statue in Brazoria holds
his place in early Texas history... Gail
Borden by Mike Cox
A
New Yorker who grew up in Indiana, Gail Borden came to Texas in 1829, five years
after his brother Thomas arrived as one of Stephen F. Austin’s colonists...Miss
Lockhart and the Comanches by Maggie Van Ostrand
The bloody Council House
conflict, and Matilda Lockhart...Life
and Times of James Coryell by Clay Coppedge
The man for whom Coryell County
is named was not born there and did not die there but he was an adventurous sort
who packed plenty of travel and a few brushes with fame into an abbreviated life...
Indian
Emily by Mike Cox
One of the most romantic stories in the lore of the
Old West originated at Fort Davis... In the late 1860s, an Apache female fell
wounded in a skirmish between cavalry troops stationed at Fort Davis and her band....
Mary
Ann Goodnight and the Texas State Bison Herd by Linda Kirkpatrick
Their story began many, many years ago and when you know it your heart will fill
with the same pride that you get at you watch Old Glory waving in the breeze.
Terry's
Texas Rangers by Mike Cox
" The Texans who rode with the Terry and
Lubbock, and later under Col. John A. Wharton, paid a high price for their beliefs.
Of 1,700 who served in the regiment, the 8th Texas consisted of only 150 men by
the end of the war."Forgotten
Conservationist by Mike Cox
No matter the significance of their contribution
to society, sometimes worthy people are overlooked by later generations. Oscar
Charles Guessaz is a perfect example...The
Women of 1836, Part III, Mary Millsap by Linda-Kirkpatrick
"... Mary
Millsap, wife of Isaac Millsap, Gonzales Ranger. Isaac was the oldest defender
at the Alamo and Mary was now one of the oldest widows. Not only was Mary left
with the burden of seven children to raise but she had been blind for many years..."Susannah
Dickinson by Linda-Kirkpatrick
"...Susannah picked up Angelina and
followed the officer into the courtyard. It was then that she viewed a site that
history books can never describe. The air was still and there was a deafening
hush all around. The bodies of the brave dead Texans lay stacked in piles, later
to become funeral pyres spreading smoke and history to the sky above..."Peter
Ellis Bean by Archie P. McDonald
The American frontier produced many colorful
characters, including Peter Ellis Bean...George
Washington Brackenridge
The man and the statueThe
Forgotten Hero by C. F. Eckhardt
Who was the first—and possibly the greatest—hero
of the Texas Revolution? He’s a man you may have heard of, but not very often.
Try Ben Milam... San
Jacinto Hero Henry Millard by Mike Cox
Texas has 254 counties and 1,208
incorporated cities, but none are named for Henry Millard – a virtually forgotten
hero of the Texas War for Independence. Goodbye,
General Bill by Gael Montana
Eulogy for Brigadier General Bill Bacon,
RetOld
Bill and Handsome Wolf by Clay Coppedge
Old Bill Williams and the Comanche
chief YsambanbiThe
Women of 1836 - Part I by Linda Kirkpatrick
The women who came to Texas were strong beyond means. They faced every hardship
and danger that one can imagine and still they survived. The following stories
relate the tales of a few of these women. The first is an unnamed woman from Anahuac...
"Take
Care of My Little Boy" by Archie P. McDonald
Travis
wrote this last letter from the Alamo early in March 1836 to David Ayers...The
adventures of John Himes Livergood by Murray Montgomery
In the days of
early Texas, Lavaca County had its share of adventurous pioneers, and a man from
Missouri, John Himes Livergood, can be counted as one of the best among them...
Here is a story about him in an expedition against the Indians who had killed
a settler’s wife and daughter and kidnapped his 8-year-old boy... Goodrich
Jones: The best friend Texas trees ever had by Clay Coppedge
Some people might be tempted to refer to W. Goodrich Jones as the original
tree hugger. While there is no record of Jones in an arbor embrace, he was no
doubt a pioneering conservation and a profound and lasting impact on forestry
in this country, especially Texas. A state forest in East Texas is named in his
honor... Did
Davy survive? by Bob Bowman
Did Davy Crockett survive the battle of the
Alamo, only to be sent to Mexico as a prisoner and forced to work in a mine? The
possibility was raised in an edition of Southwestern Historical Quarterly in April
of 1940...Ann
Whitney
Texas Schoolteacher of the Year 1867
Martin
Luther King, Jr. Birthday by Archie P. McDonald
Where were you on April 4, 1968, when news of the death of Martin Luther King
Jr. reached you? Having dinner, perhaps, as I was, and watching TV...Margie
Neal Archie P. McDonald
Margie Elizabeth Neal of Carthage, Texas, really was the first woman to do lots
of things and do them well...Train
travelers owe much to service pioneer by Delbert Trew
Every traveler today,
no matter what mode of travel he prefers, owes a salute to the organizational
genius of Fred Harvey...Pamelia
Mann, Tough Texan Archie P. McDonald
A lady of my acquaintance, active
in the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, once complained to me on the argumentative
nature of her sisters in this hereditary Lone Star sorority. My explanation: it's
in the blood... The
General Was A Spy—And So Was The Pirate by C. F. Eckhardt
James Wilkinson
was Commanding General, United States Army—a rank that no longer exists but, at
the time, the highest rank in the US Army. The equivalent, today, is Chairman,
Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was also the top spy in the US for the Spanish Empire.
He was designated Agent #1... Agents #12 and #13 were the brothers Laffite, Pierre
and Jean... Eyewitness
by Maggie Van Ostrand
Mr. Epperson... was once a newsboy and lived in Washington
DC. This does not sound all that memorable except for one fact: He was selling
newspapers at Ford's Theatre on the night of April 14, 1865... James
Long, Filibuster by Archie P. McDonald
And Jane Long, Mother of Texas.
First
to Fly by C. F. Eckhardt
So far as is known, the first man-carrying, heavier-than-air
craft—the first airplane—flew not at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903, nor in
East Texas the year before. Nor did it fly in California in the 1880s, though
apparently a steam-powered monoplane was flown there then. It flew in Gillespie
County, Texas—in 1866. Enter Jacob Brodbeck—genius...Sally
Skull, the Scariest Siren in Texas by Maggie Van Ostrand
Second only to
becoming famous as one of Jack the Ripper's victims would be gaining celebrity
as one of Sally Skull's husbands... Some say Sally didn't always wait to get a
divorce, and perhaps took the easy way out. She killed them... How
legends are made by Delbert Trew
Charles GoodnightThe
Harrowing Life and Times of Elizabeth Ann Bishop by Maggie Van Ostrand
One of the Texas frontier women who taught the wilderness to quit howling and
behave itself was Elizabeth Ann Bishop... What she endured is testament to the
strength of frontier women... Teresita
Woman of the Apache by Linda Kirkpatrick
Many accounts are told of the April 18, 1881 incident at the McLaurin Ranch in
the Frio Canyon of Texas. Many historical accounts are linked to one another and
a small glitch in history could have changed many of the outcomes. Just one small
change could have altered the lives of many, including one Apache woman. Many
Places of LaSalle's Murder by Bob Bowman
The site
of La Salle's murder has been a source of unbridled speculation. At least eight
communities have made claims as "the place were La Salle was killed."... CSA
Veterans by Mike Cox
Doffing his sweat-stained hat, the visitor looked
around the family’s living room. His still-clear eyes stopped at the oil painting
hanging over the mantle above the Snyder family’s gas-log fireplace. The artwork,
done from life, depicted Maj. Gen. Sterling Price in his Confederate uniform.
Snapping to attention with a click of his heels, the old-timer presented a crisp
salute to the long-dead officer... Haden
Edwards by Archie P. McDonald
Haden Edwards helped
influence the Anglo settlement of East Texas almost as much as Stephen F. Austin,
but the state capitol and a couple of universities are not named for him. Here's
why...Deaf
Smith - Eyes of the Texas Army by Murray Montgomery
During those dark days of the Texas Revolution many men came forward and represented
themselves well in the war with Mexico. When we think of those times, the names
Travis, Houston, Austin, Bowie, and Crockett quickly come to mind. There were
many others, however, who were just as important to the Texas cause. One of those
was Erastus "Deaf" Smith... there was none more dedicated in the Texas fight for
freedom than this man. Did
John Wilkes Booth Live In Texas? by C. F. Eckhardt
Wherever and whenever
John Wilkes Booth, assassin of Abraham Lincoln, died, it’s pretty much a sure
bet it wasn’t in a burning barn in Virginia...Dr.
Edward Arrel Pye, A Texas Medical Hero by W. T. Block Jr.
Whenever the
virulent yellow fever plague came to town, the townsmen who were cautious packed
up their families and belongings and fled elsewhere. Sometimes a town’s physician
did not leave; they stayed to treat their patients and occasionally died...
The Republic's
First President by Archie P. McDonald
Usually, the argument about who
first served as president of the Republic of Texas involves David G. Burnet and
Sam Houston. Maybe Richard Ellis has a claim, too...Price
Daniel by Archie P. McDonald
Price Daniel served in more political offices
than anyone I know and he did so with distinction and honor. Cartwright
by Bill Cherry
Mayor Herbie, His Time in Jail and the Big Downtown Parade
that Followed. Henry
O. Flipper, An Epic Remaining To Be Told by C. F. Eckhardt
Perhaps the
most enigmatic figure in the annals of the American West is not Johnny Ringo of
maybe-suicide/maybe-murder or the deliberately enigmatic Mysterious Dave Mather,
but 2/LT Henry O. Flipper, 10th United States Cavalry... Checkers
by Mike Cox
Even though the game has been popular in America since the 1840s,
no one seems to have compiled a list of famous Texas checker players. If anyone
ever does, one name that should be included is W.R. (Bill) Chambers.Sally
Scull: Texas' Pioneer "Bad Girl" by W. T. Block Jr.
Sally Scull, the pioneer Texas 'bad girl" was a combination Belle Starr, Calamity
Jane, and Annie Oakley... Alamo
Hero by W. T. Block Jr.
Isaac RyanSam's
Mother-in-Law by Mike Cox
"Despite the rocky beginning of their relationship,
Sam Houston treated Mrs. Nancy Lea, his mother-in-law, with all due respect. He
must have learned to accept her eccentricities as well, like the lard incident..."
