The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, Volume 11, Number 1, November 1975

Book of historical articles about Texas counties and towns and important historical figures.

Transcribed text (first 80 of 124 pages)

_The following text was extracted via OCR from the digitized scan held by The Portal to Texas History (UNT Libraries). OCR can introduce errors, especially on handwritten material; the canonical record links to the original scan._

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THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL i/ox audita pFirit, LEttera is-ipta manet. BICENTENNIAL EDITION

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THE TEXAS GULF

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL SOCIETY Post Office Box 1621 Beaumont, Texas 77704 by The Texas Gulf Historical Society Single Copy $5.00 Nederland Publishing Company Nederland, Texas 77627

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Lamar Staff Photo At the July 2 groundbreaking ceremonies for the Mamie McFaddin Ward School of Health Sciences at Lamar University, two members of the Texas Gulf Historical Society, Dr. John Ellis Gray and Mrs. Ward, peruse the architect's drawings of the new structure.

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THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Ida Brice Hunter Acker George Thompson Adams, Jr. Gilbert Timbrell Adams, Jr. Gilbert Timbrell Adams, Sr. Judith McMahon Adams Luther Iler Adams Viola Joss Adams William Jason Brinson Adams Edile Hart Alexander Clytie Carroll Allen Mary Anna Crary Anderson Alice Laura Hunter Austin Allene Orgain Bachman Cordelia Carter Ball Hattie Belle Bass Clarence Russell Bell, Jr. Katherine Walker Bell Caliste Boykin Benckenstein Elaine Lock Benckenstein Fred Lock Benckenstein Charlsie Elizabeth Berly Isaac Franklin Betts Oweta Stallings Betts Gladys Topping Bevil Lamar Clay Bevil Margaret King Blanch William Theodore Block Kathleen Lamb Brittain The Hon. Jack Bascom Brooks Dorothy Downs Broussard Edna Maher Broussard Joseph Eloi Broussard II Rita Estelle Broussard James Tillman Brown Phoebe Bone Brown Constance Beatrice Burnaby McDuff Johnson Burrell Ruth Taylor Buskirk Charles Thompson Butler Joiner Cartwright Loretta Broussard Casey William Hilliard Caswell, Jr. Doris Wood Catrett Mary Reed Cecil Ola Mae Mixon Chapman Alma Reed Chastain Russell L. Chatham

Clara Russell Chenault William Blewett Chenault Mary Edna McKallip Crawford Walter Joshua Crawford Rosa Dieu Block Crenshaw Pauline Priddie Cunningham Jean Houston Daniel The Hon. Price Daniel Vara Faye Martin Daniel The Hon. William Partlow Daniel Beatrice Kinsey Davis Alva Augustus DeLee Rita Pohl DeLee Louise Priddie Donovan Gerald Purcell Doyle, Jr. Genevieve Broussard Dutton James Hiram Eastland Margaret Murphy Ezzell The Hon. Joseph Jefferson Fisher Kathleen Clark Fisher Jack Ligon Fletcher *Mary Weed Fletcher Dorothy Zapp Forristall Elizabeth Park Funchess Henry Bascom Funchess, Jr. Bennette Craig Germain Jennie Mae Reid Gieseke Carroll Berly Gorham John Ellis Gray Dorothy Fontenot Green John Michael Green Helen Stuart Griffin Lee Gerald Griffin Kathryn Manion Haider Jewell Harned Annie Lee Woodfin Hebert Eloise Chaison Holland Henry Allen Hooks Alexine Crawford Howell Virginia Collier Howell Lois Cunningham Irby Andrew Jay Johnson Betty Holmes Johnson Donald Charles Kelley Mary Wilson Kelsey Mary Kennedy DiVernon McFaddin Kibodeaux

(Continued on Page 4)

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THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Emil Conrad Krimmel Ill Carol Tyrrell Kyle Wanda Cruse Landry Elodie Hebert Langham Watson Finley Langham Alberta Russell Livesay Thyrza Head Looney Madeleine Dey Martin Katharine Bordages Matthews Perry George Matthews Maude Bollinger McCarty Maude Gober McCullough Martin McDonough James Lewis Caldwell McFaddin Rosine Blount McFaddin Verna Hooks McLean Jean Graham McNicholas Alyce Jane McWilliams David Mayer Middleton Ellen Boddy Middleton John Gregg Middleton Eleanor O'Brien Moor Georgia Estill Morrison John Joseph Morrison Harold Edward Mortimer Lucille West Mortimer Ethel Cruse Mouton Violette Wiggins Newton Helen Palmer Norvell Lipscomb Norvell Chilton O'Brien Erin O'Brien Edward Greer Omohundro Joseph Roger Omohundro Benjamin Darby Orgain Lucy Dade Orgain May Bollinger Orgain Jack Broocks Osborne Virginia Cunningham Oxford Lois Williams Parker Anthony McDade Phelan Cornelius M. Phelan, Jr. Katherine Huey Phelan Otho Raymond Plummer Joanne Polk Thomas Edwards Leonidas Polk Gladys Harned Quilliam *Life Member

Cooper Kirby Ragan Tassie Polk Ranninger Mary Lipscomb Reed Mittie Johnson Robertson Miriam Widman Rowley Frances Hugas Russell Victor Russell Adeline Salter Priscilla Townsend Shepherd William Smythe Shepherd Joyce Tillery Simpson Rufus King Simpson John Junker Spencer Seawillow Ward Stafford Jeremiah Milton Stark Eunice Stevens Stephens Donald Allen Streater Miriam McReynolds Taylor John Baxton Thomas Lorice Ficken Thomas Pam Palmer Tillery The Hon. John Goodwin Tower Helen Hebert Travis Lucy Southworth Turner Catherine Sullivan Tyrrell Harry Frank Tyrrell, Sr. Ruth Emory Tyrrell William Casper Tyrrell, Jr. tTyrrell Public Library Charles Smyth Walden, Jr. Charles Smyth Walden, Sr. Louella Ward Walden Charles Ray Walker Mamie McFaddin Ward Marie Broussard Weir Peter Boyd Wells Kyle Wheelus, Jr. Margaret Collier Wheelus Bessie Roberts White Olga Keith Wiess Callie Mae Coe Wilson Rosine McFaddin Wilson Waldo Wilson Regina Broussard Wood Ralph Ancil Wooster Jesse Edmund Worden Kathleen Sightler Yellott tCorporate Member

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THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL SOCIETY Mr. J. Roger Omohundro, Founder

The Hon. Joseph Jefferson Fisher Miss Erin O'Brien .............. Mr. William Jason Brinson Adams Mr. Thomas Edwards Leonidas Polk Mr. William Theodore Block.... . Mr. Joseph Roger Omohundro ... . Mrs. Ruth Taylor Buskirk ....... Mr. Charles Thompson Butler ... . Mr. James Hiram Eastland ...... . Mr. Charles Smyth Walden, Jr. ... . Mrs. Lamar Cecil Mrs. Wesley W. Kyle, Jr.

.........Recording Secretary & Corresponding Secretary ..............Sergeant-at-Arms Members at Large Executive Council

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEE THE CONSTITUTION Mrs. Gilbert T. Adams, Chairman Mr. Gilbert T. Adams, Chairman, Mrs. Lamar Cecil ex officio Mrs. John P. Howell Miss Charlsie Elizabeth Berly Mrs. Hubert B. Oxford Mrs. Gladys Harned Quilliam Mr. Isaac Franklin Betts, Program Chairman

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TGH Archives irdit 161anchiette Mcpaonaughi With the passing of Mrs. Birdie Blanchette McDonough on March 1, 1975, the Texas Gulf Historical Society acknowledges the loss of another of its founding members.

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THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD The Texas Gulf Historical Society

Volume XI November, 1975 Number 1 Groundbreaking Ceremonies at Page Lamar University (picture)............ ..............2 Officers and Committees ................................ 5 Birdie Blanchette McDonough (picture) .....................6 Wreath-laying at Chaison Monument (picture) ........................... 10 French-American Patriot of the Revolution: Jean Baptiste Chaison ... PART ONE ... Charlsie E. Berly ... 11 Jefferson County and The Annexation of Texas .......Ralph A. Wooster ........30 Record of The Board of Aldermen of The Town of Beaumont, 1860-1861 ..................... 44 Beaumont in the 1850's: Extracts from The Writings of Henry R. Green . H. R. Green. 49 (annotated by W. T. Block) Southeast Texans in the War For Texas Independence ........ W. T. Block ....... .9 Charles Cronea of Sabine Pass: Lafitte Buccaneer and Texas Veteran ...... Reprint .......91 Birdie Blanchette McDonough ......................... 96 Ralph Fred Ramos .......................:.......... 99 Cecil Keith Easley .................................. 102 Acquisitions by the Curator ............................. 106 Proceedings - Fall, 1974, Winter 1975, Spring 1975 ..........112

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Ralph Ancil Wooster, who is Regents' Professor of History at Lamar University, has long been a member of the Texas Gulf Historical Society and a contributor to the Society's journal. For many years, he served as a vice president of the Texas State Historical Association and is currently the immediate past president. A native of Baytown, Dr. Wooster received his Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Houston and his Doctor's degree from the University of Texas. He is a specialist in the history of the Old South, the American Civil War, and nineteenth-century Texas. He joined the Lamar University faculty in 1955 and for several years was head of the university's Department of History. Dr. Wooster has three published volumes, namely, The Secession Conventions of The South, The People in Power, and Texas and Texans, the latter written in collaboration with Dr. Adrian Anderson. A fourth volume, Politicians, Planters, and Plainfolk: Statehouse and Courthouse in The Upper South, will be released by the University of Tennessee Press late in 1975. In addition, he has contributed more than fifty articles to scholarly publications, and a partial bibliography of his writings appeared in the Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, VII, 8-10. Dr. Wooster holds memberships in numerous historical societies and has earned a wide and enviable reputation as an historical scholar and public speaker. Charlsie Elizabeth Berly, retired Professor of English at Lamar University, is a native of Beaumont and a founding member of the Texas Gulf Historical Society. A former editor of the Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record and a member of the editorial board, she has labored tirelessly to improve the Record's quality as an historical journal. In addition, she has held several administrative offices in the Society and is currently a member of the Committee on the Constitution. A specialist in the Renaissance period of English literat re, specifi- cally Shakespeare, she obtained the Bachelor of Arts degree from Randolph-Macon Woman's College, the Master of Arts from Southern Methodist University, and completed four summers of post-graduate study at the University of Texas. In Canada she attended special lectures in Shakespeare under a program of McMaster University. She taught for two years at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, where she became personally acquainted with the French- American culture of the "Attakapas country." During her twenty-two

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CONTRIBUTORS (Continued)

year career at Lamar University, she directed the 1964 Shakespeare Festival, a campus and community celebration of the 400th anni- versary of the famed dramatist's birth. Her memberships and areas of interest have included the Renais- sance Society of America, the Medieval Academy, the Shakespeare Association of America, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and. the Beaumont Heritage Society. From 1971 to 1974, she was Bicentennial chairman of the Colonel George Moffett Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. Miss Berly's paternal ancestry includes Littleton Long, who enlisted in the Continental Army as a sixteen-year-old soldier from North Carolina. His son, Davis Long, migrated to Beaumont in 1865 and became a founding partner in the Long and Company saw and shingle mills. Her great grandparents, Joseph Alexander Carroll and Martha Elizabeth Long Carroll, were also identified with the early Beaumont and DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, lumber industries. Richard Long (b. 1591), the first Long antecedent in North America, was an original land-owner in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. William Theodore Block, a native of Port Neches and the Society's editor, retired in 1972 as assistant postmaster in Nederland. He is currently on the Lamar University staff as supervisor of the univer- sity's contract post office. He received his Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from Lamar University, respectively, in 1970 and 1974. Mr. Block's area of interest is limited to research and writing in the field of the nineteenth-century history of the upper Texas Gulf Coast counties. His M. A. thesis, "A History of Jefferson County, Texas, From Wilderness to Reconstruction," is in the process of publication and will be released by the printer in 1976. An account of his genealogy in early Texas and Southwest Louisiana appeared in Volume VII of the.Record. To the extent that information is available, the life and times of Henry R.. Green, a Galveston News correspondent and one of Beaumont's earliest teachers, are sufficiently recorded in the text of his letters and the accompanying footnotes. The editor regards him as Beaumont's "first historian." The editor gratefully acknowledges the contributions of Charlsie Elizabeth Berly and Joseph Roger Omohundro, whose frequent suggestions, proof-reading, and advice have earned for them the status of co-editors, in deed if not in name.

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Courtesy of C. E. Bery Two members of the Texas Gulf Historical Society, Clara Russell Chenault and Alberta Russell Livesay, place a wreath at the memorial monument of Jean Baptiste (Jonas) Chaison, located adjacent to the Temple to the Brave in Pipkin Park, Beaumont, Texas. Mrs. Chenault and Mrs. Livesay are great-great-granddaughters of Chaison, the only American Revolutionary veteran buried in Jefferson County.

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FRENCH-AMERICAN PATRIOT OF THE REVOLUTION: JEAN BAPTISTE CHAISON (CHIASSON) by Charisie E. Berly "Oh, brave new world, That has such people in 't!" (V.i. 183-184) "We are such stuff William Shakespeare, The Tempest PART ONE I. The New World Just prior to April 19, 1975, the historic day which marked the 200th anniversary of "the shot heard 'round the world" on Lexing- ton green, President Gerald R. Ford had officially proclaimed the beginning of the American Revolution Bicentennial. A period of special observance, it is our birthday celebration of the independence declared and determinedly achieved in time by the Thirteen Colonies along the Atlantic seaboard as they dissolved the political bands that connected them with Great Britain. At this significant time, as we, the people, reflect on the sequence of momentous events that brought to birth this great republic, it is appropriate that we should acknowledge a continuing debt of gratitude that is ours. It is, of course, to those who, statesman and soldier, enlisted man and volunteer, for one reason or another and in a variety of ways, served the American cause and contributed to our national heritage of freedom. On the great fundamental principles enunciated by our statesmen in the Declaration of Independence and defended by our military and allies, in the War of Independence, the cornerstone of American freedom was laid. Thenceforth, forward marched Ameri- cans, building step by step a structure which, in time, was to become "bulwark and beacon of the free world."1 After the victory at Yorktown and subsequently the formal surrender of Cornwallis, October 19, 1781, the War of the American Revolution . was drawing to a close. Washington sent the Continental Army marching northward to winter quarters, while Rochambeau and 'Bruce Lancaster, The American Heritage Book of the Revolution, Richard Ketchum, ed. (New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., 1958), p. 368.

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12 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD his French troops were quartered at Williamsburg. The French fleet, in the aftermath of its timely and decisive action, sailed away, only to suffer the irony of defeat awaiting it in the West Indies. By the end of 1782 the prospects of peace were promising, and in the following spring General Washington received a letter from Lafayette in France, telling of the signing of a preliminary treaty of peace. On April 19, 1783, the eighth anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, Washington published the glad news of peace to the Army. Soon the closing scenes were at hand. The troops were disbanded; the men dispersed.2 The record is that among those veterans of the War of Inde- pendence who emigrated west of the Mississippi River to seek lands and homes, refuge or fresh opportunity in a free, expanding country, there are more than thirty-six who died and were buried in Texas.3 The purpose, at present, is to honor one of these, one who lived more than fifty years of his long life in the upper Gulf Coast region and made the soil of Jefferson County his final resting-place. Soldier of the Revolution, Jean Baptiste Chaison (Chiasson), dit Jonas, has become a legend to our ears - a North-American patriot of French extraction whose life-story, though yet fragmentary, has long awaited research and written record. It will be found that his life, more complex than is generally known, belongs to the early story of the New World - the English, French, and Spanish struggle for coloniza- tion and supremacy; the American revolutionary effort in the cause of political independence and human rights; and the westward movement and expansion of America. 2Hugh F. Rankin, The American Revolution (New York: Capricorn Books, 3Estimate made in a brochure published by the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission of Texas, Sam Kinch, Sr., chairman, Austin. The Texas Freemason, Vol. XIII, No. 5 (May, 1975), 13, lists 37 names and grave-sites, as follows: Abston, John (Collin County); Adams, James (Orange); Anderson, Bailey Nacogdoches or Harrison); Anderson, Benjamin (Nacogdoches); Bain, John Unknown); Bowen, Bean (ballas); Chaison Jonas (Jefferson); Clark, Benjamin Red River); Collins, James (Red River); Delafield, William (Harrison); De Se aume, Joseph (Austin); Hickman, Theophilus (Jasper); Hill, Moses (Sabine); Hodge, Alexander (Fort Bend);Hog Thomas (Cherokee; Holmes, Thomas Jasper?); Hughes, Micajah (Morris); Landrum, Zachariah (Montgomery); Lemmon James (Dallas); Manning, Mark (Walker); Moore, Isaac (Liberty); Parker, John (Limestone); Polk, Charles (San Augustine); Quirk, Edmund (San Augustine); Rankin, Robert (Liberty-Travis?); Seale, Josua (Ja ); Shannon, Owen (Montgomery); Simpson Isaac (Nacogdoches); Srs, William Nacogdoches); Strickland, David (Red River); Stells Jeremiah (Red River); Thomas Ezekiel .(Shelby); Thompson, James (Morris); tice, Richard (Unknowns; Tinsley,' James (Montgomery or Walker; Williams Stephen (Jasper); Wrightmen, Benjamin (Matagorda). For an article on Stephen Williams (Jasper), see Beaumont Sunday Enterprse-Journal, August 17, 1975, p. 9-A.

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FRENCH-AMERICAN PATRIOT OF THE REVOLUTION: 13 JEAN BAPTISTE CHAISON The investigation for this paper has produced a substantial body of well-documented fact which, it is hoped, will tend to amend the legend and stabilize the valiant life-story of our veteran of the Revolution. There are several obstacles, nevertheless, that impede the biographer. First, there is the absence of uniformity in the spelling of the name which poses difficulty in identification. In its earliest form in Canada, the French surname was generally spelled Chiasson. Variations of this occur as Chicoine, Chicouagne, Chicoesne.4 Well into the 1800's, in Louisiana the spelling was slightly changed to Chaisson, but by the pens of Englishmen and Spaniards this might be written Chiacon, Ciasson, Siason, Chisan, and such. In Texas, finally, the name became Chaison, or Chesson in its phonetic variation. There are but three forms, however, which the subject himself probably approved in the early, middle, and late periods, respectively, of his life: Chiasson, Chaisson, Chaison. During this writing, therefore, the form shall be changed to correspond with the spelling seemingly in personal use at the time being discussed. A second difficulty comes from the fact that there is an absence of Jonas' own personal records. According to the family tradition, Jean Bte. Chaison, in his declining years and at a time when he was moved by provocation to anger, perhaps by his sons, called upon his grandson, young Jef Chaison, to help him build a bonfire in the backyard. Then, to the flames (instead of to his children) he consigned his personal papers, including his records.5 Primarily, this means to us the loss of specific facts and a close personal view of the man that might have been attained through records of his life. It means also an accretion of legend based on oral tradition, and a want Third, there is the loss of military and civil records pertaining to himself, some of which cannot be replaced. Official military service records for the Revolutionary period are fragmentary because many 4 L'Abbe' Cyprien Tanguay3 Dictionnaire Genealogique Families Canadiennes, Vol. III (Montreal: Eusdbe Senecal and Fils, 1887), 64-65. 5The incident, related by Thomas Jefferson (Jef) Chaison from childhood recollection, is taken from the family papers, which begin on firm ground with McGuire Chaison, youngest son of Jonas and father of Jef. The papers are in the custody of a great-great-granddaughter of Jonas, Mrs. Alberta Chaison Russell Livesay, who has commissioned Mrs. Pauline Rankin, Beaumont genealogist, to trace the Russell-Chaison lineage, and in so doing she is making a contribution to the family records. The traditional incident just cited was recorded by Mrs. Rankin in recent years. She thinks young Jef was about seven years old at the time, which would make the date about 1846 and the setting Jefferson County.

