THE ANGLO­ AMERICAN TEXANS

THE TEXIANS AND THE TEXANS

. THE UNIVERSITY OF INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES ATSANANTONIO ...... _ , THE ANGLO-AMERICAN TEXANS

The University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures at 1985 THE TEXIANS AND THE TEXANS

A series dealing with the many peoples who have contributed to the history and heritage of Texas. Now in print: Pamphlets - The Afro-American Texans) The Anglo-American Texans) The Belgian Texans) The Chinese Texans) The ) The German Texans) The Greek Texans) The Indian Texans) The Italian Texans) The J ewish Texans) The Lebanese Texans and the Syrian Texans) The Mexican Texans) Los Mexicanos (in Spanish), The Norwegian Texans) The Spanish Texans) and The Swiss Texans.

Books - The Danish Texans) The English Texans) The German Texans) The Irish Texans) The Japanese Texans) Th~ Polish Texans) and The Wendish Texans.

The Anglo-American Texans

©1975: The University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures at San Antonio John R. McGiffert, Executive Director

International Standard Book Number 0-86701-028-2

Second edition, 1985; second printing, 1989

Printed in the of America

Front Cover: Anorrymous Couple Back Cover: Hallettsville THE ANGLO-AMERICAN TEXANS

.' , ~ /( ,;;~~~.~ ~<-~", ..~ ~; Immigrants at a noonday halt

fter three centuries of Span­ generation north Europeans whose Anglos represented about 80 percent ish domination, Texas in families had moved to the eastern of the population. Today the figure A 1820 had an estimated immi­ and . Most has dropped to about 65 percent. grant population of about 4,000- were of Anglo or Saxon or Norman Though settlers came to Texas mostly from or Mexico. Texas stock, but there were also Irish, from many lands, the Anglos, Indians were estimated at an addi­ Welsh, Scandinavian, German, and numerically predominant, controlled tional 15,000. a minority of central and southern social and political affairs and the Then in 1821 the border was Europeans lumped together in the economy. Their legal, educational opened to immigration from the group called Anglo-American. and religious institutions prevailed, United States. Fifteen years later This wave of immigration from with heavy borrowing from the Span­ there were some 38,000 settlers in the East engulfed the whole area of ish and Mexican cultures. Texas of which 30,000 were from the Texas. In 1821 there were four major Spain, which ruled Texas until United States. These latter are called Spanish towns in Texas, three areas 1821, came to distrust the aggressive Anglos, a term usually meaning that oflight settlement and ranching, and Yankees and excluded them from an individual's language was definite­ four major roads. One hundred years immigrating to her American terri­ ly English and that he was probably later the frontier was gone. Most of tories. Nevertheless, there were a of English heritage. Most of the Texas had been converted to farms, surprising number of Anglos in Anglos were, in fact, second or third ranches, towns and cities. In 1836 . Some had acquired

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self-government. Some were veterans of the American Revolution. Many more were the sons and grandsons of 's troops, nourished on the legend of Yankee invincibility. They came better armed and in greater numbers than any other people to enter the land called Texas.