Governor
Thomas Mitchell Campbell by Archie P. McDonaldRichard
Ellis by Mike CoxJane
McManus Storm Cazneau by Archie P. McDonald
Tallest Rebel
by Mike Cox
The first time the Yankees soldiers saw Henry Clay Thurston charging
toward them through the clouds of black powder smoke they must have rubbed their
eyes in disbelief. This gray-clad Johnny Reb towered over the other fighting men
like a pine tree growing next to a bush... Catherine
Magill Dorman: Confederate Heroine of Sabine Pass by W.T. Block, JrTemple
Lea Houston by C. F. Eckhardt
Temple Houston was probably the closest
of all the sons to the old man in temperament and abilities, but he resented being
compared to Sam. He determined at an early age that he would not be remembered
as 'Sam's boy,' but as 'Temple Houston.' Don
Juan de Oñate by Brewster Hudspeth
(AKA) Juan de
Oñate y Salazar
"Since the name Juan de Oñate y Salazar rolls off the
tongue, Juan would probably be on the fast track to household-name-recognition
by now, if it wasn't for some pesky historical research and vandalism to another
statue in New Mexico that bears Juan's name...."The
Smith Brothers by Bob Bowman
Four brothers from Delta County lived with
an ordinary name in the mid-1800s, but they were far from ordinary...Thomas
Deye Owings of Maryland, Kentucky and Texas by W. T. Block Jr.
"He
was a colonel and hero of the War of 1812 [and] was Kentucky's original industrialist
and iron master, also holding several political offices. He was also commissioned
by Stephen F. Austin in Jan. 1836 to raise 2 regiments of Kentuckians to fight
for Texas Independence from Mexico, sacrificing as a result the life of one of
his sons during the Goliad Massacre..."Bowie
by Mike Cox
James Bowie trafficked in slaves, participated in land fraud and
drank too much – but he did not lack for grit...William
Marsh Rice by Archie P. McDonald
Everyone loves a murder mystery, especially if the murder happened
a long time ago and did not involve someone they know. The story of William Marsh
Rice's demise is such a case... The
Rufus F. Hardin School - Founder George SmithThe
Rufus F. Hardin School - Educator Rufus F. HardinOld
Sam Houston Song by Mike Cox
Here's a good television game show question:
Name the only person who ever served as governor of two states... The
8-F Crowd by Bob Bowman
"... Often referred to as the "unofficial
capital of Texas," [Lamar Hotel] Suite 8-F ... was the meeting place for Houston's
business leaders from the late 1930s to the 1960s...." East
Texas Savior of the French Wine Industry by Archie P.
McDonald
Those who favor a glass of wine, especially French wine, may not
be aware of the debt they and the French owe to Dr. Thomas Volney Munson of Denison,
TexasFather
Margil by Archie P. McDonald
Father Antonio Margil de Jesus helped introduce
Christianity to the wilderness of East Texas, but his story began in Valencia,
Spain, where he was born in 1657.Fall
of the Largest Tree by Bob Bowman
"The passing of Arthur Temple --
the man some newspapers called the last of the East Texas timber barons -- ended
a link with a history reaching back more than a century."Marie
Cronin and the Bartlett Western Railroad by Clay Coppedge
What the old
Bartlett Western Railroad lacked in revenue, it more than made up for in local
color, history and folklore. Mrs.
Margaret Kinkaid by Archie P. McDonald
Kincaid School,
Houston, TexasThree-legged
Willie by Bob Bowman
Robert McAlpin Williamson
"The Republic
of Texas, which existed only a decade, had its share of interesting characters.
But few of them were as colorful as Three Legged Willie, who passed away some
146 years ago..."Houston
Ring by Mike Cox
"Sam Houston's marriage had a lot going against
it..." General
Hiram B. Granbury by Sam FenstermacherTexas
Rangers and the Battle of Plum Creek by Murray Montgomery
The Comanche attack on the South Texas coast has long been known as the last great
raid by the Indians.
Man
with a Method by Archie P. McDonald
Littleton FowlerOld
Time Judge by Archie McDonald
Thomas Whitfield DavidsonFDR
and Nine Acres by Bob Bowman
Tom Potter and FDRSam
Houston by Mike CoxMarie
Hough Borden Vintage photos courtesy Ruben R. HernandezA.M.Aikin,
Jr. by Archie P. McDonald
"In these days of
evaluating our schools—exemplary to acceptable to whatever—and multiple special
legislative sessions devoted to figuring out how to spend more money on schools
while taking in less revenue, Texans might want to remember A.M. Aikin Jr., who
helped drag education and Texas into modern times..."Norris
Cuney by Archie P. McDonald
"... Cuney technically began life as
a slave..."Lady
Doc by Mike Cox
Dr. Sofie Herzog, first female surgeon in Texas
George
Louis Crocket by Archie P. McDonald
Religious
Leader and early Historian of East Texas
Price
Daniel by Archie P. McDonald
"... he had taken an oath of office
pledging loyalty to the Constitution of the United States eight times..."Sam
Houston's Will by Mike CoxOld
Three Hundred by Archie P. McDonaldWilliam
Thomas Scott William
Pinckney Rose Rev.
Jonas Franklin Dancer by Mike Cox
The
namesake of Dancer Peak in Llano CountyGeorge
Campbell Childress by John Troesser
"Ten Things
You Should Know About George Campbell Childress"
Author of the Texas
Declaration of Independence and namesake of Childress County
Chief
Executives by Archie P. McDonald
"East Texas has produced its share
of prominent personages in entertainment, business, medicine, and other professions
but prominent political figures have tended to call other sections of the state
their home, especially in the last half century. It started out differently."Davis
Bunting, his wife Martha Bowden Bunting, and family
by Murray MontgomeryA.P.
and Marie Borden of Mackay, Texas Pass
the Biscuits, Pappy by Bob Bowman
His Texas homilies, radio broadcasts,
hillbilly music and affinity for rural Texas propelled him into the governor’s
office for two terms.Doris
Miller: Hero by Archie P. McDonald
African American
hero of WWIISamuel
Arthur Robertson by Mike CoxTwin
Sisters by Mike Cox
When 74-year-old Dr. Henry North Graves died that
summer morning in Dallas, the solution to one of Texas’ enduring mysteries may
have died with him.
James
Harper Starr by Archie P. McDonaldDavy's
Widow
Elizabeth Patton CrockettRichard
“Dick” Dowling Edward T. Cotham, Jr.
Richard “Dick” Dowling was one of
the most interesting figures in Houston and Texas historyThe
Air Ace by Bob Bowman
Lance C. Wade, Royal Air Force of Britain, World
War II Bet-A-Million
Gates by Archie P. McDonald
John Warne Gates, a native of Winfield, Illinois,
became associated with three of Texas’ most important items: barbed wire, railroads,
and oil.
Wiley
Post - famous aviator Wiley PostWilliam
Gerald Tobin & Chili by Mike Cox
William Gerald Tobin’s career as
a Texas Ranger left a lot to be desired. But he had an idea that left Texas, and
the Southwest, an enduring gastronomical legacy.LBJ
and East Texas Politics by Archie P. McDonald
Lyndon B. Johnson’s victory
over Coke Stevenson for a Senate seat by only 87 votes earned this future president
the nickname of "Landslide Lyndon." Everyone agrees that Johnson’s aides "stole"
that election by "finding" additional votes for their candidate in Box 13 in Jim
Wells County. What everyone might not know is that Johnson had been burned by
a similar tactic in a special Senate race in 1941, and had vowed never to be caught
short again.John
Henry Kirby by Archie P. McDonald
An East Texas timber baronNice
Politics by Mike Cox
Wick Blanton and Tom Morris running for county attorney
of Wilson County"Bigfoot"
Wallace. by Luke Warm
"... Over the years his willingness to recount
his adventures insured he would become a genuine Texas legend. He never told a
story he couldn't later improve upon. …"Big
Foot Wallace and the Indian by Mike Cox
Ambush, strychnine, hanging...
A tale of good and evil with a twist.Buffalo
Man by Mike Cox
Hollywood has seldom – if ever – portrayed buffalo hunters
as civilized, erudite men. Screenwriters and producers of Westerns usually have
their buffalo hunters play the role as coarse, scruffy men ready to drink or kill
anything. But as the story of one time buffalo hunter John Cloud Jacobs demonstrates,
reality is not always that simple. ... McDonald
Observatory - An Orphan’s Gift by Bob Bowman
Standing atop Mount Locke
in the Big Bend area, McDonald Observatory is far removed from East Texas, but
without the interest and generosity of an orphaned Confederate soldier from Clarksville,
the world-famous astronomy center might not exist today. William McDonald ...Beauford
Jester by Archie P. McDonald
Governor of Texas
General
Hiram Bronson Granbury
Albert
Thomas by Archie P. McDonald
One of the most famous photos ever made shows
Lyndon B. Johnson taking the oath as president aboard Air Force One shortly after
the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In the photo, a tall, trim man
wearing a bow tie bends in to get a better view of President Johnson and Justice
Sarah Hughes, who administered the oath. That man was Albert Thomas...Edward
Mandell House - The House That House Built by Archie P. McDonald
Edward
Mandell House of Galveston and Houston rose about as high as one can go in Texas
or United States politics, yet he never held an elective or appointive office.
Instead of wanting to be "king," House was content to be the "king maker."Governor
by Chance - Edward Clark by Archie P. McDonaldMiss
Rita of Beaumont's Dixie Hotel by John Troesser
The Philanthropic Madam
of Oil City “Godfather
of Beaumont” by Fred B. McKinley
Frank Yount and the Yount-Lee Oil Company,
“the Godfather and Financial Gibraltar of Beaumont.”
Painter Harold Osman Kelly - Blanket Texas' Famous Son Donna
by Mike Cox
Donna Hooks Fletcher, namesake of Donna, Texas
Three
Bean Salad by John Troesser
Tom Bean, Peter Ellis Bean and Judge Roy
BeanEla
Hockaday More Than a School Omarm by Archie P. McDonald 8-8-04
Founder
of the Miss Hockaday School for Girls in DallasPixilated
in Port Arthur & Reincarnated in Luling
Alfred Stillwell and Edgar Davis
by Luke Warm William
Christy
A forgotten Texas hero Mr.
Ambassador by Archie P. McDonald
Edward Aubrey Clark of San Augustine
Tragedy
of Chief Bowles by Bob Bowman
"Few historical figures are as tragic
as Chief Bowles, the 83-year-old Cherokee Indian chief who died on a Neches River
battlefield near Tyler 164 years ago..."Norris
Wright Cuney by Archie P. McDonald
The most remarkable African American
leader in Texas in the nineteenth century. Characters
by Bob Bowman
Some people collect antiques. Others collect baseball cards.