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14 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD were destroyed, along with pension applications and bounty land warrants, in fires which ravaged Government buildings in Washington, on November 8, 1800, and again in 1814, when the British Army ransacked and burned buildings.6 The telling of this life-story, therefore, will necessarily resemble the making of a mosaic from documented fragments that are brought into coherent relationship to trace out the image of a man. In areas of missing confirmation, the background upon which the figure takes its form may suffice to give continuity and suggest the life. II. The Gravesite On the west bank of the Neches River, where the waterway curves its course into the port of Beaumont before pursuing the deep channel toward the Gulf, there stands a small stone chapel that bears the inscription "Temple to the Brave."7 Its setting is a triangular fragment of grassy lawn, no larger than a folded pocket-handkerchief, cut from the yardage of Pipkin Park by the intersection of Orleans Street. On national holidays Old Glory is unfurled, the Temple is faithfully opened and attended by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and along with sightseers come students, eager to explore the interior of the structure and its museum contents.8 An object of no less interest than the Temple is a grave-marker of red granite, diminutive in size but placed beside it, and inscribed as 6Leaflet No. 7 National Archives and Records Service, General Services 7The Temple to the Brave, on Riverside Drive, was designed by Wallace B. Livesay, Sr., architect, and constructed in 1931 under the leadership of the Colonel George Moffett Chapter, DAR, assisted by school children and a host of patriotic citizens whose names are inscribed in a book on display in the building. A memorial to American soldiers in all wars, the structure is built of Colorado red granite derived from the Yount quarry in Manitou and donated by Mr. Frank Yount, a philanthropic citizen of Beaumont before his untimely death. An interesting fact is that from the superfluous blocks of granite ordered for the base area of the Jefferson County Courthouse the Temple was constructed. In recent years, ownership and custody of the Temple has been assumed by the City of Beaumont, Department of Parks and Recreation, and the DAR has 8A living symbol of this faithful, continuing service by DAR was Mrs. G. Harry Shepherd, Regent, 1958-60, 1970-72. 9In lieu of the life-span dates which were unknown, approximate dates of the military service were given. These should be 1775-1783. The life-span was

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FRENCH-AMERICAN PATRIOT OF THE REVOLUTION: JEAN BAPTISTE CHAISON

REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER JONAS CHAISON Placed by the Col. George Moffett Chapter Daughters of the American Overlooking the headstone, an elm tree once stood, marked with a bronze plate bearing the inscription, "Under the parent of this tree Washington first took command of the American Army, July 3, 1775." The tree, planted some years ago by the Colonel George Moffett Chapter, DAR, unfortunately did not thrive and in 1972 it was reduced to a stump, which remains. It is popularly known that this is not a grave but a modest memorial, and that Jean Baptiste Chaison, along with others in the Beaumont community, was interred in the old Jirou Cemetery, now extinct, but once situated on the north side of Gladys Street, in a block of ground lying between the intersections of Mariposa and Oakland streets.10 In time natural processes took their toll of insubstantial wooden markers, and even trees which served as the 10Doubt has been expressed that Jonas Chaison ever lived or was buried in Beaumont. (Cf. Beaumont Sunday Enterprise-Journal, August 17 1975, p. 9-A.). Among the family papers there is an affidavit signed thus, "Chas. J. Chaison, Edith -Fuller Chambers Mrs. A. T. McDonough," and notarized thus, "21 May 1944, Bert Russell, Notary." The place was The State of Texas, Jefferson County and the undersigned were attesting to the following statement: "That it is a well-known fact that the Revolutionary Soldier, Jonas Chaison was buried in the old Jirou Cemetery on Gladys Street Lots 11 and 12, Block 30, Jirou Addition to the City of Beaumont, Texas. That they each remember seeing the grave and having it pointed out to them." Accompanying this paper is another which lists 42 graves in the Jirou Graveyard as follows: "James R. Alexander, John Booker Jonas Chaison, McGuire (haison, Mrs. McGuire Chaison (Eliza McFaddin), John Chaison, Elias Benedict Gilbert, Mrs. Abel Allen Allis (Mary Elizabeth Dutton) Sebastian Dutton Allis, W. P. Herring, Mrs. W. P. Herring (Sarah McFaddin),Willie Herring, John Herring, Mrs. [N. S.] Haltom, Mrs. H. S. Janes, J. M. Jirou, Mrs. J. M. Jirou, Gussie Jirou, Infant Jirou, Louise Jirou, Joe Jirou, Mrs. Joe Jirou, Fennell Junker, Anthony Junker, Isaiah Junker, Wilse Junker, Mrs. Wilse Junker, Ophelia Junker, Anzie Junker, Clara Junker Ada Junker, Pearl Junker, Mrs. Isaiah Junker, Dr. W. T. Simmons, Mrs. W. 'T. Simmons Noah Tevis, Patsy Trahan, Leo Trahan, Camile Trahan, Joseph Trahan George 'rahan, Mary Trahan." This list has also the names and addresses of relatives who were living at the time the list was compiled and who no doubt assisted by naming the Jirou interments from their own family groups. A granddaughter of Jonas, Sarah Chaison, married Joseph Jirou and may be the Mrs. Joe Jirou named above.

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16 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD means of identification of graves died or were removed.11 The aggressive progress of men outdistanced their milder efforts to reclaim the graveyard, and in time graves were grown over, unnamed, and beyond the memory of a younger generation. At length, plans were made by the Colonel George Moffett Chapter, DAR, to mark the Revolutionary War patriot's grave. Accordingly, on May 30, 1944, a ceremony was held on the general location, but in the absence of a gravesite, the Chapter placed the marker between sidewalk and curb, on city property, where it stood undisturbed until 1969. The conditions that led to the removal of the marker to Pipkin Park are noteworthy. By 1969 a Negro playground and a church had been constructed on the cemetery location, and in the process of improvement of the property by the building of a driveway, workmen uprooted the grave-marker, casting it aside to be disposed of. One who chanced to pass that way, noting the threat to the marker, took measures to intervene.12 Accordingly, the City of Beaumont promptly retrieved the memorial and placed it in Pipkin Park, beside the elm tree and the Temple to the Brave. Now, on the occasion of our nation's Bicentennial, the Colonel George Moffett Chapter and the City of Beaumont, acting jointly are repairing and refurbishing the Temple as well as appropriately improving the memorial to our Soldier of the Revolution. III. The Legend To make acquaintance with the living man, we turn first to the present-day descendants of Jean Baptiste Chaison, a group of which are Beaumont citizens, substantial and highly regarded, who comprise the fifth and sixth generations of Chaisons who have succeeded Jonas.13 The want, however, of family data related to their forebear 11Cf. Colonel George Moffett Chapter, DAR, Yearbooks (bound), Tyrrell Historical Library Beaumont, Texas, Vol. III, Miss Alberta Russell, "Revolutionary Soldier." 12Mr. Jack Walker at that time head of the Paul Revere Chapter SAR, notified Mrs. Murray hzzell, Regent, DAR. I am indebted to Mrs. Ezzell for a first-hand knowledge of the events surrounding the Temple to the Brave and the moving of the marker. 13The Chaison family members who presently reside in Beaumont are the following: Mrs. Wallace B. Lives Sr., Mrs. William Blewett Chenault, Sr., Jef Chaison Russell, Sr., Jef Chaison Russell, Jr., Brandon Chaison Bryan Brandon Chaison Bryan, Jr., Miss Mary Katherine Bryan Mrs. C. Elery Holland, and Jef David Chaison. Among the family members deceased in recent times, whose names are a part of the history and development of the Gulf Coast region, are both Mr. and Mrs. Charles J. Chaison and Mrs. Jean Chaison Houk. There are members of two younger generations who do not live in Beaumont.

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FRENCH-AMERICAN PATRIOT OF THE REVOLUTION: 17 JEAN BAPTISTE CHAISON is not surprising, especially when it is recalled that he destroyed his records and personal papers. Furthermore, in any current household it would be indeed a singular exception to the rule to find primary records five or six generations old. In relation to Jonas Chaison, there are no letters, journals, certificates of birth or marriage, in the keeping of the family. There is, however, the Chaison Family Bible, but it begins with Jefferson Chaison (1839-1897), grandson of Jean Baptiste, and there are family recollections of traditional facts, often repeated, that tell that their ancestor came from France, fought with Lafayette in the Revolution, acquired lands in Louisiana, and lived to a very old age. As one family member has said, these memories have come through the channel of Jefferson Chaison's mind as he remembered his grandfather from childhood and recounted his recollections to his children and grandchildren, who in turn kept them alive by retelling. There was the passing of a hundred years (less one decade) from the time of Jean Baptiste's death in 1854 until the family's oral story of his life was committed to written record. At length, on May 30, 1944, at the dedication and placing of the Chaison memorial on the site of the old Jirou Cemetery, a great-great-granddaughter, Mrs. Wallace Livesay, presented the following biographical sketch, which she had written as a summation of the oral story but which must now be studied:14 Young Jonas Chaison was born in Paris, France, about the year 1758. He was the second son of a well-to-do family and, being the second son and not the first, he was not allowed to participate in the affairs of the family exchequer. His mother and father both died and he was living very unhappily with an uncle, so when he was in his early teens he decided to run away and seek adventure. During those years French fishing boats went regularly to the fishing banks near Nova Scotia where fishermen often stayed months at a time before returning to their homes in France. Jonas sailed on one of these small boats and remained in Nova Scotia for When he was about seventeen years of age he joined Lafayette's army as they were gathering forces to aid the Americans in their fight for freedom from England. He fought throughout the war. When victory was assured, all of Lafayette's men who wished to 14Colonel George Moffett, DAR, Yearbooks (bound), Vol. III, loc. cit.

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18 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD settle in this country were offered tracts of land in Louisiana, in payment for their services in the army. Jonas decided to stay in America and accept land in and around what is now Crowley, Later he married and had fourteen children. The youngest was McGuire Chaison, who migrated to the Neches River Valley which was later Beaumont, Texas. Some years later Jonas Chaison, the Revolutionary Soldier, moved to this section also. Jonas lived to be very old and when he died was buried here in the old Jirou Cemetery. This was about the year 1852. His son McGuire married Eliza McFaddin and both McGuire and Eliza were buried in this Because of the changing conditions that led to this written record, so long delayed and dependent upon the memory of individuals, it should not be accepted without question, nor should it be thus rejected. Our procedure is to examine it. A defect in the story which readily meets the eye is the statement which attributes to Lafayette the leadership of a French army of volunteers who rallied to defend the American cause against the English. The Marquis de La Fayette, to be sure, came to mean to Americans the symbol. of the French-American Alliance and indispensable French allies, not to mention a youthful leader of exceptional genius and influence who embraced the American cause with fervor and invested his personal powers and fortune toward its success. But neither historians nor his biographers tell us that Lafayette raised or led an army, or even a French regiment.15 He insisted that he would receive no compensation and that he would commence, his services as a volunteer. He was commissioned by the American Congress, July 31, 1777, a major general in the Army of the United States, but without command.16 A youth of nineteen and zealous to serve, he had come to America in 1777 at the solicitation of Silas Deane, the American commissioner in Paris. Having purchased and equipped a ship, the Victoire, for the journey, he landed on the coast of South Carolina, accompanied by a little band of personal friends who joined him in proceeding to Philadelphia to apply for 15For the French military, see Les Combattants Francais de la Guerre Americaine, 1778-1783 (France: Ministtre des Affaires etrangeres). 16Congress was beset with the problem of appointing foreigners to supersede Americans. Moreover, Lafayette was very young and was willing that his assignment of service be entrusted to General Washington's judgment.

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FRENCH-AMERICAN PATRIOI' OF THE REVOLUTION: 19 JEAN BAPTISTE CHAISON army enlistment.17 The point must be made, however, that Jean Baptiste Chaison could very well have fought with Lafayette, for the major general served with acknowledged distinction at Brandywine Creek, in the retreat in the expedition against Rhode Island, at Monmouth Court House, in Virginia during a period when he had a special command, and at Yorktown in command of a division. The un- historical aspects of the family story are the offshoot of a related truth. As for the rest of the Lafayette statement - that all who fought under him were offered tracts of land in Louisiana as payment for their army service - it appears again that this has no foundation in fact but probably shows confusion with a later land grant, or with bounty inducements. In 1824, some forty-one years after the Treaty of Peace, and likewise following the French Revolution in which he also heavily invested his wealth, the Marquis de Lafayette, invited by a resolution of Congress, revisited America for more than a year's duration (July, 1824 - September, 1825) and was received with great popular acclaim.18 As the gift of a grateful nation, the sum of $200,000 and a township of land were awarded him by Congress. His dear friend Thomas Jefferson, writing to him from Monticello on January 16, 1825, spoke thus of the gift:19 I congratulate you on the testimony of gratitude you have lately received from Congress, and that it was with scarcely a shadow of 17Louis Gottschalk, Lafayette Joins the American Army (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1937), pp. 1-42. Besides Lafayette, there was a German-born but self-made French gentleman, Baron Dekalb; an American companion, Ed- mund Brice; and there were thirteen French officers who had contracted with Silas Deane to join the Continental Army. "Lafayette was the only prominent member of the court nobility who had been permitted to 'volunteer' in the American cause before the alliance [1778 ]. But after the alliance they went to America in large numbers with the king's army." Louis Gottschalk, Lafayette and the Close of the American Revolution (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1942), p. Early in 1780, Lafayette returned from a visit to France and brought intelligence that a French fleet, with an army on board had sailed to America, and also that there might be expected soon a supply of arms and clothing from the same source . . . . A French fleet, consisting of seven ships of. the line, and also frigates and transports, at length appeared at Newport (July, 1780). This was the first division, consisting of six thousand land troops. To avoid disputes that might arise from military etiquette, General Comte de Rochambeau their commander was instructed to put himself under the command of Washington. Cf. Jacob Ii. Patto ed., The History and Government of the United States, Vol. 18Charlemagne Tower, The Marquis de La Fayette in the American Revolu- tion, second eition, Vol. II (New York: Da Capo Press, 1970), 468. 19Gilbert Chinard, ed. The Letters of Lafayette and Jefferson (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1929), p. 428.

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20 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD opposition. The relief from your debts will give you nights of sound sleep and the surplus, I hope, days of ease and comfort through the rest of your life. You will have where you are better advice than I can give you on the question whether it will not be advisable to. keep the stock in your own hands and in its original form. There can be no safer deposit on earth than the Treasury of the United States. Replying to Jefferson in a letter headed "Norfolk Boat, January 26, 1825," Lafayette remarked on the gift of money and land:20 Your Kind Advice Respecting the placement of My Money, Very Consonant with My own inclination, Has Been put in practice By the kindness of the president and directors of the U. S. Bank where I Had Deposited $120,000 for which they Gave me U. S. Stock at 4 % - paiable in Paris. And to Satisfy Your friendly Concern in My Behalf, I will add that the Money So placed insures to each of My Children a little More than 200,000 francs which they will find after me .... As to the Lands, I will See whether it is Better to- keep the whole township, or what is More Agreeable to the people of Whatever, Country it May Be placed Upon, to Sell one Half By Alternate Lots, and place the Money of that Half So as to Assist in Marriage Arrangements [for his grandchildren?] ... . He had been generous to the detriment of his own family.21 Now, over forty years after the American Revolution, he was planning to help them by use of the money and lands. Those land-holdings of Jean Baptiste Chaison which this paper is able hereafter to document had no relation to Lafayette, nor were they bounty land grants awarded for military service.22 Proceeding further with examination of the family story, we concern ourselves with the place and date of birth. Reference to the population census tables for Jefferson County, Texas, where Chaison last made his home, reveals in the 1850 census the listing of the 21".. . he spent 1,033,000 livres from 1777 to 1783, of which only about 300,000 livres were for purposes not directly related to America. A livre could buy then roughly about as much as an American dollar today." (Gottschalk, Lafayette and the Close of the American Revolution, p. 421). 22For an instance of confused public statement about Lafayette's visit and the land grant, see Beaumont Sunday Enterprise-Journal, August 17, 1975, p.

