TexasTexas PostalPostal HistoryHistory SocietySociety New Texas JournalJournal Confederate Catalog Vol. 37, No. 4 November 2012 Listings Necessary ‘Texas Independent Statehood’ dates narrowed in new CSA This Feb. 1, 1861 cover from Fort Quit- man, Texas is no longer recognized as Independent Statehood use by the catalog . See Page 2 CSA catalog editors. = Postal System of the Republic of Texas, Part 2 - Page 3 = = Charles Deaton’s The Great Texas Stamp Collection released - Page 11 = TEXPEX 2013 The Texas Postal History Society will hold its next business meeting and Spring Fling social on March 1 and 2, 2013 at the TEXPEX World Series of Philately show. The new location is the Hilton DFW Lakes Ex- ecutive Conference Center, 1800 Hwy. 26 E, Grapevine, TX 76051. Of- ficial times will be announced in the February, 2013 issue. Reserve your room now by calling direct at 817-410-6777 or Visit the TEXPEX website at www.texpex.org and click on the hotel The Conference Center is located five minutes from DFW International Airport. It “book a room” link. is next to the popular Grapevine Mills Mall and numerous restaurants and retail stores. The hotel is set in a 40-acre lakeside location featuring horseback riding, fishing and jogging trails. Plan to show your Texas The APS-sponsored show runs March 1-3, 2013 Postal History material at the TEXPEX exhibition. Postal history dealers such as our own Charles Deaton and Jonathan Topper will bring large stocks It has been several years was well as other national dealers such as Doubleday since we have presented our William Emery Texas Postal Postal History, Stanley Piller, Labron Harris, etc. History Awards. Sam Houston Philatelics will also be on hand to offer The prospectus and entry form its specialties including duck stamps. are located at the TEXPEX website at: The Texas Stamp Dealers Association will also be well represented at the show with the likes of Warren www.texpex.org Crain, Oklahoma Stamps, Melvin Edmonds, Crown Colony Stamps, and Castle Stamps. Texas Postal History Society Journal, Vol. 37, No. 4 November 2012 Page 1 Texas Postal History Society Journal INSIDE THIS ISSUE President From the President by Vince King. 2 Vince King 315 S. Locust, Denton TX 76201 The Postal System of the Republic of Texas (Part Two) . 3-8 E-mail: [email protected] Mail Delivery Woes for Clarksville, Tex. (1848) . 9-10 Vice President Deaton Book on Texas Rarities Released . 11 Jim Doolin 11258 Goodnight Lane #105 Dallas TX 75229 Seen at Auction . 12-14 E-mail: [email protected] Friends We’ll Miss . 16 Secretary-Treasurer Austin Reaps a Flurry of FDC events . 17 Lyle Boardman 3916 Wyldwood, Austin TX 78739-3005 E-mail: [email protected] On the Cover: A “former” Texas “Independent Statehood” cover that has not been Journal Editor reclassified by the editors of the new Confederate States catalog is shown over an Tom Koch 1847 map of Texas that depicts various routes from the Republic of Texas period. 1013 Springbrook Drive, DeSoto TX 75115 E-mail:[email protected] Charles Deaton Fine Stamps of the World Summer/Fall - PO Box 2836, Orleans, Mass. 02653, Phone 508-240-2683 Winter/Spring - PO Box 2465, Fredericksburg, Tex. 78624, Phone 713-927-9948 Email: [email protected] Specializing in Texas Postal History for more than 30 years Stamp Collections Wanted - I am always interested in buying collections of United States and Foreign Stamps, Covers, Old Letters, Cards, etc. For larger collections I will come to your place. You will find that I treat both you and your collection with the respect and courtesy you deserve. Page 2 Texas Postal History Society Journal, Vol. 37, No. 4 November 2012 From the President New Confederate Catalog Listings Required for Vince King ‘Transitional Texas’ Period With the release of their new publication, the editors of the These Historically Important Texas History new Confederate States of America: Catalog and Handbook of Stamps and Postal History decided to exclude much of the pre- Artifacts Should Be Properly Cataloged viously listed Texas “independent statehood” material as a result For more than 80 years, the Confederate States philatelist, en- of formulating a new stricter, albeit technically accurate, defini- couraged by the fathers and legends Dietz, MacBride, Antrim, tion of terminology.1 In my view, this has brought about a most Everett, Malpass, Molesworth, etc., has ventured well beyond drastic change to the new edition. collecting just stamps and postal history. After all, the Confeder- ate States postal system did not function until June 1, 1861, so Their decision centered on the dates in the process of seces- any Confederate “labels” placed on postal history prior to that sion. While a Texas delegation vote triggered the secession date are mere philatelic abstractions. Spurred on by Dietz hand- process on Feb. 1, 1861, secession did not legally take effect book subheadings “A New Field for the Specialist” or “A Field until March 2. “Independent Texas” was then formally accepted of Uncommon Historical Interest,” Confederate collectors have into Confederate States membership on March 5.2 As a result, generally engaged in a broader “socially historical” collecting Texas covers postmarked from Feb. 1 through March 1 have dis- pursuit. appeared from the Confederate Stamp Alliance’s new handbook altogether for the first time since the initial Dietz catalog ap- The bottom line is that the history and reality behind the peared in 1931.3 Texas secession events transcend imprecise terms such as “inde- pendent state.” The postal artifacts from this fascinating transi- As Ken Lawrence correctly discussed in his Linn’s Stamp tory period are certainly every bit as important as the News article devoted to Texas secession events and mail, serious time-honored, yet still still-cataloged, postal history abstractions Texas CSA collectors should define new terminology to classify such as advertising covers, wallpaper covers, patriotic covers, and catalog this historically important postal history.4 I would college covers, general’s mail, etc. They are also equally as im- propose that the term “Transitional Texas Use” be applied to portant and significant as the still-cataloged March 2, 1861-May mail postmarked in Texas from Feb. 1, 1861 – March 1, 1861. 31, 1861 Texas material . thus should remain recognized and This term is far more appropriate with regard to events that were cataloged using more inclusive terminology. transpiring on the ground during this period. See CSA Catalog Decision on Page 15 Texas Postal The Texas Postal History Society Journal is the offi- cial publication of the Texas Postal History Society. It History Society is published quarterly. The TPHS is not responsible for Journal the accuracy of any contributed articles. Submitted ar- ticles and images are welcome by the editor by regular Texas Postal History Society Website: mail or electronic mail. The TPHS provides no guaran- tee that submitted articles will be printed and when http://www.texasphilatelic.org/texpex.html they may be printed. Articles may be reproduced with Founded in 1975, the TPHS is affiliated with the prior permission and attribution. Texas Philatelic The Journal is available to members of the society. Association and Dues to the TPHS are $18 per year payable to the Sec- the American retary-Treasurer. Single copies are $5 with $1 first Philatelic Society. class postage. Texas Postal History Society Journal, Vol. 37, No. 4 November 2012 Page 3 The Postal System of The Republic of Texas fices were to be established along this route as the postmaster- PART TWO general should deem necessary and proper.4 In May 1838 bi- weekly service was ordered from Galveston to Matagorda and Texana via Velasco and Quintana. At the same time the following Editor’s note - The following is the second in a two-part in- routes were ordered into operation: stallment of a detailed description of “The Postal System of the From the town of Bastrop to the residence of Reuben Republic of Texas” by W. L. Newsom as printed in the October, Hornsby on the Colorado River; 1916 issue of The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. XX, From Anahuac, Liberty County, to the house of Thomas Stub- No. 2. Reprinted with permission. Second installment. The first blefield on Trinity River in Liberty County installment appeared in the August, 2012 edition of the Journal. From Shelbyville in Shelby County to the town of Milam in Sabine County, via Hamilton on the Sabine River.5 Postal Routes In December 1838 the route from Houston to Nacogdoches via Cincinnati was changed so that after leaving Cincinnati it No record is available as the exact date the first route went passed by Mustang Prairie Post-office, thence to Crockett, in into operation in Texas but it was about 1835. We have already Houston County, thence to intersect the existing route at 6 noticed the recommendations of the Permanent Council that mail Williams’s on the Neches River. Another route authorized at this routes be established by subscription, under certain regulations, time, proceeded from Houston to San Augustine via Captain “from San Felipe de Austin to Cantonment Jessup in the United Hiram’s on the Trinity River, Belt’s on the Neches River, B.W. States, to headquarters of the Army or to Bexar, and to Velasco, Harvey’s on the Angelina River, and Nathaniel Hunt’s on Ayish and that branch routes be established at suitable times.” Bayou. Mail was transported weekly over this route. A bi-weekly 7 In section 34 of the ordinance passed by the General Council route was also established from Jasper to Belgrade. on Dec. 2, 1835, a mail or post route was established from the In January, 1839, weekly routes were established: From Tex- General Post-office to the principal town of each municipality of ana to San Antonio, and from Victoria to Live Oak Point; the mail Texas.