Personally, I've always been partial to East Texas characters -- the sometimes
slightly off-center people who lived lifetimes doing things differently than the
rest of us.Ten
More Things Your Should Know About Judge Roy Bean by John Troesser
The
Jersey Lilly: Where "sidebar" has a very literal meaningKate
by Mike Cox
Catherine "Kate" Magill Dorman -- a little known Texas heroine
of the Civil War"Rajah
of Swat" - Rogers Hornsby by Archie P. McDonaldTen
Things Your Should Know About Judge Roy Bean by John Troesser Richard
Kimble and Almaron Dickinson, Heroic hat makers at the Alamo by Murray Montgomery
The
Short but Eventful Life of Adrián J. Vidal 1840-1865 by Brewster Hudspeth
The
Volunteer Fire Departments of Sunray and Dumas - The Shamrock Oil refinery
explosion in the late 1950's Sarah
by Mike Cox
Few Texas women ever saw any worse than Sarah Creath McSherry
Hibbens Stinnett Howard. A woman with true grit, the way she came by her long
name is one of Texas' more gripping tales. Born around 1812....
Air
Pioneer by Bob Bowman
Texas Aviation Hall of Famer. In 1921 she became
the only black pilot in the world. A year later she became the first black woman
to fly over American soil. Philip
Nolan by Archie P. McDonald
We can credit him and men like him with "making
news" in the Untied States that quickened the interest of other Americans about
building futures in Texas.
The
Last Hero - John G. Pickering by Bob Bowman
The last surviving veteran
of the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, lies in an almost forgotten cemetery
in deep East Texas, his tombstone chipped and broken. It's an ignoble resting
place for a proud old soldier, John G. Pickering.Robert
Thomas Hill, "Dean of Texas Geology" (1858-1941) by Margaret WaringTemple
Lea Houston: Son of Sam
Even with his father's fame; he made a hefty name
for himself. by John TroesserAn
informal history of Pierce, Texas: Containing barely related facts on neighboring
towns in Wharton, Jackson and Victoria Counties. by Brewster HudspethTen
Things you should know about "Shanghai" Pierce. Beef - it's what's for dinner
- again. by Brewster Hudspeth
The
Niels and Mellie Esperson Buildings - If you live in Houston, you've heard
the name; now, meet the people. by John TroesserA
Man to Count on in Big Spring - "An Earl and his money are soon
popular." by Brewster HudspethThergood's
Pine by Bob Bowman (From All Things Historical) - The story of a slave and
the oldest pine tree in East Texas.The
Starr Family Mansion by Archie McDonald ( From All Things Historical)
A
Journalist's Hero by Bob Bowman ( From All Things Historical)
"Journalists
are by nature a cynical lot. And because they've seen humanity at its worst, they
have few heroes. One of them died in Tyler last month. ....."
Ira
Eaker: From Covered Wagon to Jet-Age Air Power, Four Stars by Bill Bradfield
"During dark days of World War II when the bitter war was far from
won, it was a Texas tenant farmer's son who took command of the U.S. Eighth Air
Force in England, playing a key role in making the Normandy invasion possible....."
Lyne
Taliaferro Barret by Archie P. McDonald (All Things Historical)
The Crusty Old Baptist by Murray Montgomery (Times Past) East
Texas' Mark Twain by Bob Bowman (All Things Historical)Allan
Shivers by Archie P. McDonald (All Things Historical)Two
Pilots, Three Air Forces, One Hometown:
Lt. Col. Alvin Mueller & Lieutenant
Dick Campbell by John TroesserMister
Ben by Bob Bowman (All Things Historical) A
Ranger's Ranger by Archie P. McDonald ( All Things Historical)William
Goyens by Archie P. McDonald (All Things Historical) Back
Home in It-lee, Texas, USA by Jeanne Moseley (From Good Day for a Story)
"... His career in radio broadcasting took him to Dallas, Louisville,
Providence, Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York and then back to Los Angeles, where
he became well known as a premier broadcaster. As a young boy on Italy's Ward
Street, his favorite pastime was listening to Gene Autry's radio show..."The
Fayetteville Photographer and His Sculptor Daughter : William and Waldine Tauch
by John TroesserEdward
C. Lasater & the Dairy IndustryDare
Devil Rogers
During the Depression, as the people
of the nation collectively dug deep into their pockets and often came up with
nothing, Dare Devil dug his own grave time after time, town after town."Frank
Earl Kleppler
Artist, 1890-1952 F.S.Stockdale
Last
Governor of Confederate TexasDon
Carlos Barrett Centennial Marker 3-4-10The
Killing of General J. J. Byrne
Historical Marker
10-3-11Mrs.
Angelina Bell Peyton Eberly Historical MarkerSamuel
Rhoads Fisher Historical
Marker 5-17-11Albert
Sidney Johnston Historical MarkerJohn
Wesley Kenney Historical MarkerGeorge
Lord Historical MarkerSophia
Porter (Confederate Paul Revere) Historical MarkerEmory
Rains Historical MarkerAsa
Hill of Rutersville Historical Marker 5-16-10
Ma Ferguson
Cartoon by Roger T. Moore 11-10-10 |
More
"Laws" & Outlaws Pat
Garrett Clay Coppedge 4-9-13
Because he killed Billy
the Kid in New Mexico...Bullet
Riddled Buddies by Clay Coppedge
2-1-13
1930s-era
gangsters.Sally
Skull by Clay Coppedge
11-1-12
Well-behaved
women rarely make history, the saying goes, and a woman known to history as Sally
Skull can be used to reinforce the point.The
Ranger Formerly Known as Pidge
by Clay Coppedge 7-22-12
From the front lines of the
Texas Rangers, this Pidge character wrote first-hand accounts of the Taylor-Sutton
Feud, John Wesley Hardin and the pursuit of Juan Cortina along the border. He
wrote about rustlers and outlaws, good guys and villains, and usually with a laugh
or two thrown in for good measure. But who was Pidge? Who
Killed Oliver Thornton? by C. F. Eckhardt 4-16-12
Oliver
Thornton is no more than a footnote in the history of Western outlawry—a man who
wouldn’t be more than a name on a tombstone had he not chanced to get himself
murdered. Even so, very few people, even serious students of outlaws, would know
that name had not Eugene Cunningham, pioneer chronicler of sixshooterology, told
about his death...John
Wesley Hardin Slept Here by Mike Cox 4-12-12
The
night the rooster crowed before midnight...Ben
Thompson's Tombstone by C. F. Eckhardt 3-10-12
When
the old Iron Front Saloon on Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas was torn down in
the 1920s, a most peculiar object was found in the basement. It was a fine marble
tombstone—but there was no inscription on it... Lizzie
Hay and the Demise of the Lone Highwayman
by Mike Cox 2-9-12
Sometimes,
no matter how good the story, a compelling tale gets forgotten. That’s sure the
case with the Texas outlaw known in his day as “the lone highwayman.” Was
Oliver Partridge ‘Brushy Bill’ Roberts really Billy the Kid?
by C. F. Eckhardt
1-7-12
A recent episode of ‘Brad Metzger’s DECODED,’
shown on the History Channel, delved into—or appeared to delve into—the long-held
myth that Brushy Bill Roberts was actually Billy the Kid... The
man who killed Lincoln by Bob Bowman 11-7-11
"Painted
inside on one wall in the restaurant is a drawing of John Wilkes Booth. I’ve often
wondered why the drawing was there until I read a book, “Unsolved Mysteries of
the Old West” by W.C. Jameson..."Three-Legged
Willie by Bob Bowman 10-23-11
Three-legged
Willie limped into Texas in 1827... Born Robert McAlphin Williamson, his reputation
as a judge became legendary in East Texas.... Harvey
Hughes’ Short Literary Career by Mike Cox 9-8-11
Like
most elected officials, Brewster County Sheriff E.E. Townsend received a fair
amount of correspondence, from postcards bearing descriptions of wanted felons
to legal papers to magazines, but the package that arrived from San Antonio that
day in March 1923 ranked as the most unusual piece of mail he ever received...
Hardin’s
East Texas Roots by Bob Bowman 8-22-11
Most
of us associate John Wesley Hardin--the man often called Texas’ most famous gunfighter--with
regions beyond East Texas, but the truth is that Hardin had deep roots in the
pineywoods... The
short life of Sam Bass by Bob Bowman 7-17-11
For
more than four years, we have been working on a new book, “Bad to the Bone,” a
collection of outlaws who left their imprint on East Texas. One of the best known
outlaws was Sam Bass...Lives
of two Texas Rangers Lee Hall and John Barclay Armstrong by Murray Montgomery
6-27-11
There’s not many times when people are doing research on the
history of Texas that they don’t come across that illustrious group of lawmen
known as the Texas Rangers...'Tumbleweeds'
took outlaws to prison by Delbert Trew 5-31-11
Among
the more famous conveyances adapted and used by man were the "tumbleweed wagons."
Actually, they were only common canvas covered farm wagons put to use hauling
captured prisoners being taken to the Fort Smith prison. Common
Sense Justice in Marlin by Mike Cox 5-5-11
“Battery
Dan” Finn's renown for putting “equity before the law,” seems to have come to
the judicial notice of Marlin’s mayor, F. S. Heffner... Ida
Lee by C. F. Eckhardt 2-11-11
On March 21, 1924,
Mrs. Ida Lee Daughtery of Hall, Texas, died. She was a woman of some reputation—not
as a ‘soiled dove,’ but as a devoted wife.
What Happened To
Jesse Evans? by C. F. Eckhardt 1-5-11
Jesse Evans
is one of the more enigmatic characters in the annals of West Texas and New Mexico
outlawry. He’s known to have worked with John Selman when Selman was robbing homes
and stores in Fort Davis during the late 1870s. He’s rumored to have been associated
with Billy the Kid in New Mexico. Then he just quietly disappeared sometime around
1879--and nobody knows what happened to him. Or maybe not... The
Sheriff Posses by Bob Bowman 12-8-10
In early East
Texas, it wasn’t unusual for a local sheriff to recruit a posse of men and horses
to run down outlaws and fugitives...“Law
West Of The Pecos” by Murray Montgomery 10-11-10
The
Moulton Eagle – March 21, 1924
You will look in vain for Eagle’s Nest on the
map of Texas today, for the town of Langtry has taken its place. But in the old
days of 40 years ago Eagle’s Nest was famed for just one thing – a saloon. On
the front of this building was a sign which read “Judge Roy Bean, Justice of the
Peace, Law West of the Pecos.” Smuggling
Liquor by C. F. Eckhardt
9-4-10
Mexico had
no prohibition. Just across the Rio Grande was a very thirsty state... The major
force along Texas’ lower border was Captain Will Wright and Co. B, Texas Rangers...