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FRENCH-AMERICAN PATRIOT OF THE REVOLUTION: 21 JEAN BAPTISTE CHAIN household (No. 254) of McGuire Chesson [ChaisoniJ.23 The family names, ages, and places of birth are listed as follows: McGuire Chesson, 41, farmer, $1,348 in real estate, born in Louisiana; Eliza Chesson [wife], 30, Louisiana; Jefferson Chesson, 11, Texas; Sarah Chesson, 9, Texas; James Chesson, 6, Texas; Caroline Chesson, 4, Texas; John Chesson, 1, Texas; John B. Chesson, 105, tobacco raiser, Halifax, N. S. Thus, Jean Baptiste Chaison was living in the household of his youngest son, McGuire, in Jefferson County, in 1850, at the age of 105 years. His place of birth, as stated by the spokesman for the household, was Halifax, Nova Scotia (not Paris, France), and the year 1745 would have been the date of birth. We ask, How dependable and accurate is the census record?24 Jefferson Chaison's age of 11 years in 1850 agrees with his birth date of 1839, as recorded in the family Bible. McGuire Chaison's age of 41 years in 1850 agrees with his death date on documentary record as November, 1859, and his age as 50 years.25 The difference in place and date of birth, as presented by the 1850 census for Jefferson County when compared with the family legend, has substantial support, to be presented hereafter. In passing, however, let us move into the sphere of identification and comment by Chaison's contemporaries. First, there is his identification with Halifax in the church registration of his daughter Aimee's birth, March 15, 1801. The parents are here given as "Chiasson (Jean Baptiste of Alifax and Marie LeBlanc)."26 Second, there are the 23United States Manuscript Census Schedules of 1850, Jefferson County, Texas, reprinted in The Texas Gulf Historical and Bioaphical Record, Vol. VII, 2 (May, 1972), 128-129. Cf. Mary McDaniel Withers, 'The Acadians of Jefferson County, Texas," The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, Vol. VII, 1 (November, 1971), 42-48. In this article the author, making use of the 1850 census calls attention to the listing of John B. Chesson and the statement of his birthplace as Halifax, N. S. About the same time, in November, 1971, I made a Bicentennial report to the Texas DAR, in which I called attention to the same information about the patriot. 24Ibid., Preface, p. 64: "The use of census rolls for historical purposes must always be tempered with caution . . . . the value of census schedules varies according to the diligence and assiduity of the enumerator. In this respect the Jefferson County historian for the year 1850 is fortunate: the enumerator for that year, United States Assistant Marshal Worthy Patridge, applied himself with vigor." But he did misspell Chaison. 25Mortality Schedules of Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas, Schedule III, Page 2, Persons who died during the year June, 1859 -June 1860: No. 14 McGouir Chishon, age 50, died November [18591, farmer, ill 15 days, cause of death: flux. 26St. Landry Catholic Church, Opelousas, Louisiana, vol. 1 p. 250. Cf. Rev. Donald J. Hebert Southwest Louisiana Records, Civil and Church Records of

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22 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD recollections of Joseph Pivoto, of Wolf Point, or Nome, as recorded by T. J. Russell in his Beaumont Journal column, June 13, 1908. Joseph Pivoto, then a resident of Jefferson County for sixty years, had said, according to Mr. Russell, that he was "well acquainted with Jonas Chaison, the old soldier of the revolution of 1777, the only Continental soldier of said war whose body rests in the soil of Jefferson County."27 Thus, this personal acquaintance of Jonas Chaison during the last years of his long life identified him as a Continental, not a French, soldier. Pivoto knew the Chaisons, for he goes on to recall that when his family members moved to Jefferson County, "the first of the resident citizens to call upon them were McGuire Chaison and John J. Jirou, . . . both Frenchmen."28 The Pivotos themselves were of French extraction, having emigrated from France in 1785 and settled in Louisiana, in the Attakapas area. Along with the Russell "Reminiscences," two other publications of the early 20th century, published in Beaumont and presenting short biographical sketches of Chaison, must be looked into with an eye alert to discern any remarks by his former contemporaries. In both publications, however, the thumbnail sketches report various facets of the somewhat unhistorical and unstable legendary story,29 the nucleus of which, in summation, is as follows: birth in France; coming to America with Lafayette and an army to assist the Colonies in the War of the Revolution; settlement in Louisiana, with land grants deriving from Lafayette or the government in recompense for military service; marriage and a family of fourteen children; migration to Jefferson County, Texas, in old age, to live with a son, McGuire; death at age 110 years, and burial in the old Jirou Cemetery, Beaumont. Let it be said again that some of this agrees with historical truth and some of it is, as the attempt has been to show, a deviation from that truth, not a deliberate and irresponsible twisting of facts, but the kind of difference that comes with individual and oral recitation. So far as I am aware, the data contained in the first two paragraphs of the family story, recorded in 1944 - that is, the difficulties encountered by the young man in obtaining his 27T. J. Russell, "Pioneer Reminiscences of Jefferson County," Beaumont Journal, June 13, 1908. 28Idem. Mrs. Withers, op. cit., says that the Pivotos (or Pevitos) were Acadian. 29The Standard Blue Book of Texas, 1908-1909, Edition de Luxe of Beaumont (Houston: A. J. Peeler Standard Blue Book Company of Texas), p. 72. Florence Stratton, The Story of Beaumont (Houston: Hercules Printing Co.,

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inheritance from an older brother and in living with a harsh uncle, and the adventure to Nova Scotia with a fishing fleet - have not been treated by others. Perhaps they were not generally known before 1944 nor have been hereafter. The first holds the suggestion of an effort, in recording an oral tale, to be logical, to establish cause-and-effect, to employ deduction in relating scattered memories. (This may even belong to an earlier generation, Jonas' father.) But, just as in other parts of the legend, along with the accretion of "logical" details there is a shadow of historical truth, so here the data may have a relevance that is not presently apparent, especially the experience with the fishing fleet. IV. The Letter Recent research into the lives of veterans of the American Revolution has brought to light a major source of information about the life of Jean Baptiste Chaison which has reposed in library archives for years and now is being presented, so far as I am aware, for the first time.30 The value of this finding, for which I can claim the honor of its release and use,31 derives from the fact that the paper, written by a contemporary of the old soldier for current publication, presents the closest view that we have of his life, in point of time - as early an account of biographical data as the recollections of his grandson, but unlike those, in written record, not transmitted orally, and more comprehensive in its coverage. Written by a friend of Chaison's in 1855, one. year after the old man's death, it is a belated memorial that strove to honor his life. It takes the form of a letter written from Georgetown, Texas, to the editor of the Texas State Times, an early Austin newspaper, by whom it was published on December 29, 1855. The omission of the writer's name after the printed life-sketch, though disappointing to posterity, was probably withheld by the editor on the same principles that would be observed for any memorial in today's paper. At the 30Texas State Times (Austin), December 29, 1855, p. 2, c. 5: in Texas State Library, Archives Division, Austin, Texas. The article appears, with deletion of minor passages, in Biographies of Leading Texans, Part I, same archives. 310n November 3, 1971, in a letter which I received from Ann Patton Malone, research historian, American Bicentennial Commission of Texas, my attention was called to this article on Chaison, and a copy of it (having some minor deletions) was enclosed. My Bicentennial report on this patriot, sent to the Texas State DAR, had been called to the attention of Mrs. Malone, who was beginning research on the Texas veterans of the Revolution in relation to plans to mark the graves. In August, 1972 a photocopy of the undeleted article was obtained by Mrs. Rankin for the family papers, andI, too, have a copy.

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24 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD outset we are made aware that the writer considered the "veteran soldier" a public figure to be honored, even after a year's delay, and the fact of his lingering memory of Chaison, though not productive of a timely memorial, lends credence to their friendship, not ties of Through the eyes of this letter, apparently of one outside the continuing family circle, the view of our subject gains dimension and objectivity. It affords details, moreover, that, being recorded, have not been changed or lost in the telling. But for all this, the story here presented must undergo close study:32 John Baptiste Chaison Georgetown, Dec. 1st, 1855 Editor of the "Times." - I have seen no notice in any of the public prints of Texas, of the death and character of the veteran soldier, John Baptiste Chaison, and therefore ask the insertion of the following, in your most excellent paper: John Baptiste Chaison was a native of Nova Scotia, of French parentage, and was born August the 7th, 1745, and during the French war, he, with his parents, was taken prisoner by the English, and upon the cession by France of all her northern settlements in America to Great Britain, they disdaining to become subject to British rule, emigrated in the year 1763 to France, where his parents died of smallpox a short time after their arrival. He remained in France but a few years until he heard of a probable revolution of the North American Colonies, and burning with revenge against Great Britain - fired with patriotism and the love of liberty, he returned to America to assist the patriots in their struggle for liberty. He took a most active part in our Revolutionary struggle - was under Gen. Benedict Arnold at the siege of Quebec, where fell the immortal Montgomery, with his two aid de camps, and distinguished himself by his intrepidity and daring in the desperate attack made upon that place upon the morning of the 31st of December, 1775. He was under Gen. Sullivan at the battle of Germantown, and under LaFayette at Brandywine in the Autumn of 1777. When the theater of the war changed to the South, he with unabated and unflinching patriotism, followed it. He was under Greene and Marion at the 32Texas State Time (Austin), December 29, 1855, p. 2, c. 5, loc. cit.

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FRENCH-AMERICAN PATRIOT OF THE REVOLUTION: 25 JEAN BAPTISTE CHAISON battle of Eutaw Springs, where he was wounded, was with LaFayette at the siege of Yorktown, participated in the battle, witnessed its whole progress, and the surrender of Earl Cornwallis which he frequently described in after life with accuracy and deep pathos to his anxious neighbours and friends who were accustomed to group around him to listen to his stories of the Revolution. The siege of Yorktown and surrender of Cornwallis was one of his chief themes. He described the surrender as one of the. most solemn and imposing scenes he had ever witnessed, and Cornwallis as a man of the most noble appearance, commanding bearing and deportment, clothed with the deepest grief, and humiliating mortification. He, with all his officers, indulged freely in tears with every manifestation of the most bitter disappointment, while the father of his country with the noblest generosity and goodness of soul, used every exertion to render defeat sufferable to the afflicted Britains [sic]. He was a man of remarkable memory, and in all his stories of the Revolution, gave the names of all the officers - time and place of Battle, together with the part which each took in attacks, retreats, etc., through the whole war. After the disbandment of the army by the government, he removed to Louisiana, and settled west of the Mississippi river in the neighborhood of the Broom Corn Church, where he remained until his removal to Jefferson County, Texas, A. D. 1832. He took the deepest interest in the Texas Revolution, though his age prevented him from taking any active part in the camp or field. He was a man of strict honesty and integrity, and was beloved by all who knew him. His neighbors used him as a living history of the Revolution, and the times that tried men's souls. In all the relations of father, husband, citizen and soldier, he performed well his part and though dead will ever live in the hearts of all those who knew him, and especially those who were intimate with his eventful life. He combined with his strictly moral and honest character, the purest religious purity, and perfect charity, and ever manifested the deepest gratitude to a kind and beneficent Providence for conferring upon him a long life of health and strength, clothed with every needed blessing. He retained to a most remarkable degree, his health and strength of both* mind and body, up to the very time of his death, and was frequently known to take his gun and go out hunting, and kill a deer a very short time before his death.

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26 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD He raised a family of fourteen children, survived the partner of his bosom twenty-seven years, and finally closed his mortal exis- tence at the residence of his son, McGuire Chaison, in the county of Jefferson, Texas, on the 20th July, A. D. 1854. He was engaged with a friend in conversation upon the mercies and goodness of God that had accompanied him all the days of his life, spoke of his great age, remarked that his life was but a taper, that would soon burn out and admit him to a brighter and better world than this, turned over in his bed and breathed his last - was dead - having attained the great age of one hundred and eight years, eleven months and thirteen days. The first questions that come to mind upon reading this full and eventful life-story are, Who might the writer and friend have been? How well did he know Chaison, and how did he come to this knowledge? Any reply to these queries at this late date is a venture into speculation and nothing more. But it may be reasonable speculation. Most assuredly we are looking for someone who lived in Georgetown in 1855 but had been in a position earlier to become well acquainted with Chaison, as man and veteran soldier. Further- more, our writer must be a man of well-educated mind, such as the composition of this letter reflects in spite of the unhistorical reference to Cornwallis' presence (discussed hereafter) at the sur- render of Yorktown. A likely candidate for authorship would be James R. Armstrong. A trained attorney by profession, he practiced law in Jefferson County from 1840 to 1848, and again, from 1866 to 1879. In the interim, between 1848 and 1866, he lived in Georgetown, Texas. Born in Kentucky in 1811, he came to Jasper County, where he lived until 1840. In 1836 he served for six months with James Chessher's Jasper Volunteers. In 1837 he served one term as the first district attorney for the Fifth Judicial District of East-Texas. In 1839 he was Jasper County's Representative to the fourth Texas Congress. In 1845 he was Jefferson County's Representative to the ninth Texas Congress and was in the legislature until 1848. He signed the Texas joint resolution on annexation to the United States. He died on December 22, 1879, in Jefferson County. A close friend of James Armstrong was David H. McFaddin, an early Jefferson County sheriff and a nephew of the well-known James McFaddin of Beaumont, who in 1855 was Armstrong's neighbor in Williamson County, where he owned a ranch. When we recall that McGuire Chaison's wife was Eliza McFaddin, a first cousin of David McFaddin, we can account for

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Armstrong's knowledge of Jonas Chaison's death through his friend David. It seems less likely that the belated and somewhat effusive memorial would be the writing of David McFaddin, almost a family member, than that of James Armstrong, a family friend, whose years in Jefferson County (1840-1848) would have put him in a position to know the veteran soldier well.33 At any rate, whether or not we can identify the writer, the letter remains valuable as the written record of a contemporary friend who is knowledgeable concerning his subject, disinterested in motive, comprehensive in his coverage of the life, and currently public with his record. Continuing a study of the memorial letter, we note immediately the statement that John Baptiste Chaison was a native of Nova Scotia, of French parentage, and was born August 7, 1745. This agrees precisely with the 1850 population census report for Jefferson County, which we have cited in this paper as a record that Chaison was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and in the year 1745, inasmuch as his age was recorded as 105 years in 1850. This letter completes the birth date for us as August 7. A further identification of Chaison with Halifax, which we have pointed out, was on the birth registration of his daughter Aimee, where the father, Jean Baptiste Chiasson, was said to be "of Alifax." This threefold evidence, found in written records which represent unrelated sources, all of which should be responsible, does not agree with the traditional story, so long transmitted orally, that he was born in Paris, or in France, "about the year 1758." How Nova Scotia became France I cannot say, but I believe we may be assured on the basis of these disinterested records that Jean Baptiste Chaison was a North American by birth, that Halifax, Nova Scotia, was the specific place, and 1745 the year. There is agreement between legend and letter that his parents were of French extraction, but the substance of the second paragraph lends further confirmation to his native Acadian setting, as does also the allusion in the legend to the fishing banks of Newfoundland show an affinity for the same locale. The experiences of the family present 33For biographies of James Armstrong, see Galveston Weekly News, January 15, 1880; Biographical Directory of the Texan Conventions and Congresses (Austin: 1941),pp. 44-45. For proof that Armstrong and McFaddin resided as neighbors in Williamson County, see the Manuscript Census Returns of 1860, Schedule I Population, Williamson County, Texas, residences 368, 370; ibid., Schedule IV, Products of Agriculture, Reel 2, p. 15, residences 35, 36. Following the deaths of their respective spouses in 1879, McFaddin and Armstrong's widow Cordelia were married in 1881. See "Veteran McFaddin Fought at San Jacinto," Galveston Daily News, October 17, 1896. (I am indebted to W. T. Blook for the suggestion of James Armstrong.)

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28 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD a general conformity with the Acadian pattern, in Canada and through- out the Louisiana period, as will be shown. The war record here outlined is the only evidence we have of his service in the Revolution with the exception of the legend's general statement that he served with Lafayette and fought throughout the war. Aside from the fact that he could not have joined an army led by Lafayette, nor could he have served under Lafayette at Brandywine (for Lafayette was not in command), the two sources of information present no conflict in respect to the war. The unhistorical reference to the formal surrender of Cornwallis amid signs of his own disappointment, grief, humiliation, may have been the result of the veteran soldier's advanced age at the time of the recorded story-telling. In the Jefferson County period of his life, Chaison's age was 93-108 years. While the surrender at Yorktown had indeed been a moving and memorable event, the fact that Cornwallis was "indisposed" that day and sent a substitute, General O'Hara, may well have become a confused recollection. Even the letter-writer himself repeated the story without correctly recounting his history.34 Chaison's migration to southwest Louisiana after the war, his having a family of fourteen children, the removal to Jefferson County, Texas, to live with his son McGuire, and his death at an age well above one hundred - all are facts common to legend and letter, but the details vary in some respects. The letter states specifically that the date of migration to Texas was 1832, while the legend offers no date. Since Chaison planned to live with his son, he must have followed McGuire, for whom there is the record of a statement made under oath that he, McGuire, first came to Jefferson County, Texas, on May 15, 1838.35 Both letter and legend mention that Chaison had fourteen children, but research into southwest Louisiana church registrations of birth and baptism has revealed eight children for Chaison (including a set of twins), but fourteen for his son and namesake, Jean Baptiste Chaison, Jr.36 In 1783, when the war ended, Chaison was thirty-eight years of age and apparently not yet married. He would not have had a family of fourteen children. (The children will be treated specifically hereafter). At a very old age Chaison died, 35Minutes, Board of Land Commissioners, Jefferson County, Texas, 1838-1842 p. 173: McGuire Chesson was one of three hundred land applicants who signed sworn affidavits declaring their dates of arrival in Texas.

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FRENCH-AMERICAN PATRIOT OF THE REVOLUTION: 29 JEAN BATISTE CHAISON according to the legend,37 about the year 1852, while, according to the letter, he had attained the great age of 108 years, 11 months, 13 days, when he died on July 20, 1854. The letter-writer was recounting the age just one year after the old soldier's death, and for the memorial, to be published in the Austin paper, he would have verified the date of death. Finally, the letter abounds in what is felt to be sincere compliment to the old man's remarkable strength, colorful and useful life, moral and spiritual integrity, and zeal for liberty. As a veteran soldier, he was a public figure, one in appreciation of whom others would wish to share.38 But Jean Baptiste Chaison was also a private figure, an uncommon common man. His long life-span rolls out before us in the acceptable fragments of legend and letter, to chart a modern epic, a story of the New World - that of a man in quest of freedom and a Let us explore the journey. Because of the length of the paper, Part Two will be presented in the next issue of this journal. 37Cf. William Henry Perrin ed. Southwest Louisiana, Biographical and Historical (New Orleans: Gulf publishing Co., 1891), p. 36. Perrin quotes D. Dennett, Louisiana As It Is (New Orleans, 1891) who discussing longevity in St. Landry Parish, La., says, 'Joseph :[sic ] Cheasson, alias Joannes [Jonas ],died several years ago in this parish at the advanced age of nearly- one hundred and thirty years. When he was one hundred and fifteen years old he moved to Texas, and after living in that state several years returned to St. Landry." Mr. Dennett's attribution of 130 years to Jonas Chaison and a considerable amount of old-age peregrination is an example of the growth of the legend. 38In the deleted form of the letter, there are three omitted passages: the unhistorical Cornwallis account, the passage of characterization, and the deathbed

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JEFFERSON COUNTY AND THE ANNEXATION OF TEXAS Ralph A. Wooster The victory of Sam Houston's small army of Texans over the larger forces of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna on the field at San Jacinto in April, 1836, assured Texas of the independence declared the previous March at Washington-on-the-Brazos. Following the negotia- tions with the defeated Santa Anna at Velasco, ad interim President David G. Burnet took steps to organize a permanent government by calling for national elections on the first Monday in September.1 In these elections Texans would be asked to vote not only for national and local officers and to ratify the Constitution written at Washing- ton-on-the-Brazos, but also to instruct their government in regard to the issue of annexation by the United States. The prospect of being linked to the United States .had been on the minds of many Texans during the war for independence.2 While most historians and scholars now reject the thesis that independence and annexation were part of a southern conspiracy to add additional slave territory to the United States,3 most agree that annexation to the United States was the desire of most early Texans. Like other citizens of the new Republic, residents of Jefferson County in the corner of southeast Texas were enthusiastic in their support for annexation.4 Returns for the September 5, 1836 election show that 54 of the 58 persons voting in the county favored 1Stanley Siegel, A Political History of the Texas Republic, 1836-1845 (Austin, 2The origins of the annexation movement need further historical investigation. While it is generally agreed that most early Texans favored annexation, little has been written of a specific nature on the subject. The standard source on annexation, Justin H. Smith, The Annexation of Texas (Reprint; New York, 1971), is strangely silent on the subject. 3Seymour Connor Texas, A History (New York, 1971), 118-122, has a convenient analysis of the historical debate over the causes for independence and 4Segmour Connor, "The Evolution of County Government in the Republic of Texas Southwestern Historical Quarterly, LV (October, 1951), 163-200, describes the transformation of early Texas municipalities into counties. The finest study of the early history of Jefferson County is W. T. Block "A History of Jefferson County, Texas From Wilderness to Reconstruction" (M.A. thesis, Lamar University, 74). See especially pp. 50-88 for the development of the county during this period.