PETER SAMUEL DAVENPORT 1794 Most spectacularly successful of the Anglo- in Spanish Texas was Peter Samuel Davenport. A Pennsylvanian by birth, he had become a Spanish subject and pros­ Plowing on the prairie perous trader at Natchitoches. In 1794 he moved to Nacogdoches and Spanish citizenship in Florida and United States and Texas was for became one of the first Anglo settlers Louisiana and -Spanish by political many miles an easily forded river. in Texas. Within four years he was definition, Anglo by race-were The woods on the Texas side were as a partner in the House of Barr and admissible. A few others simply green, the prairies as lush and the Davenport which held a monopoly slipped in unnoticed. creeks'~ as clear as those on the United on trade with the east Texas Indians. The Nacogdoches census of States side. Immigrants from the The firm prospered, and Davenport 1804 listed 13 Anglos who had lived United States found the new land became one of the wealthiest land­ in the area at least since 1800. Other "comfortably familiar. holders of the province. settlers drifted into northeastern Europeans had to mak~ a long, In 1812 he violated his alle­ Texas. They probably neither knew hazardous and expensive ocean voy­ giance to Spain by joining the Guti­ nor cared whether they were on age to Texas. Mexicans, arriving errez-Magee expedition and donat­ United States or Spanish soil. And from the south, faced a hard trek ing supplies and arms to the cause. they were far removed from regular through a wide semidesert area on When this expedition failed to carve Spanish border patrols. both sides of the Rio Grande to reach Spain ceded Louisiana to more hospitable territory. France, which sold it to the United States in 1803. Suddenly this Louisi­ PROFESSIONAL PIONEERS ana Purchase put the Anglo frontier on the border of eastern Texas. Of all those who came to Texas, only the Anglo-Americans had two gener­ ations of successful pioneering in EARLY POPULATION their recent experience. Their fathers Most of the early population of Texas and grandfathers occupied successive came from the United States, three­ frontiers, drove out the Indians and fourths from the nearby agricultural tamed the wilderness. They yearned South. Like others, these people were to exploit the land and move on to attracted by cheap land. In 1820 the the newer, greener fields further west. United States Congress enacted a law This was a philosophy which many declaring that public lands had to be Mexicans could not understand. To bought for cash-$1.25 an acre - a them, land represented permanent price few people could then afford. wealth; it symbolized power and In Texas a family could secure 4,605 prestige. They established roots, acres of land by paying small fees to living on the land until they could the surveyor and the . pass it on to posterity. Another reason for a large The Anglos also had extensive Anglo influx was a convenient geog­ experience in waging successful revo­ raphy. The border between the lution and establishing permanent Peter Samuel Davenport 4 a permanent, independent republic FILIBUSTERS Lawrence, a native of Kentucky who out of Spain's holdings, Davenport 1812 became a tough adventurer, Indian fled to Louisiana with a price on his fighter, revolutionary soldier, cattle­ Mexican desires for independence head. He returned in 1819 with the man and settler. There were few from Spain, combined with United Long expedition, which he also things Lawrence did not try after States hopes for a Texas foothold, led helped to finance. Again driven ou:, arriving at his uncle's home in what to a series of filibustering expeditions he spent his remaining days on hIS is now Red River County in 1815. intended to be "liberating" invasions. Louisiana plantation. The uncle, also named Adam Law­ They had varied success, but all were rence, had preceded him to Texas by supplied and supported in the United a few months. States and partially manned by DANIEL BOONE Young Lawrence moved in 1821 Anglo-American volunteers. 1806 to Austin's colony, where he worked First was the Gutierrez-Magee on Simon Miller's farm. In 1830 he Not all of Spain's subjects in Louisi­ expedition which i~vaded Texas in married Sarah Lucinda Miller, ana were happy with the Spain-to­ 1812. It captured Nacogdoches, La Simon's daughter, and settled on France-to-United States changes in Bahia and San Anfonio - the only New Year Creek in Washington sovereignty. Many Spanish citizens­ towns of consequence in Texas-and County. He became a well-known Anglos among them - moved to established the Republic of the West, Indian fighter and made several Texas or other parts of Mexico in complete with a national flag, Decla­ unbelievable escapes from pursuing order to remain under Spanish rule. ration of Independence and Consti­ Indians, once by leaping with his One was Daniel Boone, nephew and tution. Friction between Anglo and horse off a 15-foot bank into the namesake of the famous frontiers­ Mexican leaders weakened the effort, Trinity River. man. He had come to Opelousas, and in 1813 Spanish General Arre­ Lawrence took part in the Siege Louisiana, in 1794, disgusted with dondo ambushed the revolutionists of Bexar and was at San Jacinto. He the United States' failure to validate on the Medina River, wiping out became a prosperous farmer and his uncle's land titles. The uncle most of them and sending the rest stock raiser, owning thousands of himself had moved to Spanish Mis­ fleeing to the Sabine. acres of Texas land. After the Civil souri for the same reason. The ... In 1819 Dr. James Long raised War the elderly Adam Lawrence younger Boone reached San Antonio a force of men, mostly .Anglo­ went to and established a in 1806, where he became armorer Americans, allegedly to liberate ranch near the present site of Los at the garrison, repairing guns, Texas on the questionable theory that Angeles. After some years of misfor­ swords and spears of Spanish soldiers. it already belonged to the United tune, including the death of his wife, He remained loyal to his adopted States as a part of the Louisiana Pur­ he returned to Texas, where he died country until he was killed by Indians chase. Long established a provisional in 1878. in 1817 . government at Nacogdoches and asked the pirate Lafitte to aid him in taking the other settlements. Lafitte JANE WILKINSON LONG refused. Long's men scattered to live 1820 off the land, but Spanish soldiers Jane Wilkinson Long became known rounded up quite a few and drove as the Anglo "Mother of Texas;' At them out of Texas. 17 she had fallen in love with Dr. Some of the adventurers who James Long, himself only 22. He had came with the filibustering expedi­ already been a surgeon under Gen­ tions dropped off along the avenues eral Andrew Jackson at the Battle of of retreat when the ventures failed. New Orleans in 1812 . He was young They established isolated camps and and full of the spirit of adventure that lived by hunting and trading with the gave the westward-pushing American Indians. When Austin's colony was frontier its energy and tone. In 1819 founded, many of these men joined he came with a small force to free it·, others continued living in their Texas and Mexico from Spanish remote clearings. domination. Unable to stand the separation from her husband, Jane ADAM LAWRENCE Long followed in a month with their 1815 two little girls - one, only two weeks One of the first Anglo-Americans to old, soon died. Traveling much of the Immigrants laying a rail fence on the frontier enter Texas from the east was Adam time in wretchedly cold weather, she