Remembering
The Colonel by Bob Bowman 8-28-10
Colonel Homer Garrison,
Jr., a man who revolutionized law enforcement in Texas. Frontier
justice followed crime increase by Delbert Trew 8-24-10
Today's
instant communication network, finger-printing methods and DNA testing of criminals
is a long way from the crude identification methods of the old-time sheriff or
town marshal... Who
was that Outlaw? by Linda Kirkpatrick 8-7-10
The
story of Vic QueenRoy
Bean Before His Law West Of The Pecos Days by Lois Zook Wauson
8-2-10
What you didn’t know about Judge Roy BeanJoe
Tonahill of Jasper by Bob Bowman 6-6-10
When Lee
Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy in 1963, an East Texas lawyer
soon found himself thrust into history. Did
the Dalton boys ever visit Lavaca County by Murray Montgomery 6-4-10
In
the year 1895, reports were circulating around Victoria, Texas, that a member,
or members, of the famous Dalton Gang were in the Victoria and Lavaca County area...Pancho
Villa by Clay Coppedge 4-15-10
Pancho Villa might
have been a bandit and his horse might have been as fast as polished steel, as
the song would have it, but he was also an actor, sort of a reality TV star of
his day. The stage was the Mexican Revolution...Lone
Wolf by Mike Cox 1-7-10
Long-time Ranger Captain
Manual T. Gonzaullas, one of Texas’ best-known 20th century law enforcement officers
is once again at the center of a mystery...Jean
Laffite by Clay Coppedge
1-1-10
Before Texas was known as a haven for Old West
outlaws it was a haven for pirates... Laffite was the best known and casts the
longest shadow across Texas history... Marshal
Pitman by Mike Cox 12-3-09
Walter
W. Pitman’s good luck held for more than half a century. Not everything went his
way, but in big-stake deals the figurative roulette wheel of life generally spun
in his favor... This
Wild Bill Was No Hero by Murray Montgomery 11-20-09
The
Legend of Bill LongleyDance
Pistols by Clay Coppedge 9-21-09
Firearms collectors
are willing to pay big bucks for vintage Colt revolvers but the most valuable
of all the old guns that were used on the Texas frontier might be the Dance pistols...
One of the most notorious Dance loyalists was Bloody Bill Longley...Judge
Stories by Mike Cox 9-17-09
The Texans we elect
to the bench often figure in amusing stories. Especially long-time judges like
the late Mace B. Thurman Jr...Texas
outlaw Sam Bass inspired tall tales by Murray Montgomery
8-24-09
He was only
27 years old when he met his maker, but during his short life he became the subject
of cowboy songs and tall tales which were told around many a campfire in Texas...Jesse
James in Texas by Bob Bowman 5-17-09Driving
Around with Bonnie and Clyde by Robin Cole-Jett
5-15-09Garrett
Murder by C. F. Eckhardt 12-9-08
One of the many
unsolved mysteries of the West. Bad
Man Returns by Mike Cox 12-4-08
As the old saying
goes, it’s hard to keep a good man down. But that sure couldn’t account for Bill
Johnson’s reappearance in McLennan County. One of Texas’ lesser-known outlaws...Bill
Wharton by Mike Cox 11-27-08
Used to be, especially
in the 18th and 19th centuries, some people were born Thankful and died Thankful.
That’s because, way back, parents sometimes named their daughters Thankful. Born
in 1803, Thankful Rankin...Hardin's
Shotgun by Mike Cox 8-27-08
John Wesley Hardin's
shotgun used by him to kill the Sheriff of DeWitt County, the most notorious of
the men who had served in the State Police of the early 1870s... Al
Jennings by C. F. Eckhardt 7-21-08
Al Jennings of
Oklahoma, largely through masterful self-promotion, became for a time the best-known
of the outlaws of the American West...
Bud Newman, part II by Mike
Cox 5-29-08
Outlaw Bud Newman apparently believed himself
bullet proof, figuratively and even literally... Bud
Newman Gang by Mike Cox 5-26-08
Bud Newman didn’t
amount to much as an outlaw, but not for lack of grit... Cherokee
Bill: Don't Get Him Mad by Maggie Van Ostrand
3-27-08
By the age of 20, Crawford Goldsby, later known as Cherokee
Bill, was one of the most notorious killers prowling the western frontier.Annie
Rogers and the Bank Dick by Maggie Van Ostrand 2-3-08
Annie Rogers and the Great Northern Train RobberyCaptain
William Coe lived criminal highlife by Delbert Trew 1-16-08
My recent column about "No Man's Land" in the Oklahoma Panhandle brought in a
great true story from Roy McClellam of Spearman. Reading like a novel by Louis
L'amour, this tale tells of a Robber's Roost located right here in the Panhandle
area.... Joaquin
Murrieta, Robin Hood or Just Plain Hood? by Maggie Van Ostrand 1-5-08
Everything about Joaquin Murrieta is disputed. He was either the Mexican Robin
Hood or the El Dorado Robin Hood. He was either an infamous bandito or a Mexican
patriot...
Luke Short,
The Undertakers' Friend by Maggie Van Ostrand 12-20-07
"Luke Short had become part owner of the failing White Elephant Saloon in
Ft. Worth. The owners of the White Elephant thought Luke's presence and the expansion
of gambling activities would help restore prosperity. Little did they know of
the event that would put their saloon on the map..."
Jesse James. Miss
Shirley’s Story by C. F. Eckhardt 10-8-07
I met
the lady I must call ‘Miss Shirley’ once and once only... She was, at the time,
well on the shady side of 90. My ostensible reason for meeting with her was to
gather her memories of my grandfather... My real reason was to hear a story she
had to tell about an entirely different sort of man—a man named Jesse James...
Is
Jesse James really in that Missouri grave? by Murray Montgomery
10-4-07
One of those who disagreed with history's version of James'
death was a fellow known as Uncle Bill Goodwin of Dublin, Texas. Uncle Bill's
version appeared in The Gonzales Inquirer in 1933 and his story is the subject
of this edition of Lone Star Diary...Fannie
Porter of San Antonio by Maggie Van Ostrand 9-25-07
If even half the legends passed down through generations are true, the Old West
was a riotous and exciting place. Whether heroes or desperadoes, these legendary
people all seem to have either been born in, traveled through, or fought for the
great Republic of Texas... But they didn't fight, shoot, and rustle all the time.
They needed rest. They needed relaxation. They needed love. And Fannie Porter
of San Antonio supplied these diversions. This is her story. Bosque
Treasure by Mike Cox 11-20-07
Daniel H. Evans. "Described
by one newspaper as a “handsome young man,” the 20-year-old convicted murderer-robber
left behind “respectable connections in Tennessee, Missouri and Texas” as well
as a long forgotten legend of hidden loot." A
Man Named Pink by Clay Coppedge 9-19-07
"[Pink]
Higgins first became known as a gunfighter during the notorious Horrell-Higgins
Feud in Lampasas County in the 1870s...."B.
F. (Frank) Payne, Texas Ranger by Linda-Kirkpatrick
9-5-07
...The year was 1866, when B. F. (Frank) Payne, a strapping
young lad of twelve years old, mounted his pony to go on a cow hunt with his dad
and some of the other neighboring ranchers... Texas was sparsely populated at
this time. Ranches, towns and homesteads were few and far between and the threat
of conflict between the Indians and the Anglos was always on everyone’s mind...
A.J.
Sowell by Mike Cox 9-5-07
The few photographs
of A.J. Sowell show him to be a man of normal weight, but read his book and you
have to wonder how he managed to keep trim. He easily could have spent the rest
of his life overeating to compensate for his days as a Texas Range... Lottie
Deno: Queen of the Paste Board Flippers by Maggie Van Ostrand 8-3-07
Lottie was known by many names, including Carlotta J. Thompkins (the name she
was christened with), Laura Denbo, Faro Nell, and Charlotte Thurmond. She was
dubbed Lottie Deno the night she won every hand of poker from every opponent foolish
enough to think he could win...Sarge
Cummings Master of the Long Loop Linda-Kirkpatrick 7-1-07
Robert H. “Sarge” Cummings was known as a master of the long loop, a cowboy term
for rustler. This old coot was loved by all, except for maybe the Texas Rangers.
Children were ecstatic whenever he came to visit a spell. Some would crawl under
his chair just to spin the rowels on his spurs as he spun tales of the wild west...
Who
Was J. Frank Dalton, Anyway? by C. F. Eckhardt 6-15-07
Over the years those who claimed J. Frank Dalton was Jesse James accumulated a
mountain of what they considered ‘conclusive’ circumstantial evidence that Dalton
was in fact Jesse...Kinch
West by Mike Cox 5-16-07
Kinch West's name
does not rank high on the list of infamous Texas outlaws, but he must have been
quite a rounder in his younger days... The
Life and Times of Whitey Walker by Clay Coppedge 5-1-07
Whitey Walker is perhaps best remembered in Texas history as one of the men who
didn't quite make it "over the wall" during a breakout of the "Death House" at
Huntsville's Wall's Unit on July 22, 1934. Belle
Starr The Bandit Queen by Maggie Van Ostrand
"I regard myself as
a woman who has seen much of life," said Belle Star to The Fort Smith Elevator
in 1888, a year before she died... Sam
Bass: The Not So Merry Bandit by Clay Coppedge
If notorious Old
West bandit Sam Bass buried all the gold he is said to have buried in Central
Texas, he would have been a wealthy man indeed. He wouldn't have made the fatal
decision to rob a bank in Round Rock in July of 1878. He would simply have stopped
by one of the caves where millions of his dollars are said to have been buried,
and hightailed it to Mexico, incognito. Likewise, if he stopped by every place
he is said to have been sighted on that ill-fated trip to Round Rock...The
Demise of Bad Man Buckley by Murray Montgomery
During the days
of early Texas, there were many a scoundrel packing guns and causing panic and
mayhem amongst the town folk. Hallettsville had one of the worst of these villains
in a fellow known as "Bad Man Buckley." ...High
Sheriff of Henderson County by Archie P. McDonald
Old time East
Texans refer to some of their revered and feared lawmen as the "high sheriff,"...
in Henderson County, the legend was Jess Sweeten. Texas
Outlaw Kid Murray by Mike Cox
Texas' least-known outlaw, newspapers
dubbed him "Kid" Murray...The
Life and Times of Big Bill Babb by Clay Coppedge
The two young
bankers probably didn't think the failure of their private banking firm would
be a matter of life and death. But there they were, sequestered in a Waco hotel
room with Big Bill Babb and a few of his men. Babb was making the two young bankers
an offer they couldn't refuse... Jack
Cross Texas Killer by W. T. Block Jr.
Most Texans of today think
of their Lone Star state as having been a haven for killers, fleeing from American
justice... Jack Cross was as vicious and cold-blooded a killer as Texas ever produced,
but he quickly found it necessary to reverse directions, that is, to flee to Louisiana
from Texas jusice. The
Hardin Brothers by Bob Bowman
More than 110
years have passed since East Texas outlaw John Wesley Hardin was shot down in
an El Paso saloon, but he remains one of the most intriguing badmen in history.
Almost lost in Hardin's history are his three brothers, Joe, Jeff and Gip, whose
lives were also singed with violence...