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annexation. Four voters, all of whom were Jefferson County residents on active duty in the Texas Army and stationed at Gonzales, did not express themselves on the issue of annexation or the constitution.5 All residents from Jefferson who voted in the election favored both annexation and the Constitution of 1836. There was division, how- ever, on the choice of a President. All those Jefferson residents voting at the James Dyson box favored Sam Houston, as did also four Jefferson voters who cast their ballots at Dimits Landing, apparently in Lavaca County.6 At the box in Claiborne West's home, however, seventeen voters favored Stephen F. Austin, while only fifteen voters cast their ballot for Houston.7 Mirabeau B. Lamar, running un- opposed for Vice President, received all but one vote in the county. The sentiment for annexation in Jefferson County was similar to that throughout the state. The official count by the Congress of the Republic showed 3,277 for annexation and only 91 opposed.8 The Constitution was also adopted by an overwhelming vote and Sam Houston and Mirabeau B. Lamar were chosen President and Vice President, respectively. As President of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston sent William H. Wharton and Memucan Hunt to the Unifed States to press for 5The manuscript "Result of Votes of the Citizens of the Municipality of Jefferson Assembled at the house of Jas. Dyson's September 1836 at an Election for President Vice President, Senator & Representative for Congress, for and against [illegiel for annexing Texas to the United States," in the Texas State Archives, Austin Texas, lists by name, domicle, and vote, twenty-six individuals who participated in the election. All but two or three were Jefferson County settlers on active duty in the Texas Army. The majority were serving in either Captain F. Hardin's company or Captain B. F. Harper's company and were stationed at such points as Austin Gonzales, and Dimit's Landing near Lavaca Bay. Four of the men from Gonzales are not recorded as voting on the question 6James Dyson a saddler from Mississippi, was a pioneer settler in Jefferson County . See Bloc "History of Jefferson County" 76,and W. T. Block and W. D. Quick, (eds.), '"he 1850 Manuscript Census Schedules for Jefferson County," Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, VII (May, 1972) 122. The returns from Dimits Landing are attached to the manuscript returns listed above at Dyson's house. 7Manuscript "List of Votes Taken at an Election held in the County of Jefferson at the house of Claiborne West on Monday the 5th day of September 1836 for President and Vice President of the Republic of Texas," in the Texas State Archives, Austin, Texas. Claiborne West, a merchant from Cow Bayou, served in the consultative convention of 1835 and in the convention of 1836. See Louis W. Kemp, Signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence (Salado, 8The figures for annexation were later revised upward with the simple notation the vote was "almost unanimous." See Journals of the Senate of the Republic, First Congress - First Session (Columbia, 1836), 11, 25.

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32 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD both recognition and annexation. Recognition was attained in March, 1837, when President Andrew Jackson appointed Alche LaBranche charge d'affaires to the Republic of Texas, but annexation was a more difficult matter. Hunt formally presented the request for annexation to. United States Secretary of State John Forsyth on August 4, 1837. Three weeks later Forsyth answered, stating that treaty obligations with Mexico prevented the United States from considering the subject. Southern friends of Texas introduced resolu- tions in the Congress for annexation in early 1838, but encountered bitter opposition from northern congressmen, particularly former President John Quincy Adams, concerned over the presence of slavery in Texas.9 Congress adjourned in July without taking action on the subject. In October, Texas formally withdrew the offer of Most Texans were disappointed that .the United States did not move favorably upon annexation, but accepted the reality of the political situation in the United States. Dr. Stephen H. Everett of Jasper, who represented the district consisting of Jasper and Jefferson Counties in the Texas Senate, was a leader of those in the Texas Congress who believed that, once rebuffed by the United States, the new Republic would best be served by a withdrawal of the request for annexation. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Everett presented the resolution instructing the President of Texas to withdraw the proposal for annexation,10 a move with which both the President and his current representative in Washing- ton, Anson Jones, concurred.11 The subject of annexation was pushed into the background during the years 1838-1842. Mirabeau B. Lamar, President of the Republic of Texas from 1838-1841, was himself an ardent Texas nationalist who saw few positive benefits from annexation. Martin Van Buren, chief executive of the United States, 1837-1841, was little interested in annexation and had no desire to antagonize anti-slavery elements in the North. The question of annexation continued to be discussed in Texas but with no real enthusiasm. A resolution authorizing the President to treat with the United States relative to annexation was 9Smith, Annexation of Texas. 63-67. 10Journals of the Senate of the Republic of Texas, Adjourned Session - Second Congress (Houston, 1838), 11, 13, 56. A biopaphical sketch of Everett may be found in Kemp, Signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. 11Anson Jones, Memoranda and Official Correspondence Relating to the Republic of Texas, Its History and Annexation (Reprint; Chicago, 1966),

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introduced into the Senate of the Texas Congress in 1841, but was tabled without a vote being taken.12 The elevation of John Tyler to the presidency of the United States following the death of William Henry Harrison was a favorable omen for those desiring annexation. An ardent southern expansionist, Tyler proceeded cautiously on the issue at first, but in October, 1843, instructed American officials to reopen the subject. During the fall and winter months of 1843-1844 discussions between the Texas representative in Washington, Isaac Van Zandt, and American officials proceeded slowly. To some Texans the delay in the negotiations was frustrating. On December 18, 1843, Dr. Frederick W. Ogden, who represented Jefferson County in the House of Representatives of the Eighth Congress, introduced a joint resolu- tion for annexation into the Texas Congress.13 This proposal touched off a debate over the question of annexation, with the House adopting a resolution that the President of Texas transmit to the Congress all correspondence pertaining to annexation.14 President Houston, who once again was chief executive of the Republic, responded that he could not turn over all such papers because of confidential matters that might be jeopardized by publication.15 Critics of the administration continued to push for more rapid action, but Representative Ogden's original motion pertaining to annexation was defeated by a 25-7 vote on February 5, 1844.16 A Senate resolution providing for the appointment of an additional agent to assist in the negotiations in Washington was passed on the 12Journals of the Sixth Congress of the Republic of Texas, 1841-1842. Vol. I, Senate Journal, ed. Harriet Smither (Austin, 1940), 160, 185, 189 197. Jefferson County was represented in the Senate of the Sixth Congress by Thomas D. McFarland, a 33-year old surveyor and land developer. Ibid., 360 fn., and Weekly Texian, February 16, 1842, and Biographical Directory of the Texan Conventions and Congress, 1832-1845 (Austin, 1941), 130. In his Journal covering the period 1837-1840, McFarland does not even mention the subject of annexation. See A Journal of the Coincidences and Acts of Thomas D. McFarland ..., Frederick C. Chabot (San Antonio, 1942). 13Journals of the House of Representatives of the Eighth Congress of the Republic of Texas (Houston, 1844), 39. Frederick W. Ogden born in Kentucky in 1808, had settled in Beaumont in 1838. W. T. Block, "HIistory of Jefferson County, '137, points out that although Ogden was trained in both medicine and law, he practiced only the legal profession in Jefferson County. See also T. J. Russell 'Pioneer Reminiscences of Jefferson County," Beaumont Journal, June 14Journals of the House of Representatives of the Eighth Congress of the Republic of Texas, 60, 71.

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34 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD same day Ogden's bill was defeated in the House.17 This additional agent, J. Pinckney Henderson, was appointed shortly thereafter and journeyed to Washington where he assisted Van Zandt in the successful negotiation of a treaty in June.18 Unfortunately for those desiring immediate annexation, the treaty was defeated in the United The American presidential campaign of 1844, however, revived the hopes of those supporting annexation. James K. Polk, the Democratic nominee, won the election on a platform dedicated to the annexation of Texas. President John Tyler interpreted the Polk victory as a mandate for annexation and placed the subject before the American Congress when it reassembled in December, 1844. In late February, 1845, Congress passed a joint resolution providing for the annexation of Texas on the condition that annexation be approved by the people Even though there had been embarrassment and some bitterness expressed when the treaty of annexation was defeated, most Texans favored acceptance of the joint resolution of annexation. While a few leaders, including newly elected President Anson Jones, toyed with the idea that Texas might best protect her interests by treaties with Mexico and other foreign powers, the majority of Texans felt otherwise. Separate public meetings held in April at Beaumont, Sabine Pass, and Green's Bluff indicate that citizens in Jefferson County were united in their support for annexation. The full text of these meetings is published below: ANNEXATION MEETING OF JEFFERSON COUNTY HELD AT THE TOWN OF BEAUMONT ON THE 12TH APRIL 184520 The meeting was organized by calling F. W. Ogden,21 Esq. to the 17G. A. Pattillo of Jefferson County was chairman of the Senate Committee on Enrolled Bills in the Eighth Congress. It was Pattillo who certified the bill had been properly enrolled and passed by the House. See E. W. Winkler ed., Secret Journals of the Senate, Republic of Texas, 1836-1845, in Texas Library and Historical Commission First Biennial Report, 1909-1910 (Austin, 1911), 302. For more on Pattillo, see Block, "History of Jefferson County," 129-130. 18Smith, Annexation of Texas, 165-179; Siegel, Political History of the Texas 19Siegel, Political History of the Texas Republic, 243-245. 20Reprinted from the Houston Morning Star, May 6, 1845. 21Ogden, mentioned previously, had represented Jefferson in the Eighth

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chair, and appointing Alexander Calder22 Secretary; when the fol- lowing men were appointed by the chair to act as a committee to draft resolutions expressive of the sentiment of this meeting - James W. Baldridge,23 Alexander Calder, William P. Herring,24 and Isaiah Junker;25 and on motion, the chairman was added to said com- The meeting then adjourned until Saturday, the 19th inst., at 2:00 Saturday, 2 o'clock p.m. According to adjournment, the meeting organized, F. W. Ogden in the chair. Your committee with respect represent that they have had under consideration the objects contemplated by the meeting for their deliberation. They humbly beg the indulgence of the same when they take in view their incompetency to perform and do justice to the weighty matters involved in the subject, when they attempt to suggest their views upon some points connecting with the subject of 1. BE IT RESOLVED. That we view the annexation of our free and independent nation to another alike free and independent, by mutual consent of both, without compromise of honor in either, or sacrifice of interest, as an act unparalleled in the annals of history, the accomplishment of which those cradled and nurtured in the lap of liberty only, are capable of, or competent to perform. 2. BE IT RESOLVED. We look upon annexation to the American Union as a measure paramount to all other considerations. In it we 22Alexander Calder, a native of New York, was clerk of the Jefferson County court during the 1840's. See Block, "History of Jefferson County," 133-134. 23Rev. James W. Baldridge was the first Methodist circuit rider to reside at Beaumont. Houston Morning Star, January 6, 1844, February 11, 1845. 24William P. Herring, born in Georgia, came to Beaumont in 1838. For nearly twenty years he operated a mercantile store. His assets were only $4,754 in 1850, but were 151,000 by the time of his death in 1859. Block, "History of Jefferson County,' 134. 25Isaiah Junker was a Beaumont blacksmith during the 1840's. He was subsequently a merchant, state representative, and county chief justice. Ibid.,

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36 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD have a sure guarantee of our persons, property, institutions, and perpetuations of our sacred liberty, so dearly purchased by the blood of freemen, which above all others is a boon we desire to transmit unsullied to posterity. 3. BE IT RESOLVED. That we use all honorable means to aid, assist, and advance the measure until we effect a final consummation; and at this time we view with jealousy any attempt by foreign potentates to aid in obtaining our independence from Mexico, or other propositions made favorable to us as an independent govern- ment, as calculated to thwart our brightest prospects, and lure us from our best interests by severing in fact as well as in name, the citizens of this Republic from their natural inheritance by birthright, from becoming a member of that great sisterhood of States com- posing the American Union. That we will reject all offers and receive them as insults offered to our understandings, and by so doing teach tyrants that freemen know how to choose between liberty and slavery, or protection and tyrant's chaos. 4. BE IT RESOLVED. That the Resolutions passed by the Con- gress of the United States as a basis upon which annexation can take place, we view as highly honorable to both nations and founded upon the broad basis of justice and equal rights; and union upon these principles we consider as calculated to extend the blessings of knowledge and freedom to our posterity, the only safeguard against encroachments by foreign powers, and finally the overthrow of all our institutions. 5. BE IT RESOLVED. That paramount to all other con- siderations, we view the annexation of this Republic to the United States as the only means of perpetuating liberty to mankind, inasmuch as a failure of being annexed, we directly come within the grasp of the Lion's paw, and give him a hold upon the Western and Northwestern frontier of the United States, and will ultimately result in the final overthrow of the best and brightest hopes of the human race, will extract the life blood from the tree of liberty, and cause her branches to wither, and finally crumble into anarchy and 6. BE IT RESOLVED. That we have confidence in the intelligence and integrity of our member to Congress (now in the United States) and request that he immediately return to this Republic, and that he use and exert all his influence in aiding and assisting to carry into effect our wishes herein expressed. Also that the President of this Republic is most respectfully requested forthwith to convene Con- gress, that through that channel of the people of this Republic may

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be heard in their loud and unanimous response in favor of the adoption of Resolutions passed by the Congress of the United States, and in the exercise of its judgment, we confidently believe and earnestly request the use of all lawful and legitimate means to further our wishes and interests, believing them to be the interests of an overwhelming majority of the people of this Republic. 7. BE IT RESOLVED. That we request the editor of the TELE- GRAPH and all others favorable to annexation to publish the proceedings of the meeting in their papers. Also that these sentiments (though humble and unadorned) are the honest conviction of the unanimous voice of the people of this county, and we wish them not contaminated by an insertion in the columns of the TEXAS NA- TIONAL REGISTER. The foregoing Resolutions and Preamble were unanimously On motion, the meeting adjourned sine die. F. W. Ogden, Chairman Alexander Calder, Secretary PUBLIC MEETING AT SABINE PASS26 At a called meeting of the citizens of the City of Sabine held on Monday evening, April 7, 1845, the Meeting was organized upon motion of N. F. Smith,27 by calling W. C. V. Dashiell, Esq.,28 to the chair and M. H. Nicholson29 to act as Secretary. On motion of N. F. Smith, Esq., Stewart Newell30 made known in an eloquent and brief manner, the object of the meeting, being that of giving public expression to the sentiments of the citizens of the place, relative to the important subject of annexation of Texas to the 26Reprinted from the Houston-Morning Star, April 24, 1845. 27Dr. Niles F. Smith, a native of New York, was a local physician, merchant, land developer, and director of the Sabine City Company. See Block and Quick, ed. "1850 Manuscript Census Schedules for Jefferson County," 71 115; T. C. Richardson, East Texas: Its History and Its Makers (3 vols.; New York, 1940) III 1344; and Walter P. Webb and H. Bailey Carroll, ed., Handbook of texas (2 vols., Austin, 1952), II, 625. 28W. C. V. Dashiell was a Sabine merchant Texas collector of customs and director of the Sabine City Company. Block, "Iistory of Jefferson County,' 84. 29Mathew H. Nicholson was a Sabine. cotton broker from 1845 to 1847. 30Stewart Newell was United States Consul at Sabine Pass.

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38 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD United States of America, and in conclusion, moved the appointment of a committee of five to draft a Preamble and Resolutions expressive of the views of those present. The motion prevailed and the committee was appointed and consisted of Messrs. Newell, Smith, Amett, Ratcliff, and Ellis. PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTIONS Whereas by a recent vote in the Congress of the United States, it has been decided that Texas shall be annexed to the United States, and the National Sovereignty of the former exchanged for a state sovereignty, as one of the States of the Union, and by which if acceded to by the Government and the Citizens of Texas, We, the Citizens of this Republic, shall again be incorporated into the great and glorious Union of the Stars and Stripes, it is now proposed that the citizens of this place, and all at present in this Republic, shall express their sentiments upon the great national and interesting matter proposed for their consideration. We, the residents of the City of Sabine, and other citizens of Texas now assembled in accordance with the above, declare that the example set by our Forefathers of '76, they having risen in their might to crush the Hydra of unequal Taxation and Representation, and a host of other evils growing out of these, and having suc- cessfully resisted such encroachments upon their just rights, We, the offspring of such Sires, born in a free atmosphere untainted with unequal rights, could not in our manhood submit to the Despotism practiced toward us by the Government of Mexico, but impelled with the feelings of Freemen, like our Sire-s, threw off the Yoke intended to be fastened upon us, thus exhibiting to the world a proof of our ability to assist and maintain our inalienable rights, ever willing to discharge our duties as CITIZENS, unwilling to be SLAVES. RESOLVED. That the recent and glorious intelligence of the action of the Congress of the United States, having for its object the annexation of Texas, having met a hard response from our brethren of the United States and Texas, it therefore becomes us as free. and independent citizens of the Republic to unite on this occasion, and to join our voices to those of our fellow citizens, who have already met and set forth their voices to the World. We therefore say, GO ON, GO ON, Fellow Citizens, cry aloud and spare not, We are with you in the glorious work of thus cementing the BOND OF UNION. "United we stand, Divided we fall!" shall be our motto. And that as Patriots and true friends to our country, we

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see her present glory and future interests only can be secured to her by annexation upon equal terms, and that as a State of the United States, we cannot see in what manner the interests of Texas can be injured, but on the contrary, greatly increased, and Texas become the most brilliant Star in the Political horizon of our common country. RESOLVED. That in the recent report of our independence being acknowledged by Mexico through the agency of the British Govern- ment, we see only a bait held out for those who may be disposed to barter their birthright for a little British Gold, and to such we say, that as true Texians, our Cotton Fields will by honest industry produce for us all the Gold we desire, while we are. independent of any control arising from such tempters, and in the offer of a large loan of British Gold, and from that government to pay our public debts, we only see the golden chain intended for our ultimate enslavement, the galling effects of which in a short time we should feel. We know our citizens will by the sweat of their brows pay their own debts and without the reproach which their enemies have endeavored to cast upon them, and in annexation we see a speedy mode of doing so, and in which we obtain the security of peace and prosperity which enables us to make the promise good. Any offer made us as emanating from Mexico through the Agency of Great Britain must be reviewed as fraught with danger to our Country and her rights, coming as they do at the eleventh hour. Not fearing Mexico, we do not desire an Agency to obtain that which was so triumphantly won from her at San Jacinto. RESOLVED. That having the highest confidence in the good intention of our late Chief Magistrate General Sam Houston,31 and his successor, Dr. Anson Jones, and in their adopted country's welfare, we cherish the glorious Union now proposed, which if successful, their names with those of John Tyler, James K. Polk, and their associates in the good cause, shall be handed down to posterity as the ardent friends of Liberty, and protectors of their country's interests, men whom none can intimidate by threats of Political Exile, or bribe with Political Honors, Foreign influence, or Gold. RESOLVED. That we cordially recommend to the citizens throughout Texas to meet as early as possible in their districts and express fearlessly their sentiments upon the great question, and that we trust that but one sentiment will pervade the. mass - ANNEXA- TION, ANNEXATION, ANNEXATION. 31As a founder and principal stockholder of the Sabine City Company, Sam Houston was a close friend and associate of the members of the committee preparing the preamble and resolutions.

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40 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD / / Stewart Newell ) Niles F. Smith ) Committee On motion Qf N. F. Smith, Esq., a copy of the proceedings of the meeting were ordered to be forwarded to the NEWS of Galveston, TELEGRAPH of Houston, REDLANDER of San Augustine, REPUB- LICAN and PICAYUNE of New Orleans for publication. On motion of Mr. Newell, the meeting adjourned. William C. V. Dashiell, Chairman Mathew H. Nicholson, Secretary ANNEXATION MEETING, GREEN'S BLUFF32 At a meeting held by citizens of East Jefferson, in the County of Jefferson, on Saturday, April 12, 1845. The meeting was organized by calling the Hon. G. A. Patillo to the chair, and Thomas M. Rowe, Esq. to act as secretary. The President made known in an easy and explanatory manner, the object of the meeting, being that of giving public expression of their sentiments on the question of the annexation of Texas to the United States of America, and in conclusion made the appointment of a committee of five to draft a preamble and resolutions, consisting of Messrs. John Harmon,33 John Bland,34 Marvin Delano,35 James 32Reprinted from the Houston Morning Star, April 26, 1845. 33John Harmon, a sixty-six year old farmer from Louisiana, was a pioneer settler in what is today Orange unty. Block and Quick, ed., "1850 Manuscript Census Schedules for Jefferson County." 112. 34John Bland, like Harmon, was a farmer from Louisiana. Bland was thirty-two years younger than Harmon. Ibid., 96. 35Marvin Delano was a shingle maker from New York. Ibid., 106.