5 ways ill-equipped for the conquest of the frontier wilderness and the man­ Moses Austin, born in agement of settlers. But he perse­ in 1761, was destined to initiate the vered and with tenacity overcame, large-scale colonization of Texas by outwitted or went around obstacles Anglo-Americans. He moved from to achieve his goal. Virginia to Spanish , opera­ Only two months before his ting lead mines in both places. The death at 43 , Austin wrote a touching War of 1812 ruined these investments, letter to a personal friend: "I have no and he lost the rest of his money in house, not a roof in all Texas that I bank failures. can call my own. The only one I had To make a fresh start, Austin was burned at San Felipe during the journeyed to San Antonio de Bexar late invasion of the enemy. I make my to apply for a coionization grant. home where the business of the coun­ Governor Martinez immediately or­ try calls me. I have no farm, no dered the enterprising American out. cotton plantation, no income, no Austin, however, found a friend in money, no comforts. I have spent the the Baron de Bastrop, who induced prime of my life and worn out my the governor to forward Austin's constitution in trying to colonize this petition to General J oaquln de Arre­ country. I am therefore not ashamed dondo, chief civil and military com­ Jane Long of my present poverty:' mandant of Texas. In this petition the empresario proclaimed himself "a caught up with her husband at Nac­ vassal of His Catholic Majesty" who ogdoches. But soon Spanish troops THE AUSTIN GRANT desired to import 300 families of forced the hasty retreat of Dr. Long's "good character and conduct. All of The site of the original grant to little army. .. these, or the greater part of them, Moses Austin was not clearly defined. Jane returned with her husband have property. Those with?ut it are Stephen Austin reached Texas in 1821 the following year and was left at industrious;' he promised. General and explored the coastal plains Bolivar Point with her surviving five­ Arredondo approved the grant for between the San Antonio and Brazos year-old daughter and a Negro girl 200,000 acres and 300 families on rivers with the intention of selecting named Kian. For months she waited January 17, 1821. a definite location. without word from her husband. Moses Austin began organizing Mexico had just won its inde­ When warlike Karankawa Indians the vanguard of his colony, but did pendence from Spain, and it was a approached, she fired an ancient not live to see its beginning. He died cannon and hoisted an old red skirt up inJune 1821, leaving his son Stephen the flagpole to give her little mud fort to carry out his scheme. a defended look. The Indians were successfully bluffed. The winter of 1821 was so severe STEPHEN F. AUSTIN that Galveston Bay partially froze. In 1821 this winter she gave birth to another Stephen, Moses Austin's son, was not daughter - the first Anglo-American at first enthusiastic about his father's child known to have been born in Texas plan. When the elder Austin Texas. Finally, after two lonely years died, however, he assumed full on the peninsula, she received news responsibility for the project. that her husband had been killed in "We must resign ourselves to the Mexico City. dispensations of Providence;' he In time she opened a boarding­ wrote his mother and sister. "I shall house in Brazoria. She eventually paid go out and take possession of the land her husband's debts and saved enough and arrange for the families to move money to clear and cultivate a farm at in the fall. . . :' Richmond, Texas, where her land It was not that simple. Mexican grant was located. There she started revolutions and quarrelsome colo­ another boardinghouse. At her death nists were to give Austin little peace .. ~. . "",,: . in 1880 she was attended by the or prosperity. This well-educated, granddaughter of Kian. reserved, bookish man was in many Stephen R Austin 6 new and somewhat unstable govern­ Atascosito Road crossed the Sabine slaves as troops to oppose Indian ment that Austin dealt with. The at Gaines' Ferry, continued to Atas­ raids in the area. grant was approved, however, and the cos ito (Liberty), then terminated at During the first settlers arrived in December of San Felipe. Finally, there was the sea 's weary army camped for 1821. Then, in a change of heart, the route from New Orleans. two weeks across the river from Ber­ government declined to validate the nardo. Ladies of the plantation doc­ grant, declaring that it wished to tored the sick, and Groce supplied regulate all immigration. Austin went JARED ELLISON GROCE the army with clothing, food and to Mexico City seeking approval, 1822 ammunition. Everything possible which he eventually obtained. The first "big-rich" Texan, Jared was melted down for bullets, includ­ In spite of years of political trou­ Ellison Groce II, pioneered in the ing, legend says, sacks of Mexican bles' settlers came. By March 1822 large-scale production of cotton, silver dollars accumulated from cot­ Austin reported 150 settlers in his which became Texas's biggest money ton sales. colony; by September of 1824 titles crop. A native Virginian who made Groce died in November 1836 had been issued to 272 families. A a fortune in Alabama lumber, Groce at his up-river plantation, the "Re­ census of the colony late in 1825 came to Texas in 1822. He brought treat; which had served as a meeting showed 1,800 people, including 433 with him about 100 slaves, 50 wagons place for President David Burnet and slaves. In 1825, 1827 and 1828 new loaded with tools and household the provisional government of Texas contracts authorized the introduction goods, and a good supply of cash. after the close of the convention of 900 more families. And Anglo His slaves built a squared-log which declared independence. immigrants would be entering Texas mansion on a bluff above the Brazos in even greater numbers in the next about four miles below the present SAN FELIPE DE AUSTIN few years. town of Hempstead. "Bernardd' was 1823 at that time the finest house in Texas and was the headquarters of vast San Felipe was the hub of Austin's ROUTES OF IMMIGRKrION agricultural operations which spread colony and the unofficial capital of Anglo settlers entered Texas by four ... from there to the coast. Anglo-American Texas. Laid out at principal routes. Some proceeded Groce, properly called the "Fa- Austin's request by the Baron de through north Texas from Arkansas, . ther of Texas Agriculture;' 'brought Bastrop in 1823, it is located at the crossing the Red River. Others came cottonseed to Texas and by 1828 was old Atascosito crossing of the Brazos. by one of two routes through east raising extensive crops. He built the During the colonial years many Texas. The north road through first gin in Austin's colony and of the great figures of early Texas Nacogdoches crossed the Trinity shipped his bales to the United States could be found there. The town was River and continued on to the town by sea and to Mexico by land. In the site of the Conventions of 1832 of Washington. The more southerly 1830 Groce armed a group of Negro and 1833, and seat of the provisional government until 1836 when Wash­ ington hosted the convention. San Felipe was burned during the Texas Revolution, but was partially rebuilt in 1837 and served as the seat of Austin County government. Today the site is marked by a state park, restorations and a museum.

MARY CROWNOVER RABB Pioneer Texas was "a heaven for men and dogs, but a hell for women and oxen;' in the words of the early chronicler, Noah Smithwick. There were many Anglo women in early Texas, but their stories are largely unwritten. Mary Crownover Rabb, however, recorded her adventures in rough but painstaking grammar. She Wagon train on the Plains came to Texas in 1823 with her hus-

7 STERLING C. ROBERTSON 1825 Sterling C . Robertson and a group of Tennesseans formed the Nashville Company in 1822 to bring settlers into Texas. In 1825 they secured a grant for 800 families in the Brazos River basin northwest of Austin's colony. Robertson came to Texas in 1830, but the law of April 6 prevented his forming a settlement. When the law was repealed in 1832, he began recruiting. He was a delegate to the Convention of 1836, where he became a signer of the Texas Declara­ tion of Independence. He also served in the republic's first Congress. Robertson retired from public life in 1837 and devoted his remaining five years to the affairs of his colony.