Jesse James, Supposedly
by Clay Coppedge
"...That the James and Younger brothers spent
some time in Texas is not in dispute, and local legends of the James and Younger
brothers in Bell and surrounding counties abound..."Sheriff
Kirk by Mike Cox
"...The killing of Sheriff Kirk stands out
as an Old West shootout worthy of any Hollywood Western..." Rustlers
and Outlaws Were Common in Early Days by Murray Montgomery
"Folks
living in Lavaca County in this day and time might be surprised to know that back
in the 1870’s, 1880’s and 1890’s this was quite a wild place..."
Katie
Elder: Her True Story by Maggie Van Ostrand
"[Her] background was perhaps more plaid than checkered. For one thing, there
were all those names. Besides being called Katie Elder, she was also known as
Kate Fisher, Big Nose Kate, Nosey Kate, Mrs. John H. "Doc" Holliday, Kate Melvin,
and Kate Cummings..."Rube
Burrow - Stagecoach Holdup by Mike Cox
"Stagecoach robberies
happened so often along the Texas frontier it came to be considered something
of a right of passage to hand over one’s money and valuables to a masked man with
a gun on some lonely roadside."Freeny
Hanging by Mike Cox
"... No matter
White’s official status, most folks remembered him as the sheriff who hanged a
tenant farmer named George Freeny for killing his son-in-law..."
Outlaw
with two faces by Bob Bowman
In July of 1888,
Rupert P. Wright, dressed in rags and one eye blinded by his own hand, pleaded
for mercy on a charge of bigamy before an Arkansas judge. To those who knew Wright,
his appearance and demeanor were far removed from the days when he was a prominent
newspaper editor, attorney, and aspiring legislator in Little Rock. But they would
soon learn that he was also an escaped murderer, forger, arsonist and jail breaker
named Pete Loggins from East Texas.Marshall
"High Pockets" Bailey of West, Texas
"The Long Arms of the Law" and
Pioneer Consumer Advocate
If bootlegging couldn't be controlled, then
at least it could be monitored for quality. Courtroom
Storytellers by Bob Bowman
Because they've seen the best and worst
of humanity, lawyers are among our best storytellers. Courtroom stories of Joe
Tonahill and J.J. Collins. Pearl
by Mike Cox ("Texas Tales" column)
He has the singular distinction
of being the first and last man legally hanged in the county."Over
the Wall, The Men Behind the 1934 Death House Escape" by Patrick M. McConal
(Book)Sheriff
Fenton of Coleman County and His Larger Than Life Wife by John Troesser
Reader's Comment: ... I just wish I had been born a little earlier and
had the good fortune to get caught stealing chickens or running whiskey through
Coleman County. Who knows what good fortune I might enjoy today as the result
of helping a youngster feed his pigeons on the jail roof. - PJH A
Sheriff Named "Buckshot" by John TroesserGentle
Justice by Jeanne Moseley (From Good Day for a Story)
".....
He's a sophisticated cowboy with a flair created by Neiman Marcus ...... He's
known by the name "Gentle Justice", which he earned during the 20 years he served
as sheriff. ..... " The
Bank Robbery (Dalton Gang, 1894) by Bob Bowman (All Things Historical column"Tales
of Bad Men, Bad Women, and Bad Places : Four Centuries of Texas Outlawry"
by C.F. Eckhardt (Book)
"The
Texas Sheriff : Lord of the County Line" by Thad Sitton (Book) "Running
with Bonnie and Clyde: The 10 Fast Years of Ralph Fults" by John Neal
Phillips (Book) William
Thomas "Billy" Cloyd, Sherill of Motley County November 1896 to November 1900
|
Women
Bandits Hijack Cotton in Civil War Texas by Mike Cox 3-7-13
None
of the truly decisive battles of the Civil War took place in Texas, but in other
ways the bloody conflict between the North and South had a major impact on the
state. Berlin
Wall Crisis 1961-1962 by Bruce Martin 3-23-12
The
49th Armored Division, Texas National Guard activated in September, 1961. First
person account of training in Ft. Polk, LA., and home coming.Sleeper's
Song by Mike Cox
4-21-11
As
a long-time Texas lawyer, Ben Sleeper wrote many a legalese-laden petition alledging
this or that in behalf of his clients, but few if any of them ever knew of – much
less heard – the patriotic song he composed as a young Army officer in training
back during World War I. Rev.
Marcus Valenta achieves longest active-duty record in U.S. history by Murray
Montgomery 2-4-11
Of all the chaplains in the U.S. Armed
Forces, one has seen longer continuous combat-theatre duty than any other... Lt.
Braly of Brady, A Remembrance
Lt.
Braly died on August the second, 1944, less than a month before the liberation
of Paris.A
Civil War Journal by Bob Bowman
In early 1861, W.W. Heartsill of Marshall,
Texas, marched off to war with W.P. Lane’s Rangers of the Confederate Army. During
the four years, one month and one day that he spent at war, Heartsill managed
to keep a diary of each day...Capt.
J. D. Reed - The Story of a Cowboy by Linda Kirkpatrick
9-2-09
James Duff
Reed, the Cattle King of the WestAdventures
of Eddie Fung: Chinatown Kid, Texas Cowboy, Prisoner of War by Mel Brown
The
Oryoku Maru and Lieutenant Walter A. Kelso, Jr.'s Journey by Bill Cherry
"In 1944 Lieutenant Kelso became a Japanese prisoner of war, and he passed
away along with seventy-six other American soldiers because the enemy let them
die of dysentery and starvation in 1945. Only one survived."The
King's Texan and USS Texas by C. F. Eckhardt
Archie Ludlow was
in elementary school when, in 1910 to 1912, the two newest battleships for the
US Navy—the Texas Class, USS Texas and USS New York—were under construction. Money
was tight for building battleships...Private
David Bennes Barkley
One of three Texans awarded
the Congessional Medal of Honor in WWI
The
Korean War Hero Who Swung the Board of Education at Ball High by Bill Cherry
"If any of the students at Ball High School knew he was Lt. Col. Richard
H. Schiebel, a Korean War hero, who in the years before had flown an F-51 all
through the war zone, successfully completing 100 missions against the enemy,
they didn't talk about it..." Lanky
and the POWs by Clay Coppedge
Mildred "Lanky" Lancaster
"In
a lifetime crammed with unique life experiences, playing accordion for German
POWs ranks near the top."High
Over Houston, Captain A. J. High: A Positive Altitude by John Troesser
The
Whirlwind Lt. John Lapham Bullis and the Seminole Negro Scouts by
C. F. Eckhardt
One of the least-known heroes of the Texas frontier was
a man known to his followers as The Whirlwind and to his enemies as The Thunderbolt.
He was New Yorker John Lapham Bullis, a lieutenant in the Regular US Army... Fairmount
Cemetery by Bob Bowman
Edward Smith and the
Battle of Sabine Pass, and Thomas B. AnthonyFlying
Tigers by Archie P. McDonald
Claire Lee ChennaultBold
CSA Vet Thomas Evans Riddle, & Man o’ War by Mike Cox
Patriots
by Mike Cox
"The American Revolution lasted seven years, affording
plenty of men the opportunity to go down in history as patriots. Since 52 years
went by between the end of the struggle that separated the 13 colonies from England
(1783) and the beginning of Texas’ fight against Mexico (1835), it would seem
unlikely that any of the men who fought the British ever ended up in Texas. But
some did."
Doris
Miller: Hero by Archie P. McDonald
African
American hero of WWIIA
Soldier's Story by Bob Bowman
Milton Irish, one of only 28 survivors
of the Goliad massacre.
A classic story of a simple soldier involved in the
momentous events that gave birth to Texas. Richard
“Dick” Dowling Edward T. Cotham, Jr.
Dowling
is remembered today primarily for his role in leading a group of unruly Irish
dockworkers to one of the greatest upsets in military history at the Civil War
Battle of Sabine Pass. The
Air Ace by Bob Bowman
Lance C. Wade, Royal
Air Force of Britain, World War II Macario
García, Veteran of D-Day by Murray MontgomeryAugust
Carl Weiss by Mike Cox
During the Civil War not every Southern
soldier served in the Confederate army because he believed in slavery or hated
Yankees. Some shouldered arms only because they had to. That was the case with
August Carl Weiss, one of 2,000 men who soldiered for the South in Waul’s Legion,
a unit raised at Brenham by Thomas Neville Waul. Alfonso
(Alphonso) Steele - last Texas survivor of the battle of San Jacinto Alfonso
Steele - Limestone County Roadside Park in Memory of
Alfonso Steele, Last Survivor of Battle of San Jacinto, First Settler of Limestone
County Where
are you Benny Goodenberger? by Perry Peary
Mark Davis was in the Merchant Marine and was assigned to serving on oil and gasoline
tankers coming up the east coast from New Jersey to Texas. In May of 1942, he
was on the SS Virginia coming out of New Orleans when a German submarine, the
U-507 torpedoed the ship....
Tejano
Hero Norberto Sierra Texas
Women in World War II by Cindy Weigand
NURSES, WACS, WAVES,
and SPARS, Uniformed Women of "The Greatest Generation"WACs
by Archie P. McDonald
Women's Army CorpsGeneral
Ranald Slidell MacKenzie - Sculpture and marker 5-11-10The
Killing of General J. J. Byrne - Historical Marker |
| Texas
Explorers, Settlers, Founders & Native Americans |
The
Bone Wars Clay Coppedge
11-30-12
The role
two Texans - geologist Robert T. Hill and naturalist Jacob Boll - played in the
Bone Wars.Albert
Pike in Comancheria by Clay Coppedge
11-18-12
Albert Pike
was one of the most remarkable but enigmatic figures in American history and also
one of the first white men to venture onto the Llano Estacado in the Texas Panhandle
when that land was the heart of Comancheria...A
Snakebitten Legacy
by Clay Coppedge 9-17-12
Father
Leopold Moczygemba, who founded the country’s first Polish community, first Polish
Catholic School and who also consecrated the first Polish Catholic Church, was
one person who had to pay a price in his own time for an honored place in history...
The
Forgotten Indian Traveler by Mike Cox 6-21-12
The
men were Richard Irving Dodge, a young Army officer who would serve in the military
for 41 years and John Conner, a noted Delaware Indian. The meeting happened at
Fort Martin Scott... |
Indian
Jim by Mike Cox 2-13-12
Barely 50 years
after the U.S. Cavalry drove the last hostile Indians out of the Panhandle an
Indian from New York made page-one news in Pampa and across the nation. Robin
Hood of the Tonkawa by C.