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Walie,36 and William B. Ellis.37 Whereupon, the following resolutions were adopted by the committee. 1. That we the free and sovereign people of the Republic of Texas, and County of Jefferson, having with satisfaction noted in the public journals the late Joint Resolution in relation to the immediate annexation of Texas to the Republic of the United States of America, and having duly considered the same and believing firmly that the happiness and prosperity of both the United States and Texas, assenting to such measures, would be greatly advanced. 2. Be it RESOLVED, that with due deference to the wisdom of His Excellency, the President of the Republic, to adopt such measures as he may deem expedient for the immediate annexation of Texas to our mother country, upon the terms of the Joint Resolution before mentioned, either by submitting the question to the people or a call of Congress, to adopt the most speedy and prompt measures, avoiding any further treaty stipulations, as we believe delays or further treaty stipulations would tend much to retard the object so desirable to our wishes. The committee after a short absence reported the above resolu- tions, which were unanimously adopted with huzza's for annexation. On motion of James Walie, the proceedings of the meeting were ordered to be forwarded to the Editors of the TELEGRAPH at Houston, Galveston NEWS and New Orleans PICA YUNE. / / John Harmon ) John Bland ) Marvin Delano ) Committee James Walie ) William B. Ellis ) On motion of Mr. Delano, the meeting adjourned. G. A. Patillo, President Thomas W. Rowe, Secretary 36James Walie, or Waillee, was a rather prosperous farmer from Georgia. Ibid., 37wrnjiam B. Ellis was a carpenter from Georgia. Ibid., 103.

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42 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD President Anson Jones was not himself an enthusiastic supporter of annexation, but due to public opinion expressed at meetings such as those in Jefferson County, agreed to issue a proclamation announcing the election of delegates to a special convention to consider annexa- tion and draft a new constitution. The Texas Congress moved to give its support both to annexation and the forthcoming convention. Jefferson County's delegates in Congress were both avid supporters of annexation. James R. Armstrong, who represented the county in the House, was a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations which reported quickly in favor of the joint resolution on' annexation, and like other House members voted for approval of the measure by the full House.38 George Pattillo, Senate delegate from Jefferson, worked for annexation in the upper house. When the Senate began to delay by taking up other matters, Pattillo moved successfully that the Senate entertain no measures other than those connected with annexation except by a 2/3's vote.39 The move effectively cut off discussion of extraneous matters; that afternoon the Senate unani- mously approved annexation. The special convention to consider annexation met as scheduled on July 4, 1845. The very first day this distinguished body approved by a vote of 55-1 the joint resolution for annexation.40 James Arm- strong, who represented Jefferson County in the convention, voted with the majority in approving the resolution. The only dissenting vote came from Richard Bache, the delegate from nearby Galveston Members of the convention spent the remainder of July and August working on a new state constitution for Texas. Once their work was completed, the delegates voted to submit the new constitu- tion and the question of annexation directly to the people for their 38Journals of the House of Representatives of the Extra Session, Ninth Congress, of the Republic of Texas (Washington, 1845), 41-44, 48. For biograph- ical information on Armstrong see Journals of the Convention, Assemblqd at the City of Austin On the Fourth of July, 1845 . . . (Austin, 1845), 377; Biographical Directory of the Texan Conventions and Congresses, 1832-1845, 44-45; Galveston Weekly News, Jan. 15, 1880. 39Journals of the Senate, of the Extra Session, Ninth Congress, of the Republic of Texas (Washington, 1845), 47-48. 40Journals of the Convention, Assembled at the City of Austin On the Fourth

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On October 13, 1845, the people of Texas gave. overwhelming endorsement to both annexation and the new state constitution. Seven thousand six hundred sixty-four votes were cast for annexation and only 430 against. Seven thousand five hundred twenty-seven votes were recorded for the constitution and 536 against.42 Jefferson County citizens were even more strongly in support of annexation than voters in the state as a whole; 92 votes were cast in Jefferson for the constitution and annexation, no votes were cast in opposi- In late December, 1845, President Polk signed the act that made Texas a state of the American Union. On February 19, 1846, in a ceremony at Austin, President Anson Jones surrendered his authority to newly elected Governor J. Pinckney Henderson with the con- cluding words: "the final act in this great drama is now performed; the Republic of Texas is no more." 42Mannipt "Statement of the number of votes polled in the several Counties of te Republic on 13th Oct. 1845 for the Adoption or rejection of 'annexation ' the 'State Constitution,' and 'Ordinance concerning Colony con- tracts,'.. .' in Texas State Archives, Austin, Texas. 43Manuscript "Jefferson County, Returns of Election for Annexation [and] Constitution," in Texas State Archives, Austin, Texas.

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RECORD OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF THE TOWN OF BEAUMONT, 1860-1861 Editor's Note: On December 16, 1838, the Congress of the Texas Republic authorized the incorporation of the town of Beaumont. In November, 1972, the Texas Gulf Historical Society published the minutes which resulted from the firit municipal election held at Beaumont on July 28, 1840. The two earliest attempts at city government were brief, the second ending with the advent of the Civil War and the enlistment of some of the municipal officers. On August 20, 1860, a second incorporation election (Vol. C, pp. 45-46, Commissioners' Court Minutes), under the Act of 1858, was held with a majority of Beaumonters voting in favor. As a sequel, the Texas Gulf Historical Society presents the minutes which resulted from the second municipal election. John W. Patridge, Thomas Fletcher, Nathan Wheeler, and G. W. O'Bryan The Board of Aldermen of the Town of Beaumont, having severally and duly qualified by taking and subscribing to the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the State of Texas, met pursuant to previous notice and were called to order by His Honor A. N. Vaughan, Mayor, for the transaction of business - when the following ordinances were made to wit: Be it ordained by the Board of Aldermen of the Town of Beaumont: 1st, That Henry E. Simpson be appointed clerk of the said town to fill said office during good behavior until the next regular election and until his successor may have been appointed and qualified by taking the oath prescribed by the state 2nd. That the said clerk shall have the custody of all the minutes, records, books, and papers belonging to or appertaining to this board and its proceedings as well as all other papers, documents, or records pertaining to and of value or interest to the Corporation - and it shall be his duty to attend to the arrangement and preservation of the same and to deliver the same over to his- successor at the expiration of his term of office. 3rd. That he shall enter all the by-laws and ordinances of this Board and the proceedings thereof during its meetings in a book to be procured for that purpose and shall afterwards transcribe into a well-bound book kept for that Board of Aldermen, Beaumont, October 2, A. D. 1860 John W. Patridge, Thomas Fletcher, Nathan Wheeler, and George W. O'Bryan, the Board of Aldermen of the Town of Beaumont, presided over by His Honor A. N. Vaughan, Mayor, having severally and duly qualified by taking the oath prescribed by the state constitution, met pursuant to notice and were called to order for the transaction of business - when the following proceedings were had and ordinances made to wit: After resolving themselves into a committee of the whole and discussing generally the welfare and interests of the town, the Board adjourned until tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock. Wednesday morning, 9 o'clock, October 3, 1860 The Board met again pursuant to adjournment - roll called and quorum present - journals of yesterday read and adopted, when Mr. Nathan Wheeler offered with a motion for its adoption the following resolution to wit:

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RECORD OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF 45 THE TOWN OF BEAUMONT, 1860-1861 Resolved that the rules prescribed for the regulation and order of business of the House of Representatives of the United States so far as applicable shall be made the rules to govern the proceedings of this Board - which motion being seconded and was carried by a vote of 3 'ayes' and no 'nays,' J. W. Patridge not being present. Mr. G. W. O'Brien introduced a Bill entitled "An Ordinance creating the office of Town Treasurer" and prescribing the mode of his qualification, his duties, etc., and moved its passage - and the ordinance proposed having been read and the motion seconded, the rules were dispensed with and the motion carried by a vote of 3 'ayes' and no 'nays' and became a law. Also a Bill to be entitled "An Ordinance creating the office of Town Clerk" and prescribing his duties and mode of qualification, with a motion to dispense with the rules and for its passage, which motion being seconded and the vote put was carried by a vote of 3 'ayes' and no 'nays' and became a law. Mr. Nathan Wheeler introduced a Bill providing for the annual appointment of a "Committee on Finances" and moved to dispense with the rules and for its It was proposed by Mr. G. W. O'Bryan to amend and accepted by inserting after the words "annual meeting" the words "after the first Monday in August," whereupon with a second, the motion was carried by a vote of 3 'ayes' and no 'nays' and became a law. And upon motion the Board adjourned until 2 P. M. At 2 P. M. the Board met pursuant to adjournment, quorum present - G. W. O'Bryan introduced a Bill to be entitled "An Ordinance providing for regular and called sessions of the Board of Aldermen" - and upon motion with a second to dispense with the second and third reading and pass the same, the vote being taken was 3 'ayes' and no 'nays' and the Bill proposed became an ordinance. Mr. N. Wheeler moved to go into the appointment of Town Clerk and Town Treasurer which, with a second, was adopted. Mr. G. W. O'Bryan nominated H. E. Simpson for Town Clerk and there being no other nominations, he was appointed by acclamation. Mr. Nathan Wheeler nominated Robert Ruff for Town Treasurer and there being no other nominations, he was appointed by acclama- On motion of Mr. Nathan Wheeler, Mr. John J. Herring, after he shall have qualified as alderman, and Mr. George W. O'Bryan were appointed by the Board to constitute the Financial Committee of the Board - after which, upon motion, A. N. Vaughan and G. W. O'Bryan were appointed to constitute a committee to draft and report to the Board at its adjourned meeting a code of criminal ordinances for the Town of Beaumont, whereupon the Board adjourned to meet The Board of Aldermen met again pursuant to adjournment, present, His Honor the Mayor, Thomas Fletcher, John W. Patridge, and G. W. O'Bryan, alderman, roll called and quorum present. Mr. G. W. O'Bryan, on behalf of the committee to whom was referred at a previous meeting the duty of drafting a code of penal ordinances for the Corporation of the Town of Beaumont, reported the same completed which, upon motion, was received and taken up for the action of the Board. On motion carried, it was resolved to act upon each article of the code separately and to pass or reject the same as the case may be. Whereupon on motion, Articles 1, 2, 3, and 4 of Chapter I; and Articles 1, 2, and 3 of Chapter II; and Articles 1, 2, and 3 of Chapter III were read and severally passed by the Board. And when Article 4 of the last-named chapter had been discussed for

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46 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD some time and before the vote had been taken thereupon, Mr. John W. Patridge absented himself for some time and afterwards returned and offered a motion for an adjournment until Saturday next. And the same not meeting with a second, it was moved, seconded, and carried that the Board adjourn until Friday, 9 A. M., The Board, not having met pursuant to adjournment on account of the absence of the Mayor, met for the transaction of business, His Honor the Mayor presiding and present, Thomas Fletcher, Nathan Wheeler, and G. W. O'Bryan, aldermen, roll called and quorum present, whereupon G. W. O'Bryan moved to reconsider the action of the Board on the last day of the adjourned meeting upon the penal ordinances which, with a second, carried by a vote of 3 'ayes' and no 'nays.' After which upon motion, the said penal code was taken up de novo and each article being voted upon and discussed separately when Articles 1, 2, and 3 of Chapter I were adopted; also Articles 1, 2, and 3 of Chapter II passed; Articles 1, 2, and 3 of Chapter III were rejected; Article 4 of the same chapter passed, and record of vote called for which was as follows: ayes, G. W. O'Bryan and Thomas Fletcher; nays, N. Wheeler. To Article 5 of the same chapter, G. W. O'Bryan offered an amendment and upon motion with second, the same was passed by the following vote: ayes, G. W. O'Bryan and Thomas Fletcher; nays, Nathan Wheeler. Articles 6 and 7 of the same chapter, the latter with an amendment, were adopted. Articles 1 and 2 of Chapter IV adopted. Of Chapter V, Article 1 was amended and adopted; 2 was rejected; 3 and 4 adopted; 5 amended and adopted. Of Chapter VI, Articles 1, 2, and 3 were adopted; 4, a substitute offered by G. W. O'Bryan and adopted; 5 and 6 adopted. Offered by G. W. O'Bryan, "An Ordinance providing the Manner of qualifica- tion of the Town Constable and prescribing his duties" read and upon motion with a second, was passed, whereupon with motion the Board adjourned to meet tomorrow morning 9 o'clock. Saturday, October 13, 1860 The Board met pursuant to adjournment, roll called, present and presiding, A. N. Vaughan, Mayor, with the following aldermen, John W. Patridge, Thomas Fletcher, and G. W. O'Bryan, when the following proceedings were had. G. W. O'Bryan offered a Bill prescribing the rate of taxation within the corporation which, after being read the requisite number of times and discussed, was passed by a vote of three 'ayes' and no 'nays,' whereupon on motion, the meeting adjourned to the next regular session. H. E. Simpson, Clerk pro temp. Monday, November 12, 1860 Board of Aldermen met pursuant to adjournment, roll called, quorum present, A. N. Vaughan, Mayor, presiding with the following aldermen present: G. W. O'Bryan, Nathan Wheeler, J. W. Patridge, and J. J. Herring - whereupon the Board adjourned until tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock. Tuesday morning, 8 o'clock - Board of Aldermen met pursuant to adjourn- ment, roll called, quorum present, A. N. Vaughan, Mayor, presiding with the following aldermen present: N. Wheeler, J. W. Patridge, John J. Herring, G. W. O'Bryan - whereupon the following proceedings were had.

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RECORD OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF 47 THE TOWN OF BEAUMONT, 1860-1861 Mr. N. Wheeler introduced an ordinance for the providing of stationery for the use of the clerk and board of aldermen, which on being read, was passed by the board - ayes 4, nays -. "An Ordinance providing for stationery." 1st. Be it ordained by the Board of Aldermen of the town of Beaumont that the clerk be authorized to purchase stationery for the use of said board to the amount of five dollars - to be paid for out of any unappropriated funds in the hands of the treasurer. G. W. O'Bryan introduced an ordinance presenting the wishes of the Mayor of the Town of Beaumont and providing for persons offending against the laws of the Corporation, how they shall pay the fines inflicted upon them, when unable to pay, which upon being read and motion taken thereon, was passed - ayes 4, nays 0. An ordinance prescribing the duties of the Mayor of the Town of Beaumont, etc., whereupon the Board adjourned until 2 P. M. Board met pursuant to adjournment, roll called, quorum present - A. N. Vaughan presiding with the following aldermen present: G. W. O'Bryan, N. Wheeler, and J. J. Herring, whereupon the following proceedings were had. G. W. O'Bryan introduced before the board an ordinance providing compensa- tion for the Officers of the Corporation of the Town of Beaumont. Article 1 of the ordinance adopted; Article 2 adopted; Article 3 adopted; Article 4 adopted; Article 5 adopted. An ordinance appointing a street commissioner to have work performed on the streets, etc. - whereupon the board adjourned until the next regular term. H. E. Simpson, Town Clerk Monday, February 11, 1861: The Board of Aldermen met according to law, presiding A. N. Vaughan, Mayor, present Nathan Wheeler, Thomas Fletcher, John W. Patridge, J. J. Herring,tand George W. O'Bryan, aldermen, and H. E. Simpson, clerk, when the following proceedings were had to wit. Whereupon the board upon motion adjourned until tomorrow morning at 9 A. M. Tuesday morning, February 12, 1861: The Board of Aldermen met pursuant to adjournment, presiding A. N. Vaughan, Mayor, present Thomas Fletcher, John Herring, N. Wheeler, J. W. Patridge, and George W. O'Bryan, aldermen, H. E. Simpson, clerk, when the following proceedings were had. J. J. Herring introduced an ordinance for the location of a permanent starting point for the surveying of the Town of Beaumont which upon being read, moved, and seconded, was rejected. Nayes 4, Thomas Fletcher, N. Wheeler, G. W. O'Bryan, J. W. Patridge; ayes, J. J. Herring. Whereupon G. W. O'Bryan introduced a substitute bill providing for the surveying and platting the corporation limits and locating five permanent points for the same, which upon being read, moved, and seconded, was passed. Ayes, N. Wheeler, Thomas Fletcher, G. W. O'Bryan, and John W. Patridge; nays, J. J. Herring - whereupon the board adjourned until 2 o'clock P. M. At 2 o'clock P. M., Board met pursuant to adjournment, presiding A. N. Vaughan, Mayor, present, N. Wheeler, Thos. Fletcher, J. J. Herring, G. W. O'Bryan, and J. W. Patridge, aldermen, and H. E. Simpson, clerk, when the following proceedings were had. The town constable presented his assessment rolls for inspection, which upon examination being found incomplete, the Board allowed him until Saturday, the 17th inst. at 3 o'clock P. M. to complete the same and bring them before the Board - whereupon the Board adjourned until Saturday the 17th at 3 P. M. H. E. Simpson, Clerk of The Corporation of Beaumont

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48 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD Saturday, the 17th at 3 P. M.: Board met pursuant to adjournment, quorum present, A. N. Vaughan, presiding, Thomas Fletcher, N. Wheeler, J. W. Patridge, and G. W. O'Bryan, aldermen, and H. E. Simpson, clerk, when the following proceedings were had. G. W. O'Bryan introduced an amendment to the ordinance passed on the 12th which upon being read, moved, and seconded, was passed. The town constable again presented the assessment rolls for examination, and upon examination being found incomplete, it was ordered that he have them ready for inspection on the 23rd of February at 9 A. M., whereupon the Board adjourned until H. E. Simpson, clerk March 1st. The Board of Aldermen met according to a called session - presiding A. N. Vaughan, Mayor, J. W. Patridge, G. W. O'Bryan, and J. J. Herring, aldermen, and H. E. Simpson, clerk, present, whereupon the following proceedings were had. The constable presented his assessment rolls for inspection which, upon being examined, were approved. The sum of fifty dollars was appropriated to John Dillon for assessing the taxable property within the limits of the corporation to be paid out of the taxes collected and a draft issued therefor forthwith - whereupon the board adjourned. H. E. Simpson, clerk Beaumont, March 16, 1861 The Board of Aldermen met pursuant to the call of the Mayor - A. N. Vaughan, the Mayor, presiding, present Thomas Fletcher, John W. Patridge, and George W. O'Bryan, aldermen, when the following proceedings were had to wit. It appearing to the board that W. A. Junker, heretofore constable of the town of Beaumont, had resigned and that said office was vacant, therefore: Be it ordained by the Board of Aldermen of the town of Beaumont that Gabriel Landrum be appointed to act as constable of the town of Beaumont to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Wilson A. Junker; and to hold his office after qualification according to law until the next regular election; and that the clerk furnish said Landrum forthwith with a copy of this act - passed and ordered to be published March 16, 1861. Be it ordained that the sum of twenty-seven dollars be appropriated and paid out of the town treasury out of any money in said treasury not otherwise appropriated a draft issuing therefor forthwith in favor of John C. Phillips for $6.75 and in favor of John McMullen, Addison Pate, and D. Ledbetter each for 4 days each labor on the public streets of the town under the contract with the Mayor - whereupon the Board adjourned to meet again Tuesday, March 19, Board having no business on the above date dispensed with the meeting on that day. Beaumont, Tuesday, April 9, 1861: The Board of Aldermen met pursuant to the call of the Mayor - A. N. Vaughan, the Mayor presiding, present Thomas Fletcher, N. Wheeler, J. J. Herring, J. W. Patridge, and G. W. O'Bryan, aldermen, and H. E. Simpson, clerk, when the following proceedings were had to wit. It appeared on examination that the plat of the survey made by James Ingalls of the Town of Beaumont and the corporate limits of the said town is correct and therefore the same on motion was adopted, and it is ordered by the board that a draft be issued for the same, for the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars to be paid out of the town treasury, out of money not otherwise appropriated - whereupon the board adjourned.