MEXICAN FEDERAL ACT 1830 "Mary Rabb,» by Michael Wtzters ,,r,O ~ . The Mexican government moved to band, a child, 16 horses and appar­ six hundred thread a round the reel halt the flood of immigrants from the ently little else. She set up house- ... evry day and milk my cows and United States to Texas. The act of keeping wherever her husband went. pound my meat in a mortar and cook April 6, 1830, forbade the introduc­ Her first dwelling she described as and churn and mind my childern .. . ." tion of additional slaves into Texas being "made of logs that made a And in doing all that, she turned a and attempted to void all existing chimny to it and the door Shetter was wilderness into a home. empresario contracts. made of thick Slabs split out of thick To offset the growing Anglo­ peases of timber, we had aerthing American population, it proposed floor in ouer house and then I was THE MEXICAN settling convicts from Mexican pris­ in my first Texas hous and Andrew CONSTITUTION OF 1824 ons and other undesirables in Texas. Rabb made a spining wheel and The ill will generated by this law made me a presant of it. then I was Texans were generally pleased when added to some settlers' increasing vary much pleasd and I soon got to Mexico became a federal republic desire for revolution. work to make clothing for my family." under a constitution resembling that When her husband was out of the United States. The document farming or hunting or searching for allowed individual Mexican states to MARY AUSTIN HOLLEY 1831 better land, she was left alone with regulate immigration, while easing the threat of Indian attack. "Now bothersome restrictions. Settlers also "First Lady Ambassador of Texas:' lonely as I was after riseing early in were given representation in the Mary Austin Holley earned her title the morning and attending to make­ legislature of Coahuila y Texas. Their as a propagandist for both the colony ing meal for the day I kept my new first representative was the wily and the . An attrac­ spining wheel whisling all day and Baron de Bastrop. tive, widowed cousin of Stephen F. a good part of the night for while the When Santa Anna abrogated Austin, she first saw Texas in 1831. wheel was rowering it would keep me the Constitution of 1824 and de­ From this trip came her first book, from hearing the Indians walking clared himself dictator, many Mexi­ Texas: Observations, Historica~ Geograph­ around hunting mischieaC' can states rebelled. One by one they ical, and Descriptive, in a Series of Letters Mrs. Rabb raised a family, lost were overwhelmed, until Texas stood Written during a Visit to Austin~ Colony a child to the bitter weather, gave alone. In the early stages of the with a View to a Permanent Settlement birth in camp, made her family's conflict, Anglo-Texans were fighting in That Country in the Autumn of 1831. clothing and cooked. "I would pick as Mexican citizens opposing an Austin had set aside land for the cotten with my fingers and spin overthrow of their constitution. Mrs. Holley and her brother, Henry

8 nists promptly laid siege to his fort. Ayres worked diligently to bring Bloodshed was avoided when the Methodist missionaries to Texas, as Mexican government ordered Brad­ did his friend William B. Travis. burn to withdraw. When Travis took command at the Alamo, he left his young son with Ayres. When the revolution ended DAVID AYRES and religious freedom became a David Ayres exerted quiet influence reality in Texas, Ayres began teach­ on Texas history as a Methodist lay­ ing one of the first Protestant Sunday man. When he landed at Matagorda Schools, at the village of Washington. in 1832, Ayres smuggled ashore a He remained active in church work trunkload of English -language until his death in 1878. Bibles. These were distributed among Austin's colonists, most of UNREST IN THE whom were Prote ~ tant in fact if not legally. Catholicism had been de­ AUSTIN COLONY clared Mexico's official religion, and 1833 Mary Austin Holley although the religious law was While Stephen Austin was visiting repealed in 1834, Protestantism was the Mexican settlements to persuade Austin. She visited Texas many times still not encouraged. them to join in seeking separate between intervals spent as a teacher in Kentucky and Louisiana. During the revolution she was instrumental in arousing sympathy for the Texas cause in Kentucky. After indepen­ dence Mrs. Holley began a campaign for annexation. On her last visit in 1843, she gathered information for a biography of Stephen F. Austin, but the project was terminated by her death from yellow fever at New Orleans in 1846. Her writings and letters form an invaluable first-hand picture of early Texas.

JUAN DAVIS BRADBURN 1832 The first real clash between Texas set­ tlers and Mexican officials was a quarrel among Anglos. Juan Davis Bradburn, commander of the Mexi­ can garrison at Anahuac, was a fiery­ tempered Kentuckian who had joined the Mexican revolutionary, Xavier Mina, in 1817 . Later Brad­ burn entered Mexican government service. Placed in command at Anahuac in 1830, he had immediate­ ly earned the enmity of the settlers by preventing issuance ofland titles, closing all ports but his own, and dissolving the ayuntamiento (city council) at Liberty. Two years later Bradburn declared martial law and arrested three men. A group of colo- Settlement of Austin's Colony, by Henry McArdle

9 statehood, a group of impatient colo­ tined to be a major factor in the and preferred to be alone with his nists called another convention. They Texas Revolution. McKinney, one of handicap. He settled in San Antonio went even further by drafting a pro­ Austin's "Old Three Hundred;' was and married a Mexican woman. He posed constitution for a separate a Kentuckian with wide experience had little quarrel with Mexican State of Texas. Of three delegates as a trader. Williams had been secre­ officials and therefore remained neu­ named to present the requests to tary to the colony and a sometime tral until the Siege of Bexar in Santa Anna, only Austin traveled to business partner of Austin. McKin­ December 1835. The troops under Mexico City. ney and Williams quickly became the command of General Martfn He secured several concessions aggressive and prosperous Texans. Perfecto de C6s refused to let Smith and had started home when he was They operated river boats on the through the lines to visit his family; arrested at Saltillo, returned to the Brazos, sold imported supplies, so, he joined the Texas army as a capital and imprisoned for 18 bought products of the plantations scout and spy. months. Mexican officials had inter­ for export and dealt in land. He proved to be one of Hous­ cepted a letter he wrote in a moment McKinney and Williams fi­ ton's most useful aides, destroying of impatience urging Texans to pro­ nanced the beginning of the Texas Vince's Bridge to prevent the escape ceed with formation of a state regard­ Navy and much of the material for of Mexican troops at San Jacinto. less of federal approval. the army, extending credit of over After the revolution Smith served as Anger over the arrest of their $90,000 to the provisional govern­ captain of a Ranger company until leader, frustration at their inability ment. Twenty years after the war they he retired to Richmond where he to communicate with Santa Anna collected $40,000 but never received died in 1837. and the prolonged absence of Austin's the rest. The firm survived this loss, calming presence in Texas did much however, and became one of Gal­ to finally bring the revolutionary pot veston's leading mercantile, banking to a boil. Many settlers, instead of anc;lshipping establishments. supporting Texas as a state in a Mexican union, turned to the idea of complete independence. ... SARAH BRADLEY DODSON Sarah Bradley Dodson, the "Betsy Ross of Texas," came with her parents McKINNEY AND from Kentucky in 1823. Settling in WILLIAMS Brazoria County, they were among 1834 Austin's "Old Three Hundred." In A business partnership formed in 1835 Sarah married Archelaus By­ 1834 between Thomas F. McKinney num Dodson, a member of a Harris­ and Samuel May Williams was des- burg company of troops. Soon after­ ward she made and presented to the company the first Lone Star . Made of coarse cotton cloth, the flag had equal squares of blue, Gail Borden JT. red and white. For the first time a lone white star flew in a blue field next to the flagstaff. The difference GAIL BORDEN JR. between Sarah's flag and the present 1835 Texas flag was that each of its fields A New Yorker, Gail Borden Jr., who of color was square, set side by side, is best remembered nationally as the which resulted in a long and narrow inventor of a process for evaporating banner. Sarah Dodson later lived in milk, was a key figure in the Texas Fort Bend County and in 1844 Revolution. With his brother, Tom, moved to Grimes County, where she and Joseph Baker, he published the died in 1848. Telegraph and Texas Register at San Felipe. This newspaper was the offi­ cial organ of the provisional govern­ ERASTUS "DEAF" SMITH ment in 1835 and of the convention New York-born Erastus "Deaf' Smith and interim government in 1836. contributed much to the bold Texas Borden had been active in Thomas F. McKinney tradition. Smith was hard of hearing Texas's public affairs since his arrival