F. Eckhardt 1-27-12
The
original teller of this story, John C. Jacobs, told it in Pioneer magazine
in the teens of the last century...Comancheros
by Clay Coppedge 9-4-11
At a time when few
people dared to traverse the forbidding Llano Estacado on the South Plains of
Texas, a group of people known to history as the Comancheros made quite a living
in the region. Don
Antonio de Espejo by Byron Browne 7-27-11
He was
only trying to return home, to New Spain, by a short cut. However, Don Antonio
de Espejo’s venture through Texas has warranted his inclusion within the history
books (the Texas ones in particular) alongside other explorers and conquistadors
such as Coronado and Cabeza de Vaca. |
| La
Salle and French Exploration in Early Texas
by Jeffery Robenalt
7-1-11
"Although
La Salle's expedition was unsuccessful, the French presence in Texas finally stirred
the Spanish to action. Fearing they would lose the race to claim the Americas,
the Spaniards renewed their exploration of the Gulf Coast and began working diligently
to settle East Texas." |
|
Coronado’s Search for Cibola by Jeffery Robenalt 6-1-11
Coronado’s expedition, including
250 cavalry, 80 infantry, 1000 Indians, several priests, and thousands of horses,
cattle, and sheep, departed from Culiacan in the spring of 1540. |
The Journey of Cabeza de Vaca by Jeffery Robenalt 5-1-11
Spanish conquistador Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was the first European to explore
the interior of Texas, and the narrative he wrote of his experiences in the New
World remains the most valuable source of information we possess today on the
Native American tribes, landforms, plants, and animals of early Texas. Ferdinand
Lindheimer by Clay Coppedge 4-12-11
About 50 species
and sub-species of plants are named for Ferdinand Lindheimer, a man born to the
good life in Germany who made his name – and the name of all those plants – on
the Texas frontier. The
Port Arthur/Lapland Connection
by Christy Nilluka Broussard 4-15-11
"Great Grandpa
MIK Nilluka did not just herd reindeer; he made two incredible journeys with the
reindeer."
Fruit Tree Ramsey by
Clay Coppedge 3-22-11
When Frank T. Ramsey was
16 years old, he quit going to school and became a partner in his father’s nursery
business in Burnet County. His father, Alexander M. Ramsey, wrote down a list
of fruit tree varieties that he had for sale and put his son and business partner
on a horse. Frank traveled all over Texas, taking orders for trees and collecting
native flora along the way... Old
Trail Drivers by Mike Cox 2-24-11
No matter the old
cowpoke’s backstory, in his dotage he could round up words on paper just about
as well as he once rode down and roped strays.The
San Antonio Council House Fight by Jeffery Robenalt 12-13-10
In March of 1840, a meeting
took place in old San Antonio between representatives of the government of the
Republic of Texas and the Penateka Comanches to discuss terms of a peace treaty.
The disastrous results of this meeting would soon lead to the Great Comanche Raid
of 1840 and the Battle of Plum Creek. Hughes
Springs and Trammell’s Treasure
by Mike Cox 10-21-10
More than 300 miles inland from
the Gulf of Mexico, the community of Hughes Springs owes its existence to a fanciful
pirate story and one man who believed it. William
B. Bloys and Bloys Camp Meeting by C. F. Eckhardt 10-6-10
He was a native of Tennessee and an ordained Presbyterian minister.... While a
lot of folks have heard about another denizen of the trans-Pecos, Roy Bean, William
B. Bloys was far more influential, though far less widely known. Blind
Man’s Town by Clay Coppedge
7-20-10
They called
the man who founded Marble Falls “Stovepipe” because of a sneaky trick he pulled
off as a Confederate commander in the Civil War. The town he founded was called
Blind Man’s Town because he was blind when he laid out the streets of the town
by memory...The
Circuit Rider by Bob Bowman 7-11-10
Beneath the pulpit
of an East Texas country church, far from the saddle-sloped mountains of his beloved
Kentucky, Littleton Fowler lies at rest... Two
men part of Texas lore - but for different reasons by Delbert Trew
7-6-10
Known as "the Jinglebob King of the Pecos," John Chisum cast
a long shadow in the early history of cattle ranching... Almost as well known
but standing alone at the opposite end of the spectrum was Edward Z.C. Judson,
alias Ned Buntline... Texas
Mormons Clay Coppedge 6-11-10
If Lyman Wight could
have had his way, Texas and not Utah might have become home to the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints...Texas
Cherokees by Clay Coppedge 3-16-09
Popular history
affords them a reputation as a friendly and reasonable tribe... That doesn’t mean
that the Texas Cherokees weren’t divided on major issues of the day, like whether
it was nobler to inflict slings and arrows on the white settlers or the Mexican
soldiers who were fighting them, or both. Nor does it mean that the Cherokees
weren’t treated in the same shabby manner as other friendly and hostile tribes
alike... Chineses
Heart of Texas by Mel Brown
The
San Antonio Community, 1875-1975 |
Rev.
John August Tubbe by W. T. Block Jr.
An Immigrant Farmer, Sawmiller,
and Preacher
In 1845 the gates opened widely for a flood of German immigration
to Texas. Thousands of them arrived on the raw, Indian-infested frontier, and
hundreds of them died en route...Tulip
Transplants To East Texas
The Dutch Migration To Nederland, Texas, 1895-1915
by W. T. Block Jr.
To the East Texas of 1900, whose non-native population
can be delineated as the overflow of the Anglo-Saxon Lower South, a Dutch colonization
scheme must have appeared somewhat phenomenal. To the promoters...Strap
Buckner: The Tallest of Tall Texas Tales by Maggie Van Ostrand
On library shelves, hidden among stories about Texas Legends of whom there are
countless numbers, the least written about yet the biggest is that of Aylett C.
"Strap" Buckner. When I say "biggest," I'm not talking about the most famous like
Jim Bowie, Sam Houston or Davy Crockett. I'm talking about sheer size...Samuel
Everitt Rogers' Grave
Samuel Everitt Rogers, killed and scalped by Comanche
Indians on May 03, 1863, in Carlton, Texas. The
Life of Martin William “Gobbler” Jones
8-12-09
Founder of Angelina County’s JonesvilleHenry
Clay Smith 8-12-09"First
Czech Immigrants in Texas" - History Marker
3-10-10 Chinese
Farmers in Calvert - Historical MarkerEnglishmen
in South Texas, 1568
1-14-11German
Freidenker (Freethinkers) historical marker
4-12-09German
Immigrants in Comfort - "Treue der Union" Monument
3-14-10James
Rowe Grave Marker Polish
Settlers in White Deer - Historical Marker 3-22-09Doak
Good by Clay Coppedge 1-15-09
Just after the demise
of the great buffalo herds and the Comanches but before many towns or vestiges
of civilization popped up on the Llano Estacado, a few hardy individuals claimed
that vast and lonesome land as their own. One such person was Doak Good... John
Wesley Kenney - Historical MarkerAlsatians
of Texas - Historical Marker 7-28-10Joseph
Bird - Historical Markers
8-17-10John
Durst Centennial
Marker 1-1-11
Paul Revere of the Texas RevolutionHenri
Castro - Historical Marker 7-28-10Carl
Joseph and Augusta Beseler of Welfare, Texas - Historical Marker
6-15-10 Francis
Wilson - Historical Marker
1-8-11Isham
Jones Good - Historical Marker 1-9-11Thomas
Ruckman - Historical Marker
6-22-12
Founding
father of Karnes CountyPioneer
Coalsons - Historical Marker 5-1-13Stephen
Alexander McBride - Historical Marker
5-21-13 |
| Characters
/ Local Personalities |
| | My
Father Zola 6-1-12
Baseball,
Love and a Love of Baseball
A serialization of the writings of George Olsson
Short
(1920-2003)
Chapter One |
From
Potential Lyrics for a Johnny Cash Loser Tune to A Turned Around Life by Bill
cherry 5-3-13
Rev. Al JandlThe
Day Oscar Ekelund and I Met the Hotel’s New Manager by Bill Cherry
3-18-13
The
English Gentleman and the Beer Joint by Bill Cherry 2-8-13
Not
one soul thinks he isn’t a better person from having known him. The
Island’s Domestic Goddess by Bill Cherry 1-10-13
“Silent
Night” Revealed a Lot about the Man by Bill Cherry 12-10-12
Dying
Doctor Bequeaths a Library by Mike Cox
12-6-12
Hughes
Who in Oil Field by Wanda Orton 12-2-12
Howard Robard
Hughes Sr. & Howard R. Hughes Jr.Joyous
Occasion Taught an Unexpected Lesson by Bill Cherry 10-12-12
Ashbel
Smith's Foster Daughter by Wanda Orton
9-14-12
Anna Allen Wright, foster daughter of Dr. Ashbel
Smith... Francisco,
Rudy, and Mr. Russell’s New Adventure by Bill Cherry 9-6-12
The
Oilman and the Sea
by Clay Coppedge 9-3-12
Alfred
Glassell, Jr. wasn’t your typical Texas oilman...Slave
Ada Stone by Murray Montgomery 5-28-12
109-Year-Old
Ex-Slave Recalls Days Long Past Tex
Thornton: King of the oilfield firefighters and rainmaker by Clay Coppedge
5-1-12
The oil fields of the Texas Panhandle in the
1920s and ‘30s, and Ward A. “Tex” Thornton. Washington’s
East Texas Cousin by Bob Bowman 4-1-12
Alexander
Hamilton Washington, a cousin of George Washington, cut a wide swath through Polk
and San Jacinto counties before and after the Civil War...
Retired
Seed Company Exec Remembers Mentor
by Wanda Orton
4-1-12
While
attending high school and during summer breaks from Texas A&M University, Bernard
Selensky had yet another school of learning. The late Neil Burnside, a Baytown
rice farmer, was his educator out in the field...The
Night of January 16th by Bill Cherry 1-20-12
Fifty-five
years of January 16ths have come and gone since then, but the lesson taught on
January 16, 1957 by Ball High School speech and drama teacher, Arthur Graham,
at the old Galveston County Courthouse remain intact to this day with those who
were there.William
F. Drannan told it like it wasn’t
by Clay Coppedge 1-9-12
William
F. Drannan described himself as the “Chief of Scouts” for the U.S. Army but later
accounts have labeled him as more of a great pretender. According to two books
that Drannan wrote he was a contemporary and brother-in-arms of such icons American
icons as Kit Carson, Jim Bridger and General George Crook...Glendon
E. Johnson by Bill
Cherry 12-10-11
Glendon Johnson told his granddaughter,
Erin Stewart, that “cowboys answer to two people: their God and their momma.”
The
Pitchfork Kid by
Mike Cox 11-17-11
A
cowboy’s cowboy, the Kid sat a horse well and had the reputation of being the
best roper in the Panhandle.
