Vol 26 No. 10 - July 1949

Mrs. Mary White, Pioneer Mother

J. Marvin Hunter, Sr.

Account of the life of Mr. and Mrs. Phillip White, who settled in Llano county in 1888. The family lived in Liveoak county until 1888, when they moved to Llano county, and established their home on a ranch there, where their children were reared. While living in Liveoak county Mrs. White endured all of the privations and hard-ships of pioneer life. Living on a small ranch, far from neighbors, it often happened that she was left alone with her small children, for two or three weeks at a time, while her husband was away working with cattle or at the roundups. Prowling Mexican bandits sometimes came through the country on raids, murdering and robbing people, and on different occasions she was compelled to cook meals for these bandits. She often related to her children the dread and terror of those times. She bravely faced the situation, and though helpless and at the mercy of the raiders, she bore her dread and fear with fortitude, and resolution. Here is her story. Contains photo of Mrs. Ida Rhodes

Mentions: the Boynton brothers * The children of the family then were Emma (we all called her Valrie) , Ida Gertrude, Jimenson Edmond, Reagan Wallace, and Oliver (Ollie) L. White * M. A. Dees * Flag Creek * James Russell Rhodes * Ponca City, Oklahoma * Jimenson married Leola Ludwick * Brady * Reagan married Beulah Rhodes * Oliver married Clara Louise Becken * Phillip White and Mary Kiziah Faris * Atlee, Montana * Mr. and Mrs. Peter White * Miss Mary Kiziah Faris * Jimeson White * Oakville * Fairfax, Oklahoma *

Early Day Transportation

A. M. Hartung

Account describes the major forms, dangers and methods of frontier transportation.

Mentions: the Oregon Trail, or northern route * the Santa Fe Trail * Russell, Majors & Waddell * General George Custer * Southern Overland Mail Stage Line * the Butterfield stage* Ben Holliday * Promontory Point in Utah.

Trouble With Apaches In New Mexico

Account was written by Captain James H. Cook, who was one of the noted scouts and Indian fighters of the early days in the West. In this account he describes some of the Indian troubles in New Mexico, particularly with the dreaded Apaches.

Mentions: the Big Horn Mountains * Keller Valley, on the San Francisco River * Silver City * Mr. Harold C. Wilson * the W S ranch * Deming * Dan Tucker * Judge McComas * the Mogollon Mountains * Apache chiefs, Mangus. Colorado, Cochise, and Victorio * the Geronimo outbreak * Socorro and Grant counties * the S U ranch * San Carlos and Camp Apache * Alma * Charlie Moore * Alma and Cooney mining camps * Calvin Orwig and Nat Luse * the Deep Creek trail * Eagle Creek trail * Lieutenant Gatewood * Captain Crawford * Captain Emmett Crawford * Jim Cook * Captain Allen Smith and Lieutenant Parker * Devil's Park * Mr. Stallworth * Fort Bayard * Major General W. H. Carter * Blue Creek * Major S. S. Sumner, Lieutenants W. S. Fountain, A. G. Hammond, DeR. C. Cabell, and C. W. Farber, and Drs. T. J. C. Maddow and Francis J. Ives

General Houston As a Wooer

Joseph Martin Dawson

Nothing in the transcendent career of the Homeric General Houston, creator of the Texas Republic, governor of Tennessee and Texas and illustrious United States Senator, was half so dramatic as his love affairs. If George Washington was jilted three times by Colonial girls, if Abraham Lincoln was snubbed by the first girl he courted, if Miles Standish was refused by Priscilla for the meek Jack Alden, if Bismark was declined by a proud English girl who looked down upon the Prussian soldier, if William Pitt wanted Lady Eleanor Eden and when she would not have him he remained a bachelor, "married to his country," Houston fared even worse with the fair sex, yet lived to win marital happiness. It was love that caused his downfall, and it was love that set him up again, and enabled him to show the greatest comeback in all history. Here is the story.

Mentions: Rockbridge County, Virginia * Hiwassee * Oolootekah * Chief Jolly * Kalanu * Talihina * the Doughertys, Galpins, and Adairs from Ireland, the Rosses, Vanns, and MGillivrays from Scotland * Rev. Gideon Blackburn * a British officer of the Revolution, named Rogers. * the great Sequoya * Galunlati * the Raven Mocker * the Battle of Tohopeka, Horseshoe Bend * General Andrew Jackson * Col. John Allen * Will Tyree * Oolooteekah * Eliza Allen * Chief Jolly * Congressman Stanbery of Ohio * William Penn * The Rev. Z. N. Morrell * Dr. Mayo * Deacon McIntosh * Talihina Rogers Houston * Dr. Irion. Houston * Othelo * Dr. McLean * Colonel Christy * Margaret Lea * Dr. Rufus C. Burleson * Dr. William A. Allen.