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BEAUMONT IN THE 1850'S: EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF HENRY R. GREEN Compiled by W. T. Block Editor's Note: In September, 1856, a 26-year-old urbane bachelor, a Galveston News correspondent, arrived in Beaumont, where he expected to remain only briefly during his jaunt through East Texas. Finding the frontier freshness of the sawmill village to his liking, Henry R. Green remained for three and one-half years as one of Beaumont's earliest teachers, and for a brief period in 1859, Jefferson County's district clerk. During his long stay, Green wrote about fifty letters, which have heretofore lain unrecognized for their historical worth. All of them appeared in the Galveston Weekly News under the pseudonym of 'Hal,' and Green's identity might have remained unknown except for a prank. In November, 1856, the News inadvertently published Green's 'obituary,' submitted by a fellow reporter, and subsequently a retraction, explaining that Green was still alive and reporting from his station at Beaumont. Green's school was in the sawmill district near present-day Pine Street, and county archives verify that he was reimbursed for his indigent list from county school funds. During the summer of 1859, he was appointed district clerk and afterward, made numerous entries in the district court's minutes book. The correspondent enjoyed travelling and wrote glowing accounts of the neighboring communities, always in a folksy and humorous vein. He was a proponent of education, church-attendance, law enforcement, and the social arts and graces, but always cautioned against intemperance and extremism. His personal exception was politics, for in effect, he was a Secessionist before his time, and his columns often contained political diatribes. His views pitted him against any stance other than the States' Rights position of the Southern Democratic party and, especially, the Unionist policies of General Sam Houston. In November, 1859, an indictment, the State of Texas Versus Henry R. Green, for assault and battery appeared on the criminal docket of the district court. Since no conviction exists, the editor presumes that Green's political activism resulted in conflict with some prominent Jefferson County figure, and in a moment of temper, a fist fight. A month later, his "Letters From Hal" ceased abruptly, and evidently Green considered it expedient to migrate again. Except for his years in Beaumont, the life of Henry R. Green remains a mystery. Hence, the reader must speculate as to whether or not Beaumont's first historian lived out his life elsewhere or perhaps died defending the Southland that he loved so dearly. The only clue indicates that Green died at about age thirty-five and possibly while in the Confederate service. On January 26, 1867, the Commissioners' Court Minutes included the following notation - "It is ordered by the court that the account of H. R. Green, deceased, against the County of Jefferson for $2,340 be rejected." (Reprinted from Galveston Weekly News,

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50 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD Beaumont, Jefferson County Editor, The News After leaving Swarthout, we made a "bee line" for Sour Lake - a distance of sixty-five miles from the former place, and in a southeasterly direction to a point. . . . The lake contains less water now than usual, a considerable portion of its bed exposed to view. The water is generally clear when not stirred up by bathing, and is at present 15 to 25 inches deep. All over its surface, there is a continual boiling and bubbling up of a gas that ignites as quickly as powder, the moment a match is applied to it. And sometimes, it spreads like wildfire over the entire surface and presents one living sheet of fire....1 Twenty-five miles through alternate prairies and woodland brought us here to Beaumont, and I must say I was woefully disappointed in my expectations as to the appearance of the town and the condition of things generally. Here is a river six hundred feet wide and no bottom to it that I can find. The biggest ship in the world can come right up to the wharf like a skiff or a catfish and touch bottom nowhere. I had no-idea of such a great stream being here, but it's a fact, this country possesses facilities for navigation unsurpassed by any in the Union. Numerous small craft from the [Sabine] Bay and small streamers are constantly plying back and forth, and quite an activity in all kinds of business prevails.2 The railroad above here is progressing rapidly, twenty-five miles having been staked out and only waiting for the hands to go to work on it. One hundred and fifty men are looked for hourly who are to commence work.3 The appearance of the country is low, and would likely be covered with water at wet times, and one would also suppose, would produce sickness. But the rosy-faced children and stout men who live here 1Swarthout, or Swartwout, located about 50 miles north of Liberty on the Trinity ,was platted after the Texas Revolution and prospered until the Civil War. It dwindled and died as the railroads bypassed it and the river traffic subsided. 2Beaumont's river crescent area was deep, but otherwise the Neches River and its bar could accommodate only shallow-draft vessels. 3Ferguson, Alexander and Company was clearing and grading the Mexican Gulf and Henderson Railroad right-of-way from Beaumont to Pine Island Bayou, but work ended in April, 1857, when the railroad was unable to meet its oblipations, and the construction company owners quarreled and dissolved the partnership.

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BEAUMONT IN THE 1850's: 51 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF HENRY R. GREEN would counteract such an impression. Hog meat is plentiful just now, only worth 15 cents. Beef 4/ and 50 and plenty of the finest quality. Butter sells for 250, chickens 150, and Shanghai [?], or "legs" as they call it here, sells for $1 each. Corn is selling at $1.25 and potatoes $1 per barrel. Unimproved town lots range from $5 to $40. . . . [Millard] Fillmore stock having declined here, Old Buck [James Buchanan] is all the "go" here, both for the White House and for the dining tables. There are in town twenty-four families all told, two doctors, two lawyers, two merchants, one grocery, one wagon shop, one black- smith shop, one carpenter shop, one apothecary shop, one school, seventy-five children (thar or tharabouts), one steam mill and another going up, one shoemaker, and one substantial courthouse, which is an ornament to the town. The dwelling houses are handsome frame buildings, built of cypress or pine, which is found here in abundance. This may be said to be a stockraising country altogether, some 3,000 head lately having crossed the river here, on their way to New Orleans. There is a great deal of money in circulation among the people, and one thing should be said to their credit, that, for politeness and civility and attention to strangers, they are certainly remarkable. We were 'hallooed' at on the road yesterday by a gentleman who made us dismount and partake of melons and peaches beyond endurance. He was a good old man and had a good old wife. They have lived there thirty-seven years. The old gentleman had acquired a fortune merely by the assistance of nature, as hundreds of cattle and much land may testify. I could but smile at the simple-hearted, good man when he spoke of the accomplishments of his two daughters, whom he loved much, and who had just returned from some fashionable boarding school at one of our fashionable inland towns. "Here's my two gals," said our friend, "that's jest come home from school, and I'm afeard they've larned more divilment than I kin physic out of 'em in a year. When they left here, they were plain, honest country girls, and now they've come back with a ring on every finger and so much jewelry, figameries, . . . flaps and hoops that, it is impossible for 'em to git in at the door." "What on airth sich schools are made for beats me. But it's the way with 'em that goes to these high confabulatory luminaries, they always git so they can't confisicate on ordinary topics, and lose what little hard sense they had to start on."

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52 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD "Why, if you believe me, they want me to build a 'horriscope' on top of the house to look at the stars. Well, I seed inter the thing arter a while, and, as they was gettin' tolluble costive and it took a sight of money to keep 'em a guine, so I concluded to fetch 'em home until all sich high-collared, fashionable watering places died I thought the old man was half right as jewelry is certainly worshipped more at some of those places than school books... . The county is as good for Buck [Buchanan] as a "nine-pence is for a dram." And it is not glorious that the South is actually waking up to save herself and the Union? How sadly long the South has slumbered! It is a positive fact that she can sleep longer, faster, and harder, and snore louder than any patch of earth on top of this globe. . . . Well, she deserves chastisement and may the Lord give it to her until she -'halloes' enough. I sometimes wish that Fremont [Gen. John C. Fremont] was elected just to see what the South All is now quiet in Orange County,5 but they are kicking up dust in Calcasieu Parish. Three men have been killed so rumor says. A man named Wilson, who boasts of being a Know Nothing, attempted to fire the town of Beaumont and was banished [from] the place by the Beaumont, Jefferson County Editor, the News About town, we have all manner of times, preaching, dancing, courting, fishing, oyster time, times generally, time again, rainy times which have continued for 5 months, and great times in the way of building houses and improvements extensively. 41n 1856, the Democratic nominee, James Buchanan won election handily with a 174-122 electoral ballot over two opponents, Millarc Fillmore of the Know Nothing party and Gen. John C. Fremont, the first nominee of the Republican 5The Moderator-Regulator violence which claimed twelve lives in Orange County had just ended.Jack Bunch, one of two perpetrators, was in jail at Beaumont awaiting trial for murder.

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BEAUMONT IN THE 1850's: 53 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF HENRY R. GREEN The dancing school under the charge of Prof. [James C.] Clelland has wrought a wonderful revolution in the poetry of motion in this section. The professor will soon make the tour of the state, accom- panied by a band, and if anybody wants to learn how to dance scientifically, now will be his time or never. The country here is alive with railroad men, and active prepara- tions are being made to resume work on the M. G. & H. [Mexican Gulf and Henderson] Railroad, which suspended operations about a year ago. Also there appears to be some difference of opinion among the company, as to the best point of locating the Gulf terminus, whether at Bolivar or Sabine Pass.6 Judge [Isaiah] Junker in conjunction with three commissioners, has been authorized by the company to open books of subscription for stock, while it is said that orders have been sent out for workmen to begin operations forthwith. From all appearances, therefore, it seems we shall have a railroad in this section after all. Planters are unable to do anything in the way of planting on account of the murky, damp weather which has prevailed here during the entire winter, and which seems destined to continue until it clears I have, heretofore, omitted mention of a new steamer built at this place by [Dr. Sylvester] Mansfield and [Henry E.] Simpson, to which has been given the name of "Stephen H. Marble," the instigator of its production.7 The "Marble" is 39 ft. in length, 18 ft. of beam, about 3 ft. depth of hold, and is commanded by Captain Doctor Mansfield, assisted by old Uncle Johnny Rogers, who thinks there is no danger of an explosion as long as the boiler is full of water. The "Marble" runs quite well and is a handsome little craft. 6The M. G. and H. rechartered as the Eastern Texas Railroad in 1859, had built trackage from Sabine Pass to Beaumont when the Civil War interrupted construction and no more rails were available. ?S. H. Marble, a former Mississippi planter and slaveholder was the father of John Marble and Luanza Calder. See also File 160, Estate of S. II. Marble, Probate Records, and Volume B, pp, 223-224, Personal Property Record, Jefferson County,

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54 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD Beaumont, Jefferson County Editor, The News The "science of motion," which has become a popular branch of learning in modern times, and against which unrelenting prejudices prevail in some communities, is in our poor judgment, when confined within due limits, one of the most delightful, accomplished, and innocent recreations of human invention. . . . We find no barrier in the way to the full exercise of this health-inspiring, life-prolonging, spirit-cheering accomplishment so properly termed the poetry of But to dance all night and go home in the morning laden with busted skull, exhaustion, and a half dozen girls swinging, like new-born mice, to one's coat, and carousing the ensuing days, is a lamentable departure from the laws which should govern this species We all admire gracefulness of manners, and those who dance well, we know, ARE graceful and perfectly unembarrassed when appearing in company. In obedience, therefore, to the laws of "falling bodies," and with a just appreciation of artful locomotion, the citizens of this vicinity are attending our institution tri-weekly, having for its object the straightening of gauky underpinnings, defective spinal conforma- tions, and the total eradication of time-honored reels, "pigeon wings," "lock step," and the whole catalogue of double-shuffle, go-along, thump-ta-bump movements of ancient times. This establishment is under the control of Prof. Jim C. Clelland, a gentleman all the way from Sabine Pass, here, via New York... . performer on the banjo, champagne cider, with an itching for venison, ham, gallantry, among feminines, and may be considered the great expounder of the laws of crinoline and the science of good Furthermore, having fallen (from no great distance) in love with one of our belles (not a manufactured one from the shop), he thinks of locating somewhere in America, and thus becoming the respectable head of a small generation of his own. We are having rain every day, but still, immigrants are pouring in 8After Clelland left Beaumont, William Harris, a "teacher of fashionable dances," opened a dancing school there.

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BEAUMONT IN. THE 1850's: 55 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF HENRY R. GREEN daily and business is rather brisk. Planters making ready for another crop, health fine and prospects good. Beaumont, Jefferson County Editor, The News The election at this precinct resulted in 33 votes for Old Buck [Buchanan], 18 for Fillmore, and 0 for wooly ' customer of the Rocky Mountains [Fremont]. . . . In consequence of this miniature triumph of democracy at Beaumont, quite a spirit of exultation.was apparent on the announcement of the result. The firing of guns and prolonged shouts of triumph wrought strange tones in the serenity of the evening's air, that rolled and rumbled and reverberated like appalling thunder. . . . All was hilarity, good cheer, and good- humored 'free drinking,' a franchise apparently indispensable to Accounts from all quarters confirm the reports that "Buck" is greatly ahead. If coming events cast their shadows before, and if this triumph in Jefferson may be a criterion by which the southern mind may be judged, the people in the South have not been so distracted from the main question as many of us had supposed. Jack Bunch, who was arrested and brought back to Orange County for aiding in the killing of Deputy [Deputy Sheriff Samuel Deputy] on the Sabine River, by a change of venue stood his trial here today and was sentenced to be hanged on the 21st proximo.9 Just after the rendition of the verdict, a rumor spread rapidly through the town that a party of his friends in Orange were coming over to rescue him, and great excitement ensued in consequence. Citizens were seen pouring in from every direction, and guns, pistols, knives, and various implements of war fairly bristled in the court- room and yard, the place where the prisoner was confined. No 9The crime of Jack Bunch, an 18-year-old free Mulatto, sparked the Orange County Moderator-Regulator violence, which claimed twelve lives. See also Vol. C, p 49, Minute Book, District Court, Jefferson County, Texas; (Galveston) T1-Weekly News, July 15, 1856; and Andrew Muir, "The Free Negro in Jefferson and Orange Counties, Texas," Journal of Negro History, XXXV (April, 1950),

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56 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD attempt, however, has yet been made to rescue him, as it would be utterly out of the question. The citizens of Jefferson especially, and I believe those of Orange also, are determined to uphold law and order, let the consequences be what they may. I think Bunch is the most case-hardened sinner that is in existence. He seems utterly indifferent as to his fate, and laughs, jokes, and blasphemes as if he doesn't care whether he is hung or unhung, living Some new buildings are going up and the town seems to be shaking off its accustomed dreariness. A heavy mercantile firm [W. A. Ferguson's] has just been opened for the accommodation of the upcountry people, making the third establishment of the kind in the place. Cotton is coming in from the upper counties and the streets are daily filled with wagons, coming and returning with alternate loads of cotton, merchandise, groceries, etc. There seems to be a probability that a temporary terminus of the railroad [Mexican Gulf and Henderson] will be made at this point, and if so, it will doubtless give additional activity to the various branches of business. Among other things, I notice that the Messrs. Clark are about to erect a sort of foundry for the manufacture of all kinds of mill machinery which will prove valuable to the mill owners in this section. One of them is a superior machinist, and I should say, a strong Whig, if there is any sign in a coon's tail being suspended to his coat Analysis of The Atmosphere - from a close examination of the atmosphere at this point, I found that one-third part was composed of mosquitoes, two-thirds of 'gallinippers' (king-sized mosquitoes), and the remainder fleas, though it is becoming more rarified since the late cool weather set in. This is a most healthy place, not a case of sickness in the county that I know of. The air is light, balmy, pure and free from all miasma or any cause that would produce human discomfiture. The District Court and Its Doings - this court has been in session for a week, without, however, dispatching much business, as there is but little done here in the line of the law. Only two true bills were found for slight offenses, and it may be set down as creditable to the

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BEAUMONT IN THE 1850's: 57 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF HENRY R. GREEN citizens of this county that there were no more.10 We expected that Judge Maxey [Circuit Judge J. M. Maxey, 5th Judicial District] would give us a little of the Gospel along with the law, but I suppose he was too much fagged out with his labor on the circuit. The Judge is very popular and fully comes up to the standard of what a dispenser of justice should be. Mr. Wilson [5th Judicial District attorney of Jasper] also does finely in the capacity of state's attorney, and is a young man of fine talents and great promise. Beef Cattle - from accounts kept at- this place, it appears that fifteen thousand head of beef cattle have crossed the river here this fall en route to New Orleans. They come in from all directions, but mostly from the San Antonio, Guadalupe, and Colorado Rivers. Three droves came in last night from Refugio County, which is certainly a long way to drive beeves. These animals seem to lose nothing in the flesh from their long march, and are the finest specimens of cattle that I have ever seen. The animals have been passing almost daily for about five weeks, and still they come. Beaumont, Jefferson County Ed., The News . . . We have had a good rain, and succeeding it, a most brilliant spell of weather. The rain was greatly needed at this time to swell the upper streams, which are now disgorging themselves of numerous logs for our sawmills, whose . . . propensity has been suspended in consequence of low water, but as prospects are cheering for an abundant supply of the "raw material," they will again resume plank-down payments, when "general confidence" will be restored, and things look as smiling as usual. 10It is hazardous to speculate concerning the extent of crime in early-day Jefferson County, but numerous accounts mentioned the low incidence of crime. Many variables, namely, sparseness of population, effectiveness of law enforcement, etc., must be considered. Following a court session at Beaumont in 1847, Circuit Judge Buckley stated, "Gentlemen of the jury, in discharging you from the performance of your duties, I have to congratulate you upon the diminution of crime in your county.... I respectfully advise you to 'go home and plant corn.' " See (Houston) Telegraph and Texas Register, July 27, 1847.

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58 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD This age will doubtless be recollected a long time for its achieve- ments in science, and its wonderful strides in the useful arts. I was shown yesterday a novel invention, a selfsetter at Ross and Alex- ander's mill, with which the logs are set to the saw, and which reduces the boards to an exact precision in width and thickness at both ends, so that there's no use in house carpenters swearing about clumsily-sawed stuff, if they get a supply of this company's manu- Morever, all that you have to do is to. roll the log upon the carriage, drive in your mainstays or grappling irons, or dog irons, or whatever they are that hold the log in its place, put on steam, and then go to dinner, and by the time you get back, the log is slabbed, sawn up, shoved out of the mill, stacked up, and the price marked on the topmost plank - and all done by steam! After this, who will say that steam is not a wheelhorse?11 Improvements in town are gradually increasing. Several families have dropped in lately and more are looked for in a short time. Col. Charlton of Tyler has come in with an "eternal fortune" of every- thing in the shape of merchandise, and which, in addition to the large establishment of Mr. W. P. Herring, and Herring and Ruff [J. J. Herring and Co.], constitutes the third one of the kind in the In the way of schools, Beaumont is somewhat looking up, there being two in full blast, with a goodly number of pupils in attendance. In regard to these institutions, I believe I could say a word or two. . . For instance, Beaumont contains children sufficient for two large schools, and if all should attend, there would be enough for three. But there being only two in operation, I'am sorry to see a spirit of rivalry, jealousy, and opposition on the part of their patrons, which ill becomes those who would have the town prosperous in every 11In the fall of 1856 John Ross and James R. Alexander were in the process of freighting a single-circular mill from the Trinity River and erecting it on the Woodville Road near Brake's Bayou. Although the sawmill export heavily to Galveston, the owners were soon in financial straits, and in November, 1858 Michael Alexander was appointed receiver to pay their indebtedness. After the mill burned, he sold the 22-acre site and salvaged machinery to James Long and Frank 12Charlton was an inactive partner in the general mercantile firm of W. A.

