Sam Houston IV Becomes General of Texas Army

Texas History page contributor, David Martin, advises that Sam Houston IV accepted the appointment to be the next General of the Texas Army yesterday. Sam Houston IV is the great grandson of General Sam Houston who bravely led the Texas army to victory during the Battle San Jacinto on April 21, 1836.

The Texas Army was established to honor its predecessor and to keep the memory alive of those gallant men. In 1969, the Texas Army was officially reactivated by Governor Preston Smith for ceremonial purposes. Each member of the Texas Army is a commissioned "Colonel" by the Governor of Texas. The Texas Army also participates as the special honor guard in the Governor's Inauguration Parade.

Sam Houston IV will be succeeding General Carroll A. "Curly" Lewis, Jr. of the Texas Army who died at 2:45 p.m. on January 7, 2010. The appointment of Sam Houston IV came at a dinner following a special memorial service for General Lewis conducted at the San Jacinto Monument on January 20, 2010 at 2:00 p.m.

Sam Houston IV is a member of the Sam Houston Chapter #38 of the Sons of the Republic of Texas. Houston has dedicated much of his adult life to preserving the history of Texas.

Texas Heritage Society - "Remember Goliad!" Tour of Texas History No. 4

Texas Heritage Society First Vice President, Hewitt Clark, has announced the intinerary for the Tour of Texas History #4. Mark your calenders and keep this date open.

Hotel rooms are available at the Antler's Inn in Goliad, Texas (1013 US Hwy 59 S.). Telephone 361-645-8215. Double rooms are $58. Here is the revised tour schedule.

Saturday Feb 6, 2010:

12:00 noon--Meet at the Hanging Tree Restaurant in Goliad, Texas (144 N. Courthouse Square) for lunch and to discuss plans.

1:00--Walking tour of the historic plaza area with guide Benny Martinez.

2:00--Travel to General Zaragoza's home for lecture about Cinco de Mayo.

3:00--Special lecture by the Director of the Presidio La Bahia about the 1813 McGee-Gutierrez Expediton including the "bloodiest day in Texas history," the bloody arm flag and Capt. Dimmit's Declaration of Independence in 1835, and the massacre of 400 Texas soldiers under the command of Col. Fannin in 1836. This lecture will be followed by a tour of the Presidio.

6:00--Dinner at Hanging Tree Restaurant and a talk about the Cart War and Violence in Goliad from 1850-1870 by Mr Starr, author and historian.

Sunday, Feb. 7, 2010:

8:00--Breakfast, to be announced.

9:00--Tour and lecture at the Mission.

10:00-- Mass at the Mission for those wishing to participate.

11:00--Travel ten miles to the Coleto Creek battle site for a lecture by Benny Martinez and relatives.

For reservations and further information please contact:

Hewitt Clarke
281-367-2709
Rebelwriter@pdq.net

Click here to vist the Texas Heritage Society's web site.

Photograph above of the Presidio La Bahia is courtesy of Joe and Lynn Keith. All rights reserved.

Sabine Crossing - A Story of Early Texas

Review of Sabine Crossing by Jacquelyn Thompson
Review by K. K. Searle

I have to admit I was surprised by this book. I enjoyed it very much! Sabine Crossing is excellent Texas historical fiction. Jacquelyn Thompson obviously knows her Texas history as well as her own family history.

Thompson took real family history and made a book out of it and though this is normally the recipe for REALLY bad fiction, Thompson pulls off a HUGE upset! It is really difficult to believe this is her first novel.

The book follows the Bradley family of Kentucky to Austin's Colony in Texas in the early 1820's. The book is told from the perspective of the family matriarch, Elizabeth Bradley and later from the point of view of her daughter, Letty Bradley.

In the early pages of the book, you will think there are just too many characters to keep track of. But, this, as you will see, is just Jacquelyn Thompson sneaking up on you for the "emotional" kill, or rather kills, later on.

Her characters are extremely well developed and really come to life. A big part of this is due to Thompson's dialogue for each of her characters which is some of the best I have seen in while.

Gentlemen, be warned, Sabine Crossing is to novels what a chick flick is to movies. The book is definitely designed to appeal to a female target audience. Very strong women standing up to the incredible hardships in colonial Texas and beyond. This book really tugs at the heart strings and yes, I will admit it, Jacquelyn Thompson's story did bring a tear to my eye on several different occasions and that has not happened in a long long time. And as a guy, that is as much as I am going to admit.

Too often good books are too short and you wish there was more. That is not the situation here. Sabine Crossing, at 667 pages, pulls you in and just keeps on entertaining for a nice long while. My only disappointment in the book was that Letty did not get to kill Warren. And if you want to know what that is all about, you will just have to read the book!

Sabine Crossing - A Story of Early Texas is available at Amazon.com.

Passing of General Carroll A. "Curly" Lewis of The Texas Army

Col. Jim Peddy, Communications Officer of the Texas Army, informs us that General Carroll A. Lewis, Jr. of the Texas Army died at 2:45 p.m. on January 7, 2010.

The arrangements are being made for the Memorial Service for General Lewis. The services will be held at the San Jacinto Monument on January 20, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. Members of the Texas Army will be forming up well in advance of the service shortly after 1:00 p.m. The Texas Army will be firing salutes with cannon and rifles.

The details of this special and meaningful service for General Lewis are still being worked out. If you have any questions, please contact Col. Jim Peddy at 713-451-5139 or jimpeddy@comcast.net.