A
Lesson in the Sociology of Galveston Commerce
by Bill Cherry 11-6-11
A story of George and Magnolia
Sealy's mansion The Open Gates, and Daniel Serrato's pushcart of freshly made
hot tamales...“The
Great Western” by
Clay Coppedge 11-4-11
Mention
the Great Western to most people and they might think you are trying to start
a discussion about “Lonesome Dove” or “True Grit.” Others will assume you’re referencing
a railroad. Actually, you would be talking about a woman who was better known
by her nickname, “The Great Western.” Royalty
for a Day by Mike
Cox 11-3-11
For a man who had lost an arm to a rifle
bullet during the Mexican Revolution, Alvaro Obregon seems to have been a bit
lax with security matters. That attitude, born either of bravery or naivety, would
prove costly, but it also set the stage for an experience that Ruth Wilkerson
Henderson remembered the rest of her long life...
"A
River, A Town, and Memories" by Murray Montgomery 10-10-11
Remembering
Tillie McGill Bright
"I met her one time and I will always cherish those few
hours that we spent together — talking about the memories of her childhood in
Gonzales, Texas...""Rangering"
in Hamilton County by Mike Cox 10-6-11
The nation was barely a year away from the beginning of its cataclysmic Civil
War, but in the spring of 1860, folks along Texas’ frontier had a more immediate
problem on their minds – incursions by hostile Indians... Strangers
in a Strange Land by Britt Towery 10-5-11
A new book
on the lives and ministry of a Miles, Texas Sweetheart & A Comanche Co. Texas
Cowboy: Maudie Ethel Albritton & Wilson FielderBone
Haulers Clay Coppedge
10-3-11
When bones
were worth a lot of money on the open market, people made a lot of money selling
bones on the open market. The bone business thrived from the 1870s, in the wake
of the great buffalo slaughter, until the mid-1930s...An
East Texas Psychic
by Robert G. Cowser
9-20-11
Before
I ever heard or read the word psychic, I heard of a man with psychic powers. He
lived on a farm near Mt. Vernon during the years of the Great Depression...Schulenburg
Preacher Honored as Bike Bug Brother of 2011 – Building A Church
by Mike Schneider 7-3-11
Reverend Johnny Moore of Schulenburg,
Texas Lizzie
Crosson had true grit
by Mike Cox 6-30-11The
Wonderful Boy by Mike Cox 6-9-11
His
father a respected Uvalde County rancher, the quiet, good-looking Guy O. Fenley
seemed like a typical teenager except for one thing – he could see underground
water. My
Friend and His Chance New Friend Had Their Faiths Renewed in Little Rock by
Bill Cherry 5-11-11
Throughout his life, Lloyd W. Criss,
Jr.'s faith and the personal directives he has received from God have led him
down many spiritual paths that he knows he wouldn’t have chosen on his own. Here’s
one of those stories. Remembering
two doctors by Bob Bowman 5-8-11
When doctors W.D.
Thames of Lufkin and Joe Dickerson of Jasper died recently, East Texas lost two
unique physicians--men who made house calls, kept up with the babies they delivered,
and cared for whole families....UTMB
Professor “Old Test Tube” Took the First X-Ray Ever Taken in Texas by Bill
Cherry 3-4-11
The only one of the original 1891 faculty
of the University of Texas Medical Branch who graduated from the University of
Texas in Austin was Dr. Seth Morris. When he came to UTMB he primarily taught
chemistry. Everyone, students as well as the medical staff, got to calling him
“Old Test Tube” ... Is
Quantrill buried in East Texas? by Bob Bowman 2-28-11
One
of the most intriguing legends in East Texas claims that William Clarke Quantrill,
the guerrilla leader from the Civil War and the mentor of the Younger and James
brothers, is buried in Angelina County. Wild
Bill the Driller by Mike Cox 2-3-11
Not everyone
immediately struck it rich during the West Texas oil booms of the first couple
of decades of the 20th century. Aptly named cable too driller Wiliam Wells ...Daddy
and His Buckeye by Bill Cherry 2-1-11
“There’s only
one thing that brings good luck. It’s the buckeye... And it’s even better if your
buckeye was blessed by a voodoo priestess. Sister Veressa in the Des Ourses swamp
of Louisiana has ‘extree’ power.”Post
War Slaton - A Migrant Family's Story by James Villanueva 1-30-11
In
Slaton, Ben showed Delfina the town surrounded by cotton. He showed her the town
square, the small shops, and the movie theaters that had welcomed thousands before.
Two years after World War II had ended, the town had returned to its small and
humble atmosphere. The troops that once passed through by train were now long
gone and were only memories in post-war Slaton...Texas
Pete 1-28-11Ducky
Wucky Was Santa to Crazy Frank, Pee Wee, Dirty Gertie and the Rest by Bill
Cherry 12-15-10
Christie “The Beachcomber” Mitchell told
me this story almost fifty years ago. It happened one Christmas Eve about 1956,
just after the War... A
Hero Named Tom by C. F. Eckhardt 12-1-10
We don’t
know much about Tom’s background, because Tom was a slave... A
Young Man, His Kirwin Education, Mike Gaido’s Mentoring & the Fellow with the
$50,000 by Bill Cherry 11-24-10
"It’s a story
about my Galveston friend Benno Deltz. I don’t think I’ve ever told it to you.
Draw close. You’re going to love the ending."The
Murder of Dr. Sam Houston Adams; Slaton, Texas, 1930s by James Villanueva
11-1-10Being
Sent to the Abattoir Wasn’t Sam’s Lot in Life by Bill Cherry
10-13-10
Mr. Sam, like his brothers, cousins and uncles, worked for
the patriarch of the family, Jasper Tramonte. Mr. Jasper had a meat-packing business
on Broadway, near 61st Street. It was called the High Grade Packing Co... A
Lion and a Boy by Mike Cox 10-7-10
Texas has had
no shortage of colorful oilmen, and Charles Edward Hipp, though lesser known than
many of his wheeler-dealer contempories, rises near the top of the oil drum.Selling
Out in Austin and Thinking Inside the Box
Two
Newspaper Rack Stories By Luke Warm 9-8-10
"When
you see an empty newspaper rack – someone is not doing their job." Remembrance
of Things Fried: Mr. Shipley and Mrs. Hurley by Ken Rudine
8-25-10
Slats Rodgers by Clay Coppedge
8-21-10
A key part of the Slats Rodgers story is that he was the first
man in Texas to receive a pilot’s license and the first one to have his pilot’s
license revoked... Lieutenant
Richard H. Schiebel’s Last Flight by Bill Cherry 8-12-10
Coach
had flown many dangerous missions and had survived a lot of enemy fire...No
One Called Him Anything But Mr. Russell
by Bill Cherry 8-5-10
You’ve known people like that.
It just doesn’t feel right calling them by anything other than Mr. or Miz So-and-so...
No
One Could Out Negotiate Lincoln Dealer, Kyle Gillespie by Bill Cherry
7-1-10
For those who grew up during the Great Depression, buying a Cadillac
or Lincoln was something you did only if you were past 50...The
First Millionaire by Bob Bowman 6-13-10
Texas’ first
likely millionaire wasn’t from Dallas or Houston. He came from East Texas--and
he didn’t make his money from oil. Frost Thorn, an early storekeeper from Nacogdoches,
had a worth of more than a million dollars after Texas won its independence from
Mexico in 1836... Jerry
and Shirley Chovanec of Fayetteville, Texas 6-1-10
Jerry's
General Store, the heartbeat of Fayetteville Texas
Fritch
by Mike Cox 5-13-10
Customers must have been very careful
about expressing any displeasure when Mrs. Cleo Lee was postmistress. Folks said
she’d been a vaudeville performer in her salad days. Petite, good looking and
well dressed, she sang, played a piano and chain-smoked Camels... How
the 1943 Roof of Mike Gaido’s Drive In Helped Him Keep His Feet on the Ground
by Bill Cherry 5-1-10
Mike Gaido’s first business venture
in Galveston was not a big and glorious seafood restaurant like it is today, but
a drive-in. From that very meager, not much money invested business, grew the
huge Gaido’s property that you see today...Father
John Caskey - Galveston's Pied Piper by Bill Cherry 3-21-10
Church
going and memberships seem to be in direct proportion to how scared and overwhelmed
people are...Remembering
Eliza by Bob Bowman 1-3-10
When she
passed away in December, East Texas lost one of the most competent and aggressive
historians. If
He Were to Write His Autobiography, Its Title Would be Dance Hall by
Bill Cherry 1-1-101935
Professional Baseball Pitcher, R.S. Maceo, Sr., Says It’s All in the Olive Salad
by Bill Cherry
Probably
because I’d known them for a lifetime, my favorites of the old-time Maceos were
Rosario S. Maceo, Sr. and his brother, Vincent A. Maceo... The
Purity Ice Cream Factory and the Ten O’Clock Valve by Bill Cherry
G. B.
Brynston and PurityJohnny
Garcia's Flagship by Bill Cherry
The Twisted Ironies of the Brantly Harris Recreational PierThe
Twirler by Bob Bowman
When
Audrey Dean Leighton passed away in mid-2005, East Texas lost one of its most
entertaining and colorful characters. Making
history by Bob Bowman
In August of 1945, when the United States dropped
the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Charlie Kimble of Lufkin was
part of the American landing party that toured Japan’s shambles and helped free
4,500 Korean prisoners of war... Joe
Pruno by Mike Cox
The story of Joe A. Pruno reads like a Victorian-era
dime novel, complete with ample exaggeration, outright fabrication and historical
inaccuracies...Pecos
High Bridge & the Pecos River Queen by Mike Cox
Almost everyone’s heard
of Pecos Bill, the mythical West Texas cowboy, but the “fair young” Pecos River
Queen never got the attention she deserves... Milton’s
Rosenberg Library by Bill Cherry
Tripo and Adele made sure that Milton
and Elaine learned to pride Galveston, a city where, for an example, all of the
knowledge they could ever possibly need was in store for them at the Rosenberg
Library, and at no cost. Adele took them there every week...Elmo
Johnson by Mike Cox
I drove to Sonora to interview him. As best I can tell,
I’m the only person who ever took down what he had to say. My only regret is that
I didn’t pump him harder for stories about his days along the Rio Grande the last
time conditions were dicey.The
Bravest Man by Bob Bowman
Those who lived in Lufkin during the Depression
years knew Homer Garrison, Sr., as a kindly, genteel man who gave away pennies
to children and felt he had cheated them “because I always got a two-bit smile.”
Somehow, it wasn’t the image you expected for the bravest man in the world, which
is the way his son, Homer Garrison, Jr., a man once considered as J. Edgar Hoover’s
replacement, felt about his father.Pansy
by Mike Cox
Though her looks could have given her a shot at Hollywood, Pansy
opted for the circus world. She and her husband had a trapeze act in a traveling
show. They drew big crowds and made good money. All that changed in a moment.