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BEAUMONT IN THE 1850's: 59 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF HENRY R. GREEN branch of useful industry.13 I have always thought that if anything contributed to the pros- perity of our little town, it is unquestionably good schools. Say for instance, that I have a school of 40 pupils: I get $80.00 per month for their tuition; children who board here may swell the amount to Now here is this amount that will be spent right here among the merchants, farmers, mechanics, and others, and will be put in circulation throughout our immediate vicinity. Besides this, if the school be properly conducted, it will attract immigrants hither to school their children, and as a consequence, town property will rise in demand. Books, paper, ink and pens, clothing, provisions and many other things are required to keep it in operation; and all will be bought here, to say nothing of the priceless good done to many a little chap who otherwise might not have learned to read, write, cypher and spell, and prepared himself for future usefulness. was not the Penitentiary . . . nor, in fact, anything else but the high character of her schools. And schools form the life blood and are really the grand levers in the elevation of any place. . . . The exhibition of this hateful propensity [animosity] has done more than one would suppose in ruining the prospects of many a lonely, little village. Let schools, then, and every other useful occupation be encouraged - keep them all going - encourage men who live by honest labor, and above all, let the proclivity to crush one another's vocation be unknown, and some good must necessarily follow as the night the day. Beaumont, Jefferson County .13Green suggests that a strong animosity existed between the patrons of the Corn Street school and those of the Pine Street school, but offers no conclusive hint as to the cause. In April 1854, Beaumont's schools were placed under the administration of County School District No. 1, with Dr. G. W. Hawley and McGuire Chaison as the first trustees. In July, 1858, the County Board of School Examiners, consisting of James Ingalls, John K. Robertson, and George W. O'Brien, was established, and thereafter, county funds could not be disbursed to a teacher unless he or she held a valid certificate of qualification.

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60 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD Ed., The News . . . Messrs. Ross and Alexander, then whom it is impossible to find men of more redoubtable energy, have lost their grist and saw mill, a large lot of the very best quality of cypress lumber, amounting in the aggregate to some fifteen or sixteen thousand dollars. At first, they supposed it was fired by some one, but of this, they are now convinced to the contrary. The furnace [boiler] was on the north side of the mill, with a norther blowing, and with all manner of combustible materials strewn round about it far and near, so that the smallest spark would instantly inflame it. The fire was not noticed until about 11 o'clock Never was a mill so completely enveloped, surrounded and piled up with so much of inflamable substances. It is quite certain, therefore, that it could not have been the work of an incendiary. A bill of first quality cypress lumber, of sixty thousand feet, which had just been completed and which lay beside the mill, was totally consumed. Flaming shingles, streams of fire, cinders, ashes, and volumed smoke swept southward for several miles, igniting the trees, roofs of houses, and shingle yards, but luckily, was checked before much damage [was] caused. The county was illumined so brilliantly that persons and objects were recognizable at a great distance. Though this loss is deeply felt by the neighborhood, and severely by the indefatigable company, yet the mischief is not wholly impassable when such industry comes to the relief of the disasters. Nothing can break them . . . and this is as self-evident as that the sun outshines the moon.... The machinery, acknowledged to have had no superior, is, leaving out the boiler, utterly ruined. It is melancholy to pass by this route, lately the scene of so much activity, industry, and property, and witness the solemn vacancy of wrecked matter and cessation of industrial clatter, which characterized the establishment... . Next to the loss of the sawmill and the strange weather, the people here, for the want of something else to do, are getting married by wholesale; going the whole hog, and I hope they will find it a holy concern as well as a great invention.14 14County records reveal that four marriage licenses were issued at Beaumont between January 31 and February 17, 1859. This was more than usual, but hardly the accelerated pace that Green describes. Only a few days before the sawmill burned, James R. Alexander, one of the owners, was married to Tabitha Mathias.

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BEAUMONT IN THE 1850's: 61 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF HENRY R. GREEN What on earth is more beautiful than a beautiful young lady? And let her have modesty, and a meekness of disposition, a becoming, affable behavior towards all, and she is a million times prettier than the prettiest thing ever conceived by human imagination.15 But a sour, peevish, petulant . . . scornful flirt . . . [is] far from the mark. . . . Young ladies hardly commit a greater mistake than to suppose that the whole round of silly airs, so fashionable of late, is any advantage to them. So with a young man who fancies that a nicely adjusted mustache, a greased head, a slippery front, and a cigar eternally in his . . . mouth, will take him through the world. He may shine but deliver us from such a shining. Hard sense, or horse sense, which is synonymous, is the article after all; without it, there's not much left that .is valuable. Concord, Hardin County Ed., The News . . . But what is done is done, and it's no use grieving over spilled milk or a runaway wife.16 I don't know when I've been more agreeably entertained than during the very pleasant trip on board the U. S. mail packet Mary Falvey, to this place. Charlie Burch, her popular commander, sociable, generous, and clever, is a whole team in all respects, no less so than the attentive and obliging proprietor C. 15It is obvious throughout Green's writings that he desired to exchange his bachelorhood for wedded life. However, he found the few marriageable females at Beaumont already betrothed and advised others not to come there seeking a bride. The editor suspects that Green fell in love in Beaumont and was rejected, or otherwise experienced an unhappy love affair. 16The omitted beginning of this letter is a political digression bemoaning the election of Sam Houston as governor of Texas. In 1857 Houston had lost to Hardin R. Runnels statewide by a 4 to 3 majority (and by the same margin in Jefferson County in both 1857 and 1859), but the hero of San Jacinto made a political comeback in 1859. As senator, Houston's role in the Kansas-Nebraska crisis had been less than palatable to slaveholding Texans, and Green shared their antipathies. 17Burch was a well-known Sabine bar pilot and ship captain. In 1856, C. H. Ruff was Beaumont's lone saloon keeper. He was later a cotton broker, blockade-runner, and partner in Beaumont's J. J. Herring and Company.

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62 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD Doc Truitt, also the mate, having graduated at last, is in attendance to wait upon the ladies which he does quite scientifically, all things considered. The Falvey, has just been fitted up in fine style for the accommodation of passengers, having good accommodations, excel- lent fare, and kind and gentlemanly officers. Mr. Ruff has made arrangements to ply regularly between Sabine Pass and Wiess Bluff on the Neches River, about sixty miles above the Pass, and will connect with the stages which run from the Bluff to Jasper, San Augustine, Nacogdoches, and other towns of Northern and Eastern Texas, so that travellers by this steamer are conveyed by stage in all directions, to the North, East, and Western portions of the state. He will also make weekly trips to this place [Concord on Pine Island Bayou], which is located on the extreme southern boundary of Hardin, and from which one of the best natural roads I ever saw leads off to Woodville, Angelina, and other counties lying to the northwest. It is Mr. Ruff's intention to supply this line with substantial steamers as fast as the business demands them. Those who travel this way will find themselves hurried through to any point in the interior without the least delay of steamers or stages. Mr. Taylor, the energetic stage contractor between San Augustine and Wiess Bluff, knows no such anti-Saxon word as 'failure,' having made none since the beginning of operations along this route. This place [Concord] is of recent birth, though not likely to remain an infant much longer.18 Situated on a high bluff on Pine Island Bayou, about 12 miles above its junction with the Neches and some 40 miles by land above Sabine Pass, having the advantage of splendid navigation, it is attracting the attention of merchants, farmers, [and] business men of all kinds. Hough and Bundy have opened an extensive assortment of dry goods and groceries; Johnson and Company has a commodious warehouse. Father Womack, that good old man who wears his coat all buttoned down before, has opened the Cat Fish Hotel where travellers are certain to receive true, genuine, unadulterated "hospi- tality," having clean sheets, comfortable apartments, good coffee, splendid fare and an excellent grace said over it in quantities to suit 18During the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, when it served as Hardin County's river port, Concord prospered, but dwindled rapidly after Sabine and East Texas trains began crossing Pine Island Bayou in 1881. According to existing records, steamers as large as the 220-foot Florilda managed to navigate Pine Island Bayou and dock there.

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BEAUMONT IN THE 1850's: 63 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF HENRY R. GREEN purchasers, and who, I am glad to find, has fine prospects of driving a good business.19 Cotton and freights are pouring in here in vast quantities, and the country back and around it is filling up with enterprising settlers. A hundred wagons may be seen here at a time. Indeed, it is surprising to witness the wonderful change that is now being wrought in this section of the country. Everywhere, land purchasers may be seen, capitalists looking out for suitable locations, heavy planters coming in with from 50 to 100 Negroes, buying of all who will sell improved and unimproved lands, and going to work with telling effect. Col. Saladee's plantation in Jefferson County is one of the most beautiful in the Union. I learn he is about to go North to get a patent for his steam plow and will bring out a machine to drive posts into the ground for fencing instead of digging holes as heretofore, and which will make a fence more durable than those constructed in the old style.20 Time forbids that I should mention all the improvements going on here and so, will defer a further description of matters and things till another time as but a few moments of leisure allow me to post you this much. Beaumont, Jefferson County Ed., The News The first symptom of Christmas that was apparent in this part of the North Temperate Zone, was ushered forth in a dish of pop corn rolled up in molasses, in balls about the size of the bump of pomposity, 8 or 10 inches in diameter, romantically cooled with a delicate linement of sweet butter, and eaten with sweet milk, spoon, masticators, and no small share of that inseparable concomitant of 19Womack, the Catfish Hotel proprietor, apparently died during the succeeding year. In the 1860 Hardin County census, the hotel, where many of Concord's merchants resided, was being managed by Womack's widow Mary. 20C. W. Saladee, who styled himself as an 'inventor' in the 1860 census, was a dreamer who fooled many persons other than Green. He bought his league of land on credit and subsequently abandoned it when he couldn't meet the payments.

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64 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD jubilation - great chit-chat and glorious gab... . Then came popcorn, just "dry so," without salt, without butter, simple as Democracy, unalloyed in its nudity and as sublime as the proud struttings of the invincible majesty of a victorious turkey gobbler. Such is popcorn in its naked state; such is its simplicity and modesty of character, whether done up with "sweetening" or with- out; for truth, sociality, goodness, family fixens, domestic happiness, backwoods jollity in its perfection, and all the nobler emotions of humanity are evolved by this simple and child-like repast. . . . Of the good things of earth, it is undoubtedly next in order after that of "popping the question." Then Daddy McGuire [Chaison] killed the big rooster - thanks be to all stars - and that was "glory enough for one day!" Not that I rejoice in the death of the noble fellow, for he was first in crowing, first off the roost, and first in the hearts of all the hens. . .. It may be justly said that "he was beloved by all who knew him."21 Then came the grand family, all-hands-round eggnog - a part of the programme which was executed in a magnificent style, begetting its usual fruit of long yarns, supra-mundane feelings, matchless sublimity . . . peace and good will to all men on earth, and finally a "general suspension" which leaves a weakness in one's "stays," accompanied with symptoms of predisposition to gascading. Fiddling and dancing and a thousand other things took place - but this is enough for one Christmas, so let it end. Heavy rains and spring-like weather are upon us now, and all the water courses are booming. [Henry C.] Smith and [Henry B.] Force's new boat [the steamer T. J. Smith] is receiving her engine and will be completed soon. There is some talk of opening steam communication between here and Galveston city - a project that will undoubtedly make somebody a fortune should such communication be effected. There is much cotton brought here that never sees Galveston, and much trading done in which your merchants have no share. It seems that Galveston is slow in presenting herself to the interior of the state by roads and rivers, but if she does not want all 21As the holiday guest of the McGuire Chaison family, Green has left perhaps the only description of a Christmas celebration in antebellum Jefferson County. A gala occasion otherwise devoid of frills, the role of popcorn, conversation, fiddling and dancing demonstrates the pioneer Beaumonters' knack for entertaining themselves. The Chaison home had formerly belonged to Stephen L. Smith (a brother of Erastus "Deaf" Smith), Jefferson County's most diversified antebellum planter and only significant sugar producer.

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BEAUMONT IN THE 1850's: 65 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF HENRY R. GREEN this trade, of course, it will go elsewhere, to other places which do offer greater facilities for transportation. Beaumont, Jefferson County Ed., The News I am continually receiving letters from various parts of the state, asking of me information in reference to this portion of the country, and as it would be impossible for me to answer all these letters without dropping everything, and devoting my time wholly to that task, I furnish you, rather hurriedly, with this brief description of Jefferson County, which, I believe, will contain satisfactory answers to the thousand and one questions propounded by my many different interrogatories. To begin with ... I will state: 1. The general appearance of the county is low and level, slightly undulating, but not enough so to drain waters with a great degree of 2. The soil embraces the prairie and timbered kind, but prairie mostly, and versatile in its character. It comprises the hog-wallow, the black sticky, light sandy, waxy gray, the reddish clay, chocolate loam, dark sandy alluvial, and most all kinds common in a prairie The timbered land is principally of the post-oak kind, not much account, though others have a growth of sweet gum, hickory, walnut, ash, black-jack, pine, wild peach, a variety of oaks, mulberry, and others too tedious to be introduced to the reader. . . . Ten miles north of Beaumont, the inexhaustible pineries set in, reaching far into the interior, while the river bottoms present the heaviest forests of the finest cypress in the world. The average price of farming land throughout the county ranges from one to five dollars an acre. On Taylor's Bayou, fifteen miles south of here, is one of the most beautiful and productive farming regions of the state, yielding sugar cane as fine as the best of the Louisiana lands. . . . Sabine Pass is situated upon a level prairie, backed with rich and poor lands, a few marshes, fine cottages, and beautifully diversified scenery. Not a case of sickness occurred there this summer, while it Was so prevalent

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66 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD elsewhere.22 There is neither a druggist nor a physician in the place as there is no need for either, as the people, if they die at all, generally do without assistance. We have had some chills and fever at Beaumont, but nothing of a serious nature. 3. We have both well and cistern water..The well water contains lime to some degree - not rotten lime - does not wash well without being softened, and is what I call good water, at least all are fond of it. The average depth of wells is eighteen feet - but few springs or running streams. 4. Building materials are readily obtained - having splendid cypress and pine lumber,.which sells for from $10 to $25 per M, and three steam sawmills constantly running. 5. Navigation is always good, and we are within a few hours run of Galveston, New Orleans, and the rest of the world, if accessible by water. Some half a dozen steamers are plying upon the river, besides a number of sloops, schooners, and sailing vessels of different kinds, and all articles of merchandise can be shipped at a moment's notice. 6. The atmosphere here is salty, and consequently pure, or it would not be used in the preservation of meats. . . . In the summer season, mere existence here is enjoyment, from the vigor of the Gulf winds, while in the winter, we are sheltered from the rough northers by the dense forests which lie immediately on the North. 7. During a residence of two years at this place, I have been troubled but little by mosquitoes, or been compelled to sleep under a . . . mosquito bar. The country is being ditched, and consequently the causes for the propagation of these insects are nearly removed. 8. Owing to the loss of territory necessary to the formation of some new counties, we have but 125 voters and about the same number of families. The inhabitants are quiet, orderly, out of debt, attend to their own business, wear homespun generally, and are very polite to strangers. 9. It is no country for lawyers, as there is little or no litigation, civil or criminal. Our docket is perhaps the smallest in the state, showing but a dozen cases, and small matters at that. 10. The county is tolerably well supplied with schools, there being two at Beaumont, which the citizens sustain with becoming liberality 22By 'prevalent elsewhere,' Green meant that between 3 and 400 persons had just died of yellow fever at Galveston. Except for the year 1862 early Jefferson County was remarkably fortunate to have escaped the dreaded 'yellowjack,'which constantly plagued other Texas localities, principally Houston and Galveston, between 1839 and 1875.

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and credit to themselves. There are more children here, according to the number of families, than [in] most parts of the world. 11. It's no use to come here to hunt up a wife - the race is nearly extinct; but in about three years, an abundant crop will be gathered. We have about a dozen young ladies in the county, some of them quite beautiful, while the others are - quite handsome and, as no one dies here, there are no widows. 12. Farming, stock-raising, the manufacture of lumber, shingles, pickets, etc., are the chief pursuits of the inhabitants. 13. Some gentleman wants to know if the people who live here are 'white,' meaning, I suppose, are they honest, of the right grit, or something of that kind! Yes, they are all white, except the Negroes, and some of them are white, or nearly so. 14. The [Galveston] News and Civilian circulate here mostly, both well liked.... Augusta [Sabine Pass], Jefferson Co. Ed. The News A short run from Beaumont on the U. S. Mail Packet T. J. Smith brought us to this precinct. . . . This craft is just one hundred feet long, wide in proportion, four feet in the hold, runs like lightning with a thunder bolt after it, neatly finished, comfortably arranged, and well worthy of the partonage of shippers and the traveling public. The captain, C. L. Anderson, is five feet, eight inches, in perpendicular height, stocking-footed, and with his "stove pipe" attached, he is, of course, somewhat higher. He is a refined model of a true gentleman, courteous and accommodating, and has conquered for himself an enviable popularity in these waters. He loves fish, steamboating, the ladies, good music, and knows the power of steam as well as any man. The engineer, Mr. A. McGill, is scientific in his line, very careful and experienced. In fact, all the officers down to the 4th cook are just the right kind of merchandise to suit the

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68 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD This is one of the pleasantest spots in America. The everlasting sea breeze, the music of the ocean's roar, the noble cistern water, the countless varieties of fish, the cleanliness of its streets, and a thousand other attractions render it, as a place of abode, unequalled by any in my knowledge. . . . There are at this place four commission and forwarding houses, four dry good stores, one tin shop, one gunsmith, two retailing grocers, two hotels, . . . three or four wharves, seven steamboats on the Neches and Sabine, forty-three families, forty-odd voters, one dredge boat building to remove the reefs and Neches and Sabine bars, no bachelors nor young ladies over eighteen, very few bad habits, one piano, one Masonic Lodge, two Christian denominations, one preacher, and many other things I can't There were shipped from this port last season 15,176 bales of cotton, which next season will increase to 20 or 25,000, 4,000 beeves, and 115,000 lbs. of leaf tobacco, which were sent to New York via Galveston, but which will doubtless be shipped to that place direct hereafter. . . . The shipments both of cotton and beeves is increasing in an astonishing ratio. . . . There is a project on foot to build a cotton press, which will certainly be constructed before many years. I notice considerable improvements in building warehouses, wharves, private dwellings, etc. The steamship Matagorda, one of the most splendid that graces these waters, commanded by that ex- perienced and popular officer, Captain Flanders, comes up safely to the wharves and adds additional and important facilities to this section of the country. The land back of the town is well-adapted to the culture of sugar, cotton, corn, potatoes, and many kinds of fruit. A good number of families have come in, and several wealthy upcountry families have made purchases and will come down in a short time. In truth, present indications show that Augusta [Sabine] is just on the verge of being born again, to come out in a more beautiful edition, redeemed, regenerated . . . after having been baptized in fire, hard times, and the opposition of the fates.24 23Henry Clay Smith of Orange subsequently became captain and sole owner of the T. J. Smith. In November 1859 Arthur McGill, the engineer was killed when the Smith's boiler exploded. His widow, subsequently Mrs. Kate borman, became Sabine's Confederate heroine for her role at the Battle of Sabine Pass and for "tongue-lashing" a Union patrol that commandeered her horse and cart in October, 1862. See (Houston) Tr-Weekly Telegraph, November 5, 1862. 24Sabine's inhabitants increased from about 400 in 1858 to about 1,500 or more in 1861, but the town was quickly depopulated when yellow fever broke out

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BEAUMONT IN THE 1850's: 69 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF HENRY R. GREEN The ladies of this place are, of course, exceedingly beautiful, interesting, smart, and you may say somewhat romantic. They . . . are strongly fortified with hoops, which are not so bad after all, are pretty well versed in books, and do not appear to touch the earth when they are navigating with anything like average speed. I'll bet a thousand shingles against a horned frog that prettier, smarter, more intelligent, spunky married ladies can't be found anywhere. But Colonel, there is one thing I can't stomach - who in the name of Beelzebub can admire a married lady dressed in pantalettes? .. . - The men are tolerably good-looking, too, hard working, and not a loafer among them that I know of. They look as healthy as if they had been accustomed to corn dodgers and hog all their days... . They are the most upright set of fellows . . . that we have in Texas, civil, religious, full of charity and lager beer, well to do in the world and independent as a steel trap. Fruit culture . . . is appreciated here - peaches, pears, plums, figs, oranges, dates, quinces, pineapples . . . do well. . . . A pleasant visit to the mansion of Capt. [R. F. I Green convinced me of the entire feasibility of producing as fine sweet and sour oranges as anywhere in the torrid climate, while figs, plums, peaches, and apples, etc. can be successfully grown.25 Beaumont, Jefferson Co. Ed., The News It is but seldom anything of importance transpires in our quiet and peaceful little village. . . . I may be laboring under the insane excitement which I have endeavored to describe, but my impression is that the communication . . . is one of manifest importance to the 25R. F. Green was a trustee of Sabine's Methodist congregation and a prosperous retail grocer until his death in 1861. His probate file leaves the only clues to Sabine's antebellum Tremont Baptist Church. See the Texas Almanac, 1857; Vol. M, p. 498, Deed Records; and File 82, Estate of R. F. Green, Probate Records, Jefferson County, Texas.