Homestead Heritage Days - Humble, Texas February 13, 2010

Mark you calendars for Homestead Heritage Days on Saturday February 13, 2010, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Redbud Hill Homestead at the Jesse H. Jones Park and Nature Center.

There will be plenty of activities for everyone including:

Demonstrations:

Pioneer Construction Skills
Spinning and weaving
Open-fire cooking
Lye soap making
Hands-on crafts
Heritage music
Pioneer lore
Survival skills
Civil war drills
Black powder demos
Native American crafts
Militia re-enactment groups

1830’s Homestead:

Corn crib
Chicken house
Root cellar
Log cabin
Rail fences
Bread oven
Wagon rides
Pioneer garden
Blacksmith shop
Woodworking shop
Native American dwellings

The Jesse H. Jones Park and Nature Center is located at 20634 Kenswick Drive, Humble, Texas. For more information call Harris County Precinct 4, (281) 446-8588 or click here for a pdf file with all the information.

Photo courtesy of Texas Heritage Society Publicity Chair, Pat Spackey. Jennifer and Kary Searle in period attire.

Texas Heritage Society - March 2010 Meeting Historian James P. Bevill and The Paper Republic

The March meeting of the Texas Heritage Society is scheduled for March 18, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at 18 West Shaker Court in The Woodlands. The March meeting will feature Texas historian James P. Bevill. Mr. Bevill is the author of the fabulous new Texas history book The Paper Republic - The Struggle for Money, Credit and Independence in the Republic of Texas which was published in November of 2009 by Bright Sky Press. Texas Heritage Society President, Kameron Searle, has reviewed Bevill's book and writes that "The Paper Republic is destined to become a classic on the history of the Republic of Texas."

In researching the money and the economy of the Republic of Texas, Bevill has added a whole knew dimension to our understanding of the overall history of the Republic of Texas. James Bevill's 352 page book is also one of the most beautiful Texas history books we have ever seen. James Bevill has agreed to bring copies of The Paper Republic to sell and will be glad to sign copies of this amazing new book. James Bevill is a very interesting speaker and has many interesting historical anecdotes about the early history of Texas that he has discovered over his years of research. Come to this meeting and we can assure you that you will learn some things about the Republic of Texas you never knew before.

James P. Bevill graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Houston - Clear Lake. He is a First Vice President - Investments in the River Oaks office of UBS Financial Services in Houston, Texas. Mr. Bevill is also a past President of the Texas Numismatic Association and an authority on the currency issued by the Republic of Texas. Because of his extensive historical research into the history of the Republic of Texas, Mr. Bevill was recently elected an Honorary Member of The Sons of the Republic of Texas.

Click here to see the Texas Heritage Society web site.

East Montgomery County Historical Society - January 2010 Meeting and Goals

The following information was submitted to the Texas History Page by East Montgomery County Historical Society Historian, Barbara Hamilton.

Happy New Year!!!! The East Montgomery County Historical Society is planning another great year. Our first meeting of 2010 will be January 12th at the R B Tullis Library, on the Hwy 59 access road just north of Community Drive. Meet and Greet at 6:30 and the meeting starts at 7 p.m.

Our speaker for the evening will introduce us to his ancestor Jeremiah May. Tracking down an ancestor can be a tedious and difficult job but as you follow all the routine steps you don’t find just a name and dates. You find a person. A person who lived in a particular time period, who participated in certain events of history. Each step of the search reveals new insights into who this person was. Clifford May will introduce us to his ancestor Jeremiah May and tell us how he found Jeremiah’s history.

Short term goals for the Society include continuing the restoration work on the Old Porter Community Building so that we may open an East County Museum to spotlight the local history from the time settlers moved into the area just after the Civil War until about the mid 1950s when the telephone and electricity connected everyone with the rest of the world.

We plan to continue periodically display historical artifacts at the R B Tullis Library. The next display will be on personal care items from shaving gear to hair dryers. Later a display of small kitchen appliances is planned and then one of old hand tools. Most of the items will be of the “before electricity” genre. If you have items that would make an interesting display please contact Barbara Hamilton, Historian, at 281-689-2772 or retired@icansurf.net.

Publishing more books is on the list, specifically books on Fostoria, Grangerland, New Caney and Porter. These will be like the “Splendora” book published in 2009 with an expanded view of the communities featured in “Towns of East Montgomery”. If you have pictures or stories of these communities that the Society may use in these publications please contact, Jerry Gay, President, 281-851-6545; Kay Lynn Meyer, Vice President, 281-446-1200; or Barbara Hamilton.

Several cemeteries in the East County boundaries are being looked at for clean up and refurbishing. Lone Star College students partnered with us to clean up at the Enloe Cemetery and we look forward to working with them again.

We are always on the lookout for monthly speakers to tell us about the history of a local family, community, church or other interesting factors of East County history. If you would, or know of anyone who would, like to speak at one of our monthly meetings, please call Kay Lynn Meyer.

The Society will again be front and center at many of the local community events just as in the past. We have more pictures to look through and we continue to gather identification on those we don’t know about. Be sure and come out and look for the split log buildings and the people in the dress of the days of yore.

Although 2010 looks to be a busy year, long term goals, or dreams as the case may be, still focus on having three to five acres to create a living history museum with several old buildings or reproductions of the types of buildings prevalent in the area to demonstrate how life was lived in this section of Montgomery County referred to as the Wild Woods.

Please join us to learn more of the local history or to participate in saving that history for future enjoyment.