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1 in 1829. He had represented the Texas Revolution:' Born in , DECLARATION OF Lavaca district at the Convention of he came to Texas in 1826. The fiery INDEPENDENCE 1833. For many years the signed editorials he wrote in newspapers at 1836 manuscript copies of the Declaration Brazoria and San Felipe, plus a rous­ Texas's first Anglo-American chief ofIndependence were lost, and hand­ ing speech he delivered at San Felipe executive was Henry Smith, a native bill copies, published by Borden, in 1835, did much to solidify the of Kentucky. He was elected by the were the only record of that docu­ revolutionary spirit in the colony. ment in Texas. His press followed the A victim of polio in his child­ retreating Texas government, moving hood, Williamson's right leg was from San Felipe to Harrisburg, withered and bent back at the knee, where it was dumped in the bayou on which he wore a pegleg. This by Santa Anna. When the govern­ accounted for his popular nickname, ment reorganized at Columbia after "Three-Legged Will,ie." The handicap San Jacinto, Borden established his did not prevent him from partici­ newspaper there, then moved it to pating in frontier fights and frolics. Houston, the capital. At San Felipe he was the life of many Borden's creative mind occa­ a rowdy party-singing, dancing and sionally took unusual turns. He playing banjo. During the revolution invented among other things a "loco­ he commanded a ranging company motive bath house" for Galveston in which he held the rank of major. women who wished to frolic unseen After the war he was a circuit judge, in the Gulf of Mexico. Other inven­ a member of the Supreme Court and tions were no more enduring except, a legi~lator. of course, for the condensed milk process and a meat biscuit which ~ Williamson's resourcefulness as Henry Smith found favor with the military. Gail a speaker was legendary. On one Borden Jr. died in Borden, Texas, in ..,occasion he was invited by a revival of October 1835, which preacher to offer a prayer before a January of 1874. gave Texas its first provisional gov­ .crowd of farmers and their -families ernment. This administration col­ who had suffered severely from lapsed in February, however, and was drought. Welcoming the opportunity, replaced a month later by the Con­ he solemnly intoned: "0 Lord, Thou vention of 1836. divine Father, the supreme ruler of While rH:xas's organized mili­ the Universe, who holdest the thun­ tary forces were being trapped and der and lightning in thy hand, and destroyed at the Alamo and La from the clouds givest rain to make Bahia, delegates from the scattered crops for thy children, look down settlements gathered at the town of with pity upon them who now face Washington to declare independence. ruin for lack of rain upon their crops; They met March 1 in an unfinished and 0 Lord, send us a drencher that frame building, approved the decla­ will cause the crops to fruit in all their ration on March 2 and by March 17 glory and the earth to turn again to had established a functioning govern­ the beauteous green that comes from ment. Of the 59 who signed the abundant showers. Lord, send us a declaration, 52 were Anglo-Ameri­ bounteous one that will make corn cans, 45 of these from the South. ears shake hands across the row and Only ten had been in Texas more not one of those little rizzly-drizzly than six years, and two had arrived sprinkles that'll make nubbins that all in 1836. hell can't shuck:' George Campbell Childress Williamson was a staunch advo­ from Tennessee was the primary R.M. Williamson cate of the annexation of Texas to the author of the document. Sam Hous­ United States. He even named one ton, also from Tennessee, was made ROBERT M. WILLIAMSON of his sons Annexus. He lived to commander-in-chief of the Texas A brilliant young editor and lawyer, become a respected elder statesman. army, and David G . Burnet from Robert McAlpin Williamson was Williamson County was named in was elected interim presi­ known as "the Patrick Henry of the his honor. dent. Only one official, Vice Presi-

11 over the hero's grave in the Texas IQnllllrt~Sbd(; --:; - ' -=~~------1 State Cemetery. Formosa is now pre­ served as a museum by the Texas I , $ L 25. San Antonio, T il June 27th 1865. I Fine Arts Association. I SIX months after the sale of a U. 8. patent right for an airship. invented I