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70 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD The trial of Jack Bunch, for the murder of Samuel Deputy, the venue of which was changed, for some cause, from Madison [Orange] to this place, came on for trial in our District Court on Wednesday, the 12th inst., all of which day and a part of the next were consumed in empanelling a jury. The testimony, when introduced, was positive and conclusive, that the prisoner was in the boat with Sam Ashworth at the time the foul deed was perpetrated; that he pulled the boat forward and back, as requested by Sam Ashworth, thereby facilitating the commission of the murder; that he was perfectly cool and deliberate the whole time, not manifesting the least surprise or oppostion to Ashworth's murderous design; and that it occurred about the middle of the Sabine River. The prosecution was ably conducted by Mr. Wilson, District Attorney, and Col. [H. C.] Hicks of Jasper, and the defense, as well as could be under the circumstances by Messrs; [William] Lewis and [Judge E. A. M.] Gray of Beaumont. There was but little effort on either side, as it was useless, in the prosecution, and the defense The jury retired after receiving the charge of the court, and returned, with but a brief absence, the verdict of "guilty of murder in the first degree." Whereupon, the prisoner was remanded to the custody of the sheriff [James Ingalls], and on the next day, ordered into court to receive the sentence of the law, which was, that he should be hung on Friday, the 21st inst., until dead. Judge Maxey accompanied the sentence . . . with a few eloquent remarks upon the enormity of the crime. . . and though every other person within his hearing was apparently moved by the words .. . the prisoner appeared cool and insensible to all that was transpiring around him. He was vigilantly guarded by the sheriff and from fifteen to twenty men until the day of execution, and during the interval, would frequently, in the most reckless manner, jest about his approaching fate. Even when led out of the courthouse, where he had been confined, to the place of execution, he greeted familiarly and roughly with an oath, those standing outside. ... While the preparations were being made, he was asked if he wished to say anything. He answered in the affirmative, and never until then, had he evinced the least consciousness of his fate. He exhorted those around him to pursue a different course from his . . . and reminded them that his words were the words of a dying man. He forgave all those for whom he had cherished animosity....

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BEAUMONT IN THE 1850's: 71 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF HENRY R. GREEN He was then very willingly led, or assisted, up a ladder, three or four steps when he inquired of the sheriff if he were high enough. The sheriff answered by requesting him to get up one step higher. He did so and announced the same to the sheriff, requested that his remains should be decently attended to, when the ladder, at that moment, was turned, and the spirit of Jack Bunch which, under different circumstances, might have made his life here useful, was hurled from the body.... t is hoped that the conviction and execution of Jack Bunch will exert a beneficial influence upon the minds of that portion of our citizens who have heretofore seemed to favor and encourage the violation of all law and order with impunity. All the troubles in Orange County have not been the consequence of bad laws, but for want of a proper will and spirit among a majority of the citizens to see the laws, such as they are, properly and effectually enforced. The people there are beginning to learn that the rights of the honest and less wary of the individuals composing any society, cannot be protected and secured to them, without the application of laws, and that, while it is the duty of every citizen to see that they are executed, it is their duty also to respect and obey them themselves. Mr. Marsh, chief engineer of the Mexican Gulf and Henderson Railroad, is still at work on the proposed route, preparatory to grading. The laborers that were expected from the North have not yet arrived. Business here is dull with evidence of an approaching rise in the river, and better times for merchants above. Times here, in other respects, are hard; a fellow can just keep familiar enough with the sight of the critter to recognize a V from a two-bit piece [25#] - but - Oh! Wait for the steam wagon, and we will all take a consoling ride! Votre Ami! Madison [Orange], Orange County Ed., The News We hove in sight of this roundly-finished, crescent-like little city yesterday evening, on board the W. H. Wilkins, Capt. Wilson com- manding, having set out from Beaumont on the day preceding our

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72 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD arrival hither. The distance from Beaumont to this place, by water, is about 50 miles, and is a most delightful run. The trip can be made easily in half a day, with a fair wind, but as our rigging was carried away, we were somewhat delayed in reaching here as soon as Madison sits like a fairy upon a bewitching crescent, formed by the Sabine, the houses neatly painted, stretching like the links of a chain clear around the bend of the river, so that standing at the uppermost part of the town, the eye is presented with a continuous line of fascinating cottages, all in a circle, and looming up from a profusion of flowers, shrubbery, and ornamental trees of the most voluptuous "My God!" I could but exclaim, while the schooner was booming around the long circle of buildings, "What a magnificent view! Just look at those pretty little houses, so whitely painted, ensconced like a duck in a nest of roses, . . . swanlike, full of life, happiness, and hilarity and reveling in the breeze with which the airs of Paradise might suffer something in comparison." But this is a picture for poets, not for me whose hand and fancy trembles too much to be lengthy, after continually hauling in the main-sheet and hauling many other matters incident to vessels of sail, which I thought needed no hauling at all, but the sailor thought Madison contains fifty-two families, eight stores, two hotels, two doctors, four lawyers, one blacksmith shop, one shoe shop, two schools, a Sabbath school of 60 scholars, two butchers, two ship- yards, two gunsmiths, one Masonic Hall, elegantly done up, one drug store, one grog shop, at 'Kilkenny,' in Louisiana, on the opposite shore, doing a flourishing business of nothing at all . . . one courthouse and jail, and several shingle yards, a great many of which are made here. There is a constant breeze from the gulf, and it is one of the most pleasant . . . health-inspiring localities on which my eyes ever turned. It is situated 12 miles north of Sabine Lake, from whose glorious bosom, and that of the gulf, it receives a continual quota of fine The county court of Newton County has made an appropriation of 26His first view of Orange ignited poetic fires, common to the journalism of his day, not otherwise seen in Green's letters. His description of the antebellum community remains unsurpassed, even after tedious and historically-insignificant portions have been edited out.

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BEAUMONT IN THE 1850's: 73 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF HENRY R. GREEN sufficient funds to bridge all the streams crossing the roads leading from the town of Newton. . . . The citizens of this town have made a subscription, which it is believed will be sufficient to make a good road to this place, and when this is completed, a number of capitalists are ready to put on a line of stages connecting this place with San Augustine.... I attended divine services last evening at the Masonic Hall, which, though spacious and filled with seats, was not sufficient to contain the congregation that thronged through the doors and windows and other apertures, until the Hall was crowded to suffocation. Many were compelled to remain without for the want of room within.27 Intense excitement reigned throughout; 38 have been converted. Large numbers had and were still joining the church, and the utmost feeling for the salvation of souls was exhibited on all sides. I have never seen so much interest manifested on the subject of religion Shrieks, and sobs, and groans, and shouts, and loud amens frequently rent the air, until everyone, even the most case-hardened sinners, . . . fell before the influence like reeds in a storm. The preacher was a talented young man, but there was also talent in that audience, equal in its own way to that of the minister, the talent of squalling infants, terrible enough to carry away the shrouds, rigging, and sails, and the human soul itself... . I have examined some fine gardens in town, among them is Dr. [William] Hewson's, which is very sightly. The finest grapes, figs, nectarines, and other fruit prosper remarkably well.'The doctor is a man of decided taste, and the efforts of himself and lady in sustaining Sunday School, through a number of years, are worthy of 27Madison Lodge No. 126, chartered in April, 1853, was one of the earliest in Southeast Texas. A year later it was housed in impressive quarters that were noted by many early writers. School and religious services were held in it for many years afterward. See Roderic Random, "Visit to Orange County," Nacogdoches Chro- nicle, August 16, 1853; and Orange Weekly Tribune, September 10, 1879. 28Intense revivalism, conducted by the circuit riders of most protestant faiths, characterized .the East Texas frontier. Since the opportunity to attend religious services was usually infrequent, Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians often commingled in religious worship. In 1853, when Fr. P. F. Parisot celebrated the first Catholic Mass m Orange for the lone resident of that faith, the priest observed that "the whole place was out just to see the priest, but all behaved very well during Mass." The Rev. Jarvis L. Angel was one of the earliest Methodist circuit riders assigned to Orange in 1853. See P. F. Parisot, The Reminiscences of A Missionary Priest (San Antonio: 1899), pp. 7-8; and Nacogdoches Chronicle, December 13,

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74 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD commendation. When he started the school, he had but five scholars; now he frequently has seventy-one.29 Our trip here was very pleasant, nothing happening to mar the jollity of the trip, more than our first mate was beaten and banged over the head, by the various booms, fell into the hatch once or twice, and lost a small portion of his coat-tail and hat. We had a green one on board who knew it all when we started, but found out pretty quick that he didn't know anything after we got into the Lake [Sabine]. During the height of a sharp wind, the Capt. ordered him to "let go the jib," but he was not paying any attention to the command. The Capt. ordered him again in a louder style, but still heeding not, and having given the same order a half dozen times until the Captain's patience was exhausted, he at last thundered out with all his might, "Let go that jib!" The fellow turned around with perfect coolness, and staring at the Capt., like a fool sung out, "Who in the h-l's got a holt of your jib?" The Wilkins is a fine sailor, and what Captain Wilson don't know about sailing her is not of much importance... Hardinsville, Hardin County Ed., The News Packard, a capacious vessel . . . now receiving freight for the railroad at Beaumont.30 I'm positively amazed at the rapid improvement of this place. Why, they are beginning to call the streets by their names - Pearl Street, Common Street, Broadway, etc., a thing I wouldn't 29Dr. William Hewson, an early merchant and Orange's first physician operated the Sabbath School from 1851 until his death in 1867. In 1853 his wife Mary Ann was Orange's only school teacher. See Dr. David Hewson, "History of Orange," unpublished manuscript, circa 1890, p. 4; and Nacogdoches Chronicle, August 16, 30The 220-foot, 2,500 bale Florilda, one of the largest inland steamboats in Texas, carried construction materials for the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. Later, it performed yeoman service for the Confederacy maintaining the transportation link from Beaumont's railroad to Niblett's Bluff, La. The steamer sank at Orange during the hurricane of September 13, 1865.

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BEAUMONT IN THE 1850's: 75 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF HENRY R. GREEN have dreamed of five years ago. The shipping also at the wharves begins to make things look like a city, steamships, steamboats, schooners, brigs. . . . I tell you, business is brisk this way, and they talk about shelling the streets, fencing in the [Sabine] Lake to keep the alligators out.... Charlie Alexander [C. H. Alexander and Co.] and McGaffey and Keith, forwarding and commission merchants, are doing a handsome business, and other establishments will be added soon to meet the increasing amount of business that is rapidly rising up at this place. There is also a newspaper just started into life, the Sabine Pass Times, a neat little affair, edited by a talented and accomplished gentleman, Prof. [James T.] Fuller, but darn such a foreman as he's got. He has no more appreciation of the humorous than a 'possum has of cologne. I thought he was a Bishop of the Episcopalian Church at first glance - so dry, steady, and sedate. You know, printers are generally kinder devilish and pretty good judges of a certain kind of staple commodity of the South . . . two-bits a quart straight. . . . [Professor Fuller] is also Principal of a flourishing academy under his immediate supervision.31 They have the largest and best-framed [D. R. Wingate's] sawmill, a wonderful piece of machinery, the work of Mr. Hotchkiss [Charles Hotchkiss, the mill foreman]. They have also built a church, so that there is a chance for sinners . . . if they wish a through ticket to a safer port than is found on our coast. They have got the prettiest girls that ever fainted or danced a jig. They have the noblest site in the world for the founding of a city, for they have room enough to build upon clear to the Trinity... . The Eastern Texas Railroad is in the process of construction, having the gulf terminus at this point, the other in Grayson County . . . twenty-seven miles of which are well graded and ready for the ties and iron. The grade from here to Pine Island Bayou, a distance of thirty-nine miles, will be finished against January, 1860. It may be stated here that this enterprise is strictly a project of our own state, owned by Texans, and entirely free and disconnected from the control or influence of Northern jobbers, speculators, or capital. Its 31Fuller operated Fuller's Academy and the Sabine Pass Times until his death in November 1860, but E. I. Kellie continued its publication until April 1861 when he entered the Confederate army. The newspaper had a circulation of 625 but no copies are known to survive. See Federal Manuscript Returns of 1860, Schedule VI, Social Statistics; and File 73, Probate Records Jefferson County, Texas; E. I. Kellie, "Sabine Pass in Olden Times," Beaumont Enterprise, April 16, 1905.

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76 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD whole length traverses one of the richest regions of the world, and when completed will, as all agree, be one of the best paying roads that was ever built.32 Well, I must rest here for a season, as I'm nearly fagged out from having attended a party last evening, given on board the Florildd, whose use was very cleverly tendered to the citizens of the Pass by her gentlemanly commander, and where there was a great deal of beauty, funny dancing, dreadful music, a few ugly men, much pleasure, exchanges of friendly feelings, and the most stupendously accursed wine that was ever administered to saint or sinner. Orange, Orange County, Texas Ed., The News Feeling tolerably sheepish in health. . . we took passage. . . [and] arrived here without much loss of life, though at the expense of much hard swearing, sweating. Orange looks like about a year ago - about the same, only the people appear to have plenty to eat. . . . I have seen a great deal of the world; have been to New Orleans twice, and to Powderhorn once ... but the spoke-shaving machine in [John] Merriman's Mills takes my beaver with the greatest facility and the least expense. Let lumber fall within its reach and it comes out a wagon forthwith.33 Here is the greatest shingle and sawmill exporter in the state, constituting the chief pursuit of the inhabitants. The town is filling up with newcomers which already reach to nearly one hundred and fifty families.34 Regular preaching, good schools, fully attended, a 32Green missed the completion date of the railroad at Beaumont by one year. The Eastern Texas trackage reached there in January, 1861, but further construction ceased when the Civil War began. 33In 1851, John Merriman and William Smith built Orange's first steam circular mill. By 1856, R. H. Jackson's sawmill, Broser, Wood and Co., and the Empire Mills were in operation at Orange, but the latter, described as "the best in the state," burned on May 31, 1856. 34Jacob DeCordova, in his volume Texas: Her Resources and her Public Men, gave Orange's 1856 populaton as 600 persons. However, his figure is an exaggeration and more applicable to 1859.

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BEAUMONT IN THE 1850's: 77 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF HENRY R.,GREEN pleasant and beautiful locality, fine health, shingles, shavings, lumber, and a glorious revival of fleas are the constituent elements of Orange. There is one grocery in Orange, at which an occasional customer, now and then, gets poetical. . . . The truth is, no one can tipple with whiskey without, sooner or later, losing his dignity. . . . No error is as great as that which would drown sorrow by drowning one's self in whiskey. Let us, then, be duly sober and wide awake, for the Abolitionist cometh when no man knoweth it, and the sluggard is taken in his own stupidity. An Agricultural Fair is established here, which is another move in the right direction of human affairs. Dr. [William] Hewson was awarded the medal for the largest Irish potato of the season, weighing about one and one-half pounds, and of a different species from that usually grown in this country. Some one received a prize for the finest potato grown above the ground, a new kind also, having its roots developed on top of the plant, like apples on a tree, instead of in a bed in which they are planted. Dr. [C. L.J Anderson, for the best yarn, which he spins about as well as anybody. Dr. [A. H.] Reading for the best method of making bust-skull palatable, which is just to leave it alone entirely. Mr. [Charles] Saxon for the best improved apparatus for bringing a young lady to her senses in a fit of 'mulestrics,' when she leaves her partner on the ball room floor and takes her seat. Mr. [J. H.] Hannah, for the best treatise on goodlooking men. Mr. Dick Jordan, for a new method of rosining a fiddle, which is to rosin internally.... Vegetation is kept back by an occasional frost, and today we have a staving 'norther that is dangerous to sailing craft, both feminine and neuter. Orange, Orange County, Texas Ed., The News We have just landed here to attend the barbecue, and had more meats cooked up, beef, pork, veal, fish, merino goats, turkeys, etc., than would feed all the people here for a month. There was a large turnout of the natives, accompanied by the Orange Band headed by Prof. [T.] Wieskenewsky, a native of Kamchatka, and which en-

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78 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD livened the occasion and did good service. Gus Merriman read the Declaration of Independence of America, and Gen. Jackson, the orator of the day, acquitted himself with honor, while showing up the British in true colors, and giving a lively review of our grand-daddies' ups and downs during the American Revolution.35 The Gen. had committed to paper a fine speech for the occasion, but owing to a mixture of ... circumstances containing little or no sugar, he happened to turn over two or three leaves at a time, whereby he lost the thread of the narrative and was compelled to pitch out dry so and did first-rate. The whole affair went off satisfactorily to everyone, and the Great Fourth was wound up with a fine ball, a few empty bottles, and plenty of ballast which kept. things steady and was creditable to the inhabitants of Orange. 35General Jackson is believed to have been the full name of a person residing at Orange at that time rather than a military title.

_(44 additional pages omitted from this transcript — view the full text on the Portal to Texas History.)_

Original record: metapth821227 on the Portal to Texas History.