The Work of The Beaver

Benjamin Franklin Highsmith

Maude Wallis Traylor

Account of the life of Benjamin Franklin Highsmith, the son of Ahijah M. and Deborah Turner Highsmith, was a descendant of a long line of Indian scouts and rangers, as was his wife, the daughter of Adam Turner. In their veins flowed the blood of America's best. The Highsmiths came from England and settled in the Virginia-Carolina section long before the American Revolution, going later to Kentucky before it became a state.

Mentions: Utopia, in Uvalde county, Texas * Somerville Expedition * Jack Hays * Captain Miles Standish and Edward Doty * Molly Standish * The Winslow Turner family * Molly (Standish) Turner * Femme Osage * Ahijah M. Highsmith and Winslow Turner * Joshua N. Robbins * Joseph Cottie and Stephen Woods * Highsmith's father, Ahijam * the St. Charles District * Moses Austin * DeWitt's Colony * the Zadock Woods and Stephen Cottle families * Elliot C. Buckners * Old Caney * James Bowie, William B. Travis, Ben McCulloch, Winslow Turner and Samuel Highsmith * Captain Elliot C. Buckner * Velasco * Leander Woods and Andrew Castleman * Croft's Prairie * John Sowell * Colonel James C. Neill * Captain John Alley * Colonel John H. Moore * Mission Conception * Colonels Fannin and Bowie * Richard Andrews * Dick Andrews * the "Grass Fight." * General Somervell * General Edward Burleson * Colonel Ben Milam * Colonel J. C. Neill * Frank W. Johnson * Sam Evitts * James Belden * Deaf Smith * Veramendi House * Colonel Ben Milam * John Harvey * Captain Ware * Colonel James C. Neill * Cibolo Creek * Powderhouse Hill near San Antonio * David B. Kent * Colleto Prairie * Mrs. Dickinson * Winslow Turner * President David G. Burnet * Captain Lynch * Captain Juan N. Seguin * chiefs, Bowles and Big Mush * Dr. Venters * the Coleman family * General Ed Burleson * Captain James Rogers * Brushy Creek * Jacob Burleson * Jack Walters, Ed Blakey, and James Gilliland * Linnville * Peach Creek * Victoria Prairie * Plum Creek * Colonel Bell * Z. N. Morrel, * Nueces Canyon, Pinto Trail Crossing, Enchanted Rock, and Bandera Pass * Sergeant Kit Ackland * the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterrey, and the final Buena Vista * Resaca de la Palma * Captain J. S. Sutton * Elizabeth, the daughter of Adam Turner * J. W. O'Brien, and Mary Deborah * J. M. O'Brien * Blanket Creek * James Bowie, Thomas J. Rusk, William B. Travis, Ben Milam, Jack Hays, P. H. Bell, Ben McCulloch, Stephen F. Austin, James W. Fannin, Deaf Smith, M. B. Lamar, Ed Burleson and Asa, John, and Andrew Sowell * Jacob C. Trask * L. W. Kemp * Thomas Borden

The County Fair

Description of County fair in pioneer Texas days by Alex E. Sweet and J. Armoy Knox. 

Mentions: Sam Johnson * Dick Williams * Deacon Long-Suffering Simpson * Landreth's Almanac * the Duke of Hereford

Waco--A Leaf From Its History

Account is the history and origins of Waco, written in 1875.

Mentions: Those old fortifications or earth-banks north of Austin street, in the neighborhood of Dr. McDonald's and extending up-hill as far as Mr. George Barnard's * Mr. George Barnard

The Storm of 1886

“The year of 1886 was one of very light rainfall over Southwest Texas, until August 20. The night of August 19 was intensely warm, so warm one could scarcely sleep indoors, but about five o'clock next morning a blue-black cloud was seen rising from the Northeast, as Texas wet northers often do; but this cloud rose rapidly and its velocity increased with each gust of wind until trees were broken off or uprooted, fences were blown down, fields laid bare, crops destroyed and houses demolished...”

Mentions: Mr. Erve Chaney, an Old Trail Driver of Texas * the Chaney ranch house...