...100-year-old
Aggie by Bob Bowman
When William B Holsonbake of Hughes Springs celebrated
his 100th birthday last May 15, someone asked him how he had managed to become
a centurion "Well," he said with a twinkle in his eyes, "it could have been because
I was an Aggie."...The
Hermit in the Dugout by Mike Cox
Why would anyone want to live out their
years in a dirt-floor dugout competing for shade with scorpions and rattlesnakes
in the summer and warmed only by burning chopped railroad ties in the winter?
Gold.Belle
Christmas by Mike Cox
No matter how she came to be called Belle Christmas,
she had a reputation as a local character long before someone dreamed up the “Keep
Austin Weird” bumper sticker... Bill
Stein: a Bibliophile’s Bibliophile
“A gentleman is one who puts more into
the world than he takes out.”The
story of Emil Kreklau's self-propelled fan by Murray Montgomery
The Hallettsville
InventorMonumental
Texas: The Stolz Name Is Written In Stone by H.H.HowzeMr.
Goss and Belmont’s Goss Barbeque Former
slave recalls memories of old Lavaca County by Murray Montgomery
In 1946,
a black man by the name of Tate Hicks told a local paper that he was the oldest
man in Lavaca County. Fact is, he came to Texas as a slave...
The
life and times of F.W. Neuhaus by Murray Montgomery
The life of Mr. Neuhaus
was very interesting one. From the time he left his home in Germany until his
feet hit the sand at the old port of Indianola; F.W. Neuhaus intended to be a
successful man in Texas - indeed he was Here
a Pig, There a Pig - Third and Final Event of the Pig Trilogy by Linda-Kirkpatrick
Today in Real County there are several dedicated “hog hunters” and they don’t
understand catch and release if you get my drift. I will introduce you to a few
of these unique people...The
“Indian” bootlegger
by Bob Bowman
Tony Sanches, a Lufkin sawmill hand in the 1920s, not only made
some of the best bootleg whiskey in East Texas; he had the best customers--people
like singer Jimmy Rodgers, Clyde Barrow of the Bonnie and Clyde gang--even the
local sheriff...
In Remembrance
of Gregory James Krauter by Gael Montana
When friends and neighbors pass
it's natural to reflect on their lives and think of all the good times, the silly
moments you shared with them. It's harder to do when the 'good times' were few
and far between toward the end and there was a darkness lurking that no one could
lighten... Carr
Boys by Mike Cox
The cowboy Carr boys enjoyed the distinction of being
the oldest twins in Texas.Jim
Swink comes home by Bob Bowman
Jim Swink, the lanky halfback who thrilled
high school and Texas Christian University football fans in the 1950s, has returned
home to his roots...Bura
Handley by Phil Handley
“Mister Wellington.”Capt.
William E. Rogers: Beaumont Steamboatman by W. T. Block Jr.
Perhaps no
one in early Beaumont was as popular and well-known as the steamboat captains,
and one of them whose biography comes readily to mind was Capt. W. E. Rogers...
A
Sturdy Pioneer by Bob Bowman
One of my favorite
history addicts is ninety-four-year-old Pearl Weaver Havard, who also cooks a
mean plate of cat head biscuits and brown gravy. Pearl has lived in the same part
of Angelina Country--within the so-called prairie communities along Farm Road
1818 east of Diboll--all of her life...Armless
Judge by Mike Cox
Paul Desmuke
"Hard-drinking, crusty Judge Roy
Bean has gotten a lot of ink over the years, but he wasn’t Texas’ only colorful
justice of the peace..."Pistol-packing
Preacher by Bob Bowman
On his first morning in Groveton Lee presided at
the funeral of a young church member who had been murdered. He soon named criminals
from his pulpit and where they gathered...The
Only Only by Bill Cherry
He Was the World's Oldest
Trapeze Artist and He Lived in Old No. 25
A Centenarian's Life
by Bob Bowman
"A long, long time ago, Clara Davis stopped trying to remember
the names of her grandchildren. But there's a good reason. At the age of 106,
she has 218 of them--34 grandchildren, 91 great-grandchildren, and 93 great-great
grandkids..." The
Love Boys by Bob Bowman
For more than fifty years, brothers Olen and Seaby
Love have lived on the same plot of land in rural Morris County, living in ways
that haven't changed much from the days of their pioneer parents. He
Done Her Wrong: The Sad Case of Mrs. Harriet Moore Page Potter Ames by Archie
P. McDonald
Well. One might say a whole lot of men did Harriet wrong.
After growing up in New Orleans, Harriet Moore left a prosperous retail store
and traveled to the wilds of colonial Texas with what turned out to be only her
first husband, Solomon C. Page. Prosperity stayed behind in Louisiana.
Lucius
Seneca Hine, M.D.
A Yankee Doctor in Oakalla, Texas after the Civil War
The
Big Thicket Bear Hunters Club of Kountze by W. T. Block Jr.
The old bear
hunters of Hardin County had two things in common - they hunted bears until their
youth gave way to old age, and they became windy raconteurs, talking each other
to death about the big bear that got away... A
True Texas Woman by Murray Montgomery
Susan Nancy Garrison
"Texas!
It's a name that evokes great adventure, and to many people the word represents
a symbol of the struggle for liberty and human rights. Most folks associate the
name with the likes of Bowie, Houston, Crockett, and others like them - all men.
But what about the women? Those strong Texas female pioneers - we don't often
hear of their hardships and the things they had to endure to produce this great
land..." Judge
Leonard W. Scott of Caldwell CountyRemembering
Uncle Jay Ransom by N. Ray Maxie
Uncle Jay once told me, "A person may
not remember your name. They may not remember your face. But they will forever
remember how you treated them."Former
slave's death in 1889 attracted rare news coverage
by W. T. Block
In February 1889, Beaumont Enterprise
published an obituary about a Black centenarian, nicknamed "Old Sock," in
an age when Black obituaries were usually printed only in Negro newspapers...A
Personal Hero by Bob Bowman
"Leon Herman Adickes, 88, ... died recently
at Hemphill -- a place where he helped make history by simply doing things to
make his community a better place."Memories
of Uncle Bob and a Wooden Box by Delores Miles
"Really
he must have been a most intelligent man for how else could he have known to give
a child joy you must let them have it a little at a time." Plains
Pioneer by Mike Cox
When Charlie Saigling first saw the South Plains,
there wasn't any cotton, or grain fields or "anything." In 1909, already 32 years
old, he had just been handed 14 sections of land by his father, who got it for
$4,000... Three
Tragedies by Bob Bowman
"An intriguing family
mystery spanning more than 135 years is told by three tombstones lying behind
a rusting iron fence in a small East Texas cemetery. Each of the tombstones provides
cryptic inscriptions that, when linked together in time, offer glimpses of three
tragedies that stalked the family of Robert and Sarah Smith in 1869 and 1872..."Sam
Banty by George Lester
"My grandfather on my mother's side was Samuel
Butler Williams. He stood only five feet tall, and he was as feisty as a bantam
rooster, thus his nickname, Sam Banty. He came from Alabama, but not with a banjo
on his knee. He came with a wife, six kids, and a sharp knife..."
Legacy
of an Oldtimer by Bob Bowman
"Alvin Burchfield of Rusk is the kind
of oldtimer every historian dreams of interviewing. At 92, he remembers more facts
and dates than you'll find in most county history books."Fairy
Fort
The namesake of Fairy, TexasClyde
Burns of Huntsville, Texas
Forty Years in the Water Tower Business
or
Does the Ladder of Success Have to be this High?
by
Edward Aquifer
Photos courtesy of Clyde BurnsThe
Man From Nickel: Leslie Jones Askey
by Murray Montgomery
The classic spirit of an entrepreneur. Looking
for Grandfather in Port ArthurA
Cowboy Nicknamed Whiskey by Mike Cox
"He won his nickname when he
got so desperate for a drink that he traded his horse and saddle for a gallon
of whiskey."
Richard
Gaertner's Story by Murray Montgomery
Every town needs a storyteller and
Moulton is fortunate to have a mighty good one in a feisty fellow named Richard
Gaertner.Mary,
Mary, Once of Perry by Toney Urban
Unbelievable, but true stories connected
to Perry, Texas (Falls County)
"In the late 40s and early 50s, there
was a Black lady named Mary (last name unknown), that would arrive out in the
countryside near Perry, Texas and dispense some incredibly amazing medicine and
conversation....."Thomas
Bone and The Most Famous Bathtub in Coryell County by Clay Coppedge
The
Old Fiddler by Bob Bowman
Way back in the l930s, Henderson County storekeeper
John Hatton leaped from obscurity into statewide prominence when Athens started
its annual Old Fiddlers Reunion.Renaissance
Man of Buckholts by Clay Coppedge
Civilization as we know it did not develop
on John Greiner's place northwest of here but it might seem that way when you're
touring his place via the Little River Miniature Railroad. "The
Last of the True Road Hands"
The Bob Mohel Saga by John Troesser
Phillip
Sawyer of AustwellLouis
Polansky of Fayetteville, Texas The
Bootblack King by Bob Bowman (From All Things Historical)"Eloise"
in Texas - When you outgrow one lobby, move to another hotel The
Grandfalls Goat ParadeDan
Martinets, The Lone Granger. When we say Granger has Character, 90% of it
is Saint Dan. Tuffy
the East Texas Chow by John Troesser The
Palestine Beachcomber: Jacel by Sandy Fiedler
The
Weimar Goatherd by Norman Conquest"Bones"
An East Texan in the Hill Country by John TroesserEasy
to be Hard - Milton Schiller, Brick Detective by Norman Conquest Pansy
the Librarian Solid
Citizens of Gonzales: Gerhard and Rosina Behlen by Norman Conquest Lucas
McCain : Frontier Single Parent Role Model? or Sociopathic Killer? by John TroesserPrimadonna's
BirthdayBelle
the Cow Dr.
Nicholas T. Schilling of Anahuac, Texas
- Historical MarkerMrs.
John L. Morris (Marjorie)
- Historical Marker |
Vignettes
McClellan’s
Kindness From
The Century Magazine 1887 9-19-10
Reference is frequently
made to the peculiar personal attachment which General McClellan’s troops had
for him. The following incident may be worthy of record as illustrating one of
the causes of this attachment... |
More
Duck
Tales by James L.
Choron
Stage and Screen Actor Ronald ColmanThree
Times a Hero by James L. Choron
An Afghanistan War veteran's storyOur
Little Hero by James L. Choron
"This isn't a "Texas" story, but it's one
that I think Texans will identify with. A "different kind of war story", it's
one of the saddest, but most heroic paranormal cases I've ever dealt with." |
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