I by me, I promisc tc pay to " . -?";::; 1:- -':' 1 ONE DOLLAR and TWENTY FIY E CEN1'S, together with his share of One Fourth of the amount rcc('h-cd by such ~ilole, expenses deducted, or two months I Iafter the term for which a 0 - 8. patent will be granted to me, together with a " I yearly payment of his share of 01)e Fourth of the profits accrued by the saie of such I &irships, as the case may be, value received . lP". ~1r' "",c-r~;' ,1;-:' I ---~-.. -.- ~------_._. Brodbeck's certificate was powered with coiled springs. In demolished and Brodbeck slightly San Antonio, in the summer of 1865, injured. This episode cQmpletely Brodbeck announced plans to build scared off his backers. After several and fly a full-scale "air-ship." He years of touring the East in search offered "certificates of interest" to of support, Jacob Brodbeck gave up investors who would finance the trial and retired to his farm at Lucken­ run. Certificates were bought by bach. The Wright brothers' subse­ leaders of the Texas German com­ quent success in 1903 justified Brod­ munity, including Dr. Ferdinand beck's confidence in the feasibility of von Herff. There is a persistent story manned. flight. that the full-scale air-ship was built and flown by Brodbeck late in 1865. Elisabet Ney The demonstration was said to have ELISABET.. NEY been staged in a pasture near San One of the most important persons HANK SMITH Antonio. According to an old ac­ in- the development of the fine arts Hank Smith broke the first sod, count, the plane and pilot Brodbeck in Texas arrived on the scene in 1872 planted the first crops and dug the soared to tree-top height, then when Elisabet Ney, with her hus­ first well on the plains of northwest crashed - the spring-power he had band, Dr. Edmund Montgomery, Texas. He was born Heinrich provided unfortunately could not be bought a plantation near the town Schmidt in Rossbrunn, , rewound in flight. The ship was of Hempstead. Their home, Liendo, on August 15, 1836. At the age of was (and still is) one of the most 14 he immigrated with two older beautiful houses in Texas. Miss Ney sisters to America. He worked brief­ was already a famous sculptress in ly as a sailor on Lake Erie, then in Europe, with busts of Kaiser Wil­ 1852 headed down the Santa Fe helm I, Garibaldi, Ludwig II, Hum­ Trail, bound for a life of adventure boldt, Schopenhauer and others to on the frontier. He worked as a sur­ her credit. Dr. Montgomery, a Scot, veyor, teamster and miner before was a highly respected physician, joining the Confederate ranks at the naturalist and philosopher. Miss outset of the Civil War. After the war N ey was commissioned by the state Smith resumed his career as a wag­ to make statues of Stephen F. Austin onmaster and teamster. At Fort and Sam Houston for the Texas Griffin, Texas, in 1874 he met and exhibit at the World's Fair in 1893. married a Scottish girl named Eliza­ She built her studio, called Formosa, beth Boyle. Three years later a in the area north of the university wealthy Philadelphian commis­ in Austin and eventually produced sioned Smith to establish a ranch the two statues. Copies now stand near the junction of Blanco Canyon in both the National and the Texas and the Salt Fork of the Brazos. State capitols. There the nearest neighbor was 50 She also produced a full-length miles away. When the Philadelphian reclining figure of General Albert went bankrupt, Smith took charge Jacob Brodbeck Sydney Johnston, which is mounted of the property, which included an

18 CIGAR MAKING AND THE "TRAVIS CLUB" 1893 Friedrich Ernst, "Father of German Immigration in Texas;' was a cigar maker, and many of his countrymen who came to the new land followed that trade. Cigar factories in Texas were nearly as numerous as phar­ macies in the late 19th century, but only one-the Finck Cigar Com­ pany- remained in the 1980's. San Antonio alone had 18 other cigar manufacturers in 1893 when H.W. Finck, son of a German immigrant, located there. His family lived up­ stairs over the small business, By Hank Smith's Rock House 1910 the company was flourishing, and Finck was among the socially impressive stone edifice, soon known of charitable undertakings. A Grand prominent citizens who formed the far and wide as Hank Smith's Rock Lodge was organized at San Antonio Travis Club and built an elaborate, House. The house also served as a in 1890, with eight member lodges many-storied clubhouse. For mem­ post office on a mail line between across t,he state. The organization bers only, Finck prepared a special Fort Griffin and Fort Sumner, New has grown until it is represented in "Travis Club" cigar. Patriotically the Mexico. Smith's wife, fondly known practically all areas of Texas. In ad­ club opened its doors to World War as "Aunt Hank;' was postmistress for dition to its recreation and fellowship I servicemen, who moved in en 39 years. Smith himself spent the re­ activities, the Sons of Hermann masse, leaving little room for the mainder of his life experimenting operate a summer youth camp and membership. Out of the habit of with new crops. Countless visitors a home for the aged, both in Com­ attendance, members failed to come came to hear his stories of youthful fort, Texas. The order is also well back after the war and the club adventures in the Old West. He died known for its highly solvent life folded - but not its namesake cigar, in 1912; Aunt Hank, in 1925. insurance program. In 1987 there Former soldiers from various states, were nearly 80,500 members, only who had sampled the aromatic about half of which were . product in Texas, flooded the firm THE SONS OF HERMANN 1890 The Order of the Sons of Hermann was established in Texas by pioneer settlers of San Antonio on July 6, 1861. John Lemnitzer, who had been active in the Hermann Sons organi­ zation in New York, sought to form a San Antonio chapter early in 1860, but authorization from the National Grand Lodge did not come until the following year. The records show that these early members had to bring their own chairs to meetings if they wished to be seated. Until 1921 the meetings were conducted in German. The lodge staged or par­ ticipated in volksfests, concerts, dances, parades, masquerade balls and other public-interest events. They also engaged in a wide variety First meeting oj the Grand Lodge, San Antonio, 1890

19 housewife until German-born Wil­ burg in 1858, he was the son of a liam Gebhardt came to her aid. In German mother and a Belgian fa­ 1892 Gebhardt opened a cafe in the ther. His family took him at the age back of Miller's Saloon in New of eight to Europe, where he studied Braunfels. He soon found that chili under some of the greatest musi­ was a favorite dish in that German cians of the day. As a young man he community. He also discovered that gained wide fame as both a conduc­ it was a seasonal food, since home­ tor and a composer. In 1895 he grown chilies were available only became director of the Cincinnati once a year. By importing ancho Conservatory of Music and conduc­ chili peppers from M exico, he could tor of the Cincinnati Symphony serve the spicy concoction year­ Orchestra. H e worked diligently to round. In 1894 he developed the first popularize American music with commercial chili powder by running concert audiences on both sides of pepper bits three tirpes through a the Atlantic. Van der Stucken died small home meat grinder. Two years at Hamburg, Germany, in 1929. later Gebhardt established a factory for the product in San Antonio. At the beginning, he could make five cases of chili powder a week. He would place these on the back of a H.W Finck wagon, drive around town until all were sold and then return to his with orders, ensuring a future for grind<;r. . Ultimately Gebhardt in­ the "Travis Club" smoke. Today a vented and patented 37 machines for greatly expanded company is oper­ his factory. Following an expansion ated by a third-generation Finck in. 1911, the company put out the first with the same initials as its founder. canned chili con carne and tamales.

WILLIAM GEBHARDT FRANK VAN DER 1894 STUCKEN JR. Chili making-with the right combi­ 1895 nation of spices mixed with extracted Frank van der Stucken Jr. was the and ground pulp from the chili first Texas musician to achieve inter­ pod - was difficult for the American national fame. Born in Fredericks-

Frank van der Stucken Jr.

OSCAR FOX 1920 Oscar Fox was the first Texas-born songwriter to achieve fame through the use of his native background. Born in 1879, Fox was a grandson of Adolf Fuchs, the minister, farmer and educator who had once taught music at Baylor College in Indepen­ dence. Educated in San Antonio, Texas, and Zurich, Switzerland, Oscar Fox was an organist, choir­ master and teacher in various Texas cities before winning national recog­ nition with his musical settings of cowboy songs collected by John William Gebhardt (center) Lomax. Fox continued to compose

20 CONCLUSION More than 750,000 persons of Ger­ man descent were estimated to be living in Texas in 1980. Excepting the large Anglo element in the pop­ ulation, German Texans are out­ numbered only by Afro-American and Mexican Texans. In medicine, in engineering, in ranching and in m imy other fields , German Texans are heavy contributors to the state's general prosperity. Their distinctive architecture - including Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist churches­ dominates the land in a large area of central Texas. While melding into the general pattern of Texas life, they retain in a number of regions the traditional German customs of oom­ Oscar Fox pah bands, singing societies (Miinn­ erchore) and marksmanship contests music for other people's lyrics from of the most difficult assignments of (SchutzenJeste). Most Texans enjoy 1922 until his death in 1961. Lyrics World Vjar II. His task ended on German sausage and the special for "The Hills of Home;' his best­ U.S.S. M issouri when he accepted the German touch on meat, dairy and known composition, were written by Japanese surrender. Nimitz served pastry delicacies. And most have Floride Calhoun, who, at the time, as Chief of Naval Operations until incorporated into their Yuletide ob­ was living in San Antonio. She was his'" retirement in 1947 . Since his servance the Christmas tree, which referring to the hills of New York de~th in 1966 the citizens of Fred­ German settlers brought to Texas in State, but, when Oscar Fox set the ericksburg have developed a muse­ the 1840's. Today German Texans poem to music, he was thinking of um in his honor on the site of his continue with the constructive hand the hills of Burnet County, Texas, grandfather's famous old hotel. of their forebears. where he was born.

ADMIRAL CHESTER W. NIMITZ 1941 After Pearl Harbor President Frank­ lin D. Roosevelt promoted a Texan of German ancestry to be com­ mander of the Pacific Fleet. Chester Nimitz was born in Fredericksburg in a house still preserved on the main street. He was the grandson of Captain Charles Nimitz, pioneer hotelman and one-time boatman. The younger Nimitz grew up in Fredericksburg and Kerrville and went to the U.S. Naval Academy as a cadet in 1901. Chester Nimitz graduated with distinction from the academy in 1905 and rose steadily in rank until 1944, when President Roosevelt chose him over 28 senior flag officers to be Fleet Admiral, one Admiral Chester W Nimitz

21 "Going Visiting" by Richard Petri

22 PHOTO CREDITS All photos are from the collection of The University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures at San Antonio, courtesy of the following lenders. Credits from left to right are separated by semicolons and from top to bottom by dashes. Copies of these photographs may be obtained from the ITC Library.

Cover Mrs. Alton Schwarz, New Braunfels. Page 13 Gillespie County Historical Society, Page 3 The Institute of Texan Cultures - Archives Fredericksburg- Barker Texas History Center, Division, Texas State Library, Austin. The University of Texas at Austin; F.W. Page 4 Garland Roark, The 25 Flags oj Texas (Houston: Simonds, "Dr. Ferdinand von Roemer, the Houston Chronicle, 1962) - Unknown; Archives Father of the Geology of Texas, His Life and Division, Texas State Library, Austin. Work;' The American Geologist, vol. 29 (March Page 5 Archives Division, Texas State Library, Austin; 1902). Unknown; Lewis E. Daniel, Personnel oj the Texas Page 14 Frieda Fuchs, Fredericksburg; Austin History State Government with Sketches oj Representative Men Center, Austin Public Library-Archives oj Texas (San Antonio: Maverick Printing Division, Texas State Library, Austin. House, 1892). Page 15 Source unknown; Barker Texas History Center, Page 6 Barker Texas History Center, The University of The University of Texas at Austin; Lewis E. Texas at Austin; F.D. Langenheim Estate, Daniel, Personnel oj the Texas State Government with Philadelphia, Pa. Sketches oj Representative Men oj Texas (San Page 7 Lillie E. Simon, New Braunfels; Carl Roeper, Antonio: Maverick Printing House, 1892). Eagle Pass. Page 16 Krueger Family, Austin; Barker Texas History Page 8 Rudolph Biesele, The History oj the German Center, The University of Texas at Austin. Settlements in Texas (Austin: R .L. Biesele, 1964); Page 17 San Antonio Light Collection, The Institute of Sophienburg Museum and Archives, New Texan Cultures - Comfort Historical Museum, Braunfels - Barker Texas History Center, The Comfort. University of Texas at Austin. Page 18 The Institute of Texan Cultures-E.E. Page 9 Sophienburg Museum and Archives, New Brodbeck, Austin; Ney Museum, Austin. Braunfels; Library of Congress, Washington, Page 19 Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, D.C. Canyon - Hermann Sons Lodge, San Antonio. Page 10 Barker Texas History Center, The UHi~ersity of Page 20 Hazel Ledbetter, Round Top - Gebhardt Texas at Austin; The late Irene Marschall King, Mexican Foods, San Antonio; Pioneer Museum, Waco - Frontier Times Museum, Bandera. Fredericksburg. Page 11 Mrs. Claude Aniol, - De11..tsche Page 21 Unknown-Admiral Nimitz Center, Literaturgeschichte; Gillespie County Historical Fredericksburg. Society, Fredericksburg. Page 22 , Gillespie County Historical Society, Page 12 Historical Portrait Archives, Beriin, Germany; Fredericksburg. Archives Division, Texas State Library, Austin; Page 23 Mrs. Ernest A. Guenther, Austin. Dr. and Mrs. August Herff, San Antonio. Back cover Mrs. Ernest A. Guenther, Austin.

Log house oj Carl Goethjamily, Cypress Mitt, Blanco County, c. 1874-1875

2.3 INDEX

Italic numerals identify illustrations.

Adelsverein 8, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 Meusebach, John O. 10, 11 Bettina Colony 12 Menger Hotel 16 Boos-Waldeck, Count Joseph of 8 Menger, William 16 Bourgeois, Alexander 8, 9 Miller, Burchard 9 Bracht, Victor 13, 13 Mueller, Brukart see Miller, Burchard Brodbeck, Jacob Friedrich 17-18, 18 Nassau, Duke Adolf of 8, 8 Buchel, August C. 16, 16 Neu-Braunfelser Zeitung 7 Carlshafen see Indianola New Braunfels 9-10, 10, 11, 15 Cat Spring 5, 14 Ney, Elisabet 18, 18 Civil War, Germans in 16 Nimitz, Charles H . 12-13 see also Buchel, August C. 16; Erath, George B. 5; Nimitz, Chester W. 21 , 21 Schleicher, Gustav 12; Schreiner, Charles 15; Smith, Nimitz Hotel 12, 12 Hank 18; von Rosenberg, Karl Wilhelm 14 N ueces, Battle of 17, 17 Counties named for Germans: Erath 5; Kleberg 6; Organized immigration 6, 8, 9, 10, 12 Nassau 8; Schleicher 12 Petri, Richard 15, 22 Darst, Jacob 4 Pressler, Charles William 15 Durst, John 4, 4 Promotional literature see Settlement Durst, Joseph 4 Republic of Texas, Germans in: Erath, George B. 5; Easter Fires 11 Kleberg, Robert Justus 6; Smyth, George Ehrenberg, Hermann 6 Washington 4 Erath, George B. 5, 5 Revolution, Texas see Texas Revolution Ernst, Friedrich 5,7,19 Roemer, Ferdinand von 13-14, 13 Ervendberg, Louis Cachand 7, 7 Sachtleben, Carl Front cover Fallersleben, Hoffmann von 11 , 11 Schleicher, Gustav 12, 12 Finck Cigar Company 19 Schmidt, Heinrich see Smith, Hank Finck, H.W. 19, 20 Schreiner, Charles 15, 15 Fischer, Heinrich Franz see Fisher, Henry~ Francis Seele, Hermann F. 10-11, 11 Fisher, Henry Francis 9 Settlemer:t, promotional literature: Bracht, Victor 13; Fisher-Miller Grant 8, 8, 9, 11, 12 Ernst, Friedrich 5; Heeke, J. Valentine 4; Roemer, Fordtran, Charles 5, 5 Ferdinand von 13; von Behr, Ottomar 13 Forty, The see Viewger, Die Smith, Hank 18-19, 19 Fox, Oscar 20-21, 21 Smyth, George Washington 4, 4 Fredericksburg 11, 12, 15 Societies 7, 16, 19, 21 Fuchs, Adolf 11, 14, 14 Solms-Braunfels, Prince Carl of 7, 9, 9, 10 Gebhardt, William 20, 20 Sons of Hermann, Order of the 19, 19 German-English School in San Antonio 16-17, 16 Sophienburg 10, 10 German Union 7 Spiess, Hermann 12 Goethe, Carl, home Back cover Texas by Ferdinand von Roemer 13 Good Advice for Immlgrants by Ottomar von Behr 13 Texas Revolution, Germans in: Darst, Jacob 4; Durst, Greenwall, Henry 16 John 4; Durst, Joseph 4; Ehrenberg, Hermann 6; Gutierrez-Magee expedition 3 Erath, George B. 5; Kleberg, Robert Justus 6; Heeke, J. Valentine 4 Langenheim, William 6; Smyth, George Washington 4 Herff, Ferdinand von 12, 12, 18 Texas und seine Revolution by Hermann Ehrenberg 6, 6 Hermann Sons see Sons of Hermann, Order of the van der Stucken, Frank, Jr. 20, 20 Immigration see Organized immigration Vierziger, Die 12 Indianola 9, 9 von Arnim, Bettina 12, 12 Industry 7 von Behr, Ottomar 13 Kleberg, Robert Justus 5-6, 5 von Meusebach, Baron Ottfried Hans see Meusebach, Langenheim, William 6, 6 John 0. Latium 15 von Roeder family 5 Leiningen, Prince Victor of 8 von Roeder, Otto 8 Lindheimer, Ferdinand 7, 7 von Rosenberg family 14 Long, James, expedition 3, 3, 4 von Rosenberg, Ernest 14 Lungkwitz, Hermann 15 , 15 von Rosenberg, Ernst 14 Maps 8, 14, 14, 15 von Rosenberg, Herman 14 Melchior, Rudolph 15, 15 von Rosenberg, Karl Wilhelm 14, 14 Meusebach- treaty 11, 11

24 ~~------~

One of a series prepared by the staff of THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES AT SAN ANTONIO