The Belton Fire In 1879
By Gillian Embree Creswell
Account of the midnight conflagration
in September, year of 1879 when
Belton, TX suffered this destructive
fire, which added to the drought
and crop failure of that year, and
overcast the spirits and tested
the courage of the strongest men,
who made up the populace of the
Central Texas county seat of Bell.
Mentions: old Luther Hall at
Baylor Female College * Nolan Creek
* Dechard & Mackensen's store *
Fred and Gus Ulrich * the Chamberlin
* Trippis, Nigro & West * Mr. J.
W. Pierce * Mr. Mat McKnight * I.
B. Webb's building * Miller and
Haymond * D. E. Patterson * Doc
Cook and John Lunsford * Powers
& Co's. store * Embree & Keys *
Ray & Elliott * Hon. L. C. Alexander
* J. B. B. Supple * Chamberlin Bros
* Miller Bros * Goode & Co * Long
& Reese * Rather & Sons * McWhirter
* Decher & Mackensen * I. B. Webb
* Lott & Talley * H. C. Denny *
Power & Co * P. T. Morey * Blanton
& Sons * Judge Osterhout * Prank
Rather, Pole Crabtree. V. Nigro
* Minnis, Jack McWhirter and Wm.
Reed * Don A. Chamberlin * Dr. Embree
*
Dr. Ernest E. Palmer: The Good
Physician
By J. E. Grinstead, Kerrville,
Texas
Account of Ernest E. Palmer,
M. D., a native of Kentshire, England,
who for fifty-four years, practiced
his profession at Kerrville, TX.
With no hospitals, and no modern
equipment for surgery, Dr. Palmer
performed wonderful and delicate
operations in the homes of the Texas
hill country people, many of them
far in some isolated mountain cabin
at night, with only a kerosene lamp,
or perhaps a candle, for a light.
In spite of these handicaps, his
success was astounding. His fame
as a surgeon spread, not only through
Texas, but into the far corner of
the nation. This is his story.
Mrs. Julia Mcannelly: Pioneer
Mother
By Ida Babcock Ball, Austin,
Texas
Mrs. Julia McAnnelly, daughter
of James McCrea, was born at McCreaville,
Lampasas county, in 1863. She lived
in that county all her life, except
to occasionally to visit the outside.
Mrs. McAnnelly came to Texas in
1847, her family passing through
one of the severest storms ever
known of the Gulf. They stayed one
month in Galveston and came on to
Houston. Later, they moved to Brenham
in Washington county and lived there
eight years. Finally they moved
to Lampasas county in 1855. This
is her story.
Mentions: little town of Lometa
* McCreaville * a friend, Tom Gorman
* Marley * her husband's father,
R. D. McAnnelly * Cornelius McAnnelly
* Julia McCrea * Mr. Risien * Captain
Vince * Susan Vince * Mr. Pratt
* Deaf Smith * Susan Vince-Pratt
* McCreaville, eleven miles west
of the town of Lampasas * the Burleson
family * Pat M. Neff, Congressman
Walter P. Stone, and Governor Whitfield
*
Brooke Smith, Brownwood Pioneer
Account of Mr. Brooke Smith,
pioneer citizen and banker of Brownwood,
Texas, who was born in Hanover county,
Virginia, March 13, 1853. He moved
to Texas and settled at Waco in
1870 and moved to Brown county in
February, 1876. He played an important
part in the development of Brownwood
and Brown county, establishing the
first bank in Brownwood at a time
when the only other bank in the
state directly west of here was
at El Paso. Mr. Smith was a community
builder, and did much in the early
days to aid the future growth and
development of the city of Brownwood.
Mentions: Miss Juliet Sparks
* Henry Ford and J. C. Weakley *
Mr. Smith also helped in getting
the Frisco line extended into Brownwood
* Mr. Smith was elected Mayor of
Brownwood in 1886 * Pecan Bayou
* Graham hotel * Joe Weakley * Daniel
Baker college * the West Texas Historical
Association * Henry S. Brown * Howard
Payne *
Tracking The Bandera Dinosaurs
Mentions: Edwards Plateau * Dr.
E. H. Sellards * Roland T Bird *
Tarpley * the Davenport ranch *
Captain John Reagan Baker
By Houston Wade
Account of Capt. John Reagan
Baker, soldier and son of Peter
and Margaret Laura (Reagan) Baker.
He was born near Blue Springs, Green
County, Tennessee, on August 6,
1809 and made his forst visit to
Texas in 1836. In 1839 he returned
to Texas and became a member of
the Texan auxiliary corps of the
Federalista army encamped at Fort
Lipantitlán. Later he went to Refugio
County and settled in Aransas City
where he was elected sheriff of
Refugio County on February 1, 1841,
and organized a company of minutemen,
of which he was captain. After gallant
service, Baker returned to Refugio
County and established a mercantile
business at Saluria, on Matagorda
Island. At the outbreak of the Civil
War, he organized a home-guard company
and was elected its captain. After
the war he lived in Goliad County
for a while, then moved to Indianola
and again entered the mercantile
business. In 1876 he moved to Wilson
County, to a ranch near Stockdale,
where he died on January 19, 1904.
This is his story.
Mentions: Stockdale Wilson county,
Texas * Honorable Allen Lewis Baker
* Miss Margaret Laura Reagan * Peter
Baker * The children of Peter Baker
and his wife were: William Baker;
Henry Baker; Allen Baker; our hero,
John Reagean Baker; Samuel Baker;
Thomas Baker; Carroll Baker; Smith
Baker, * Island City * the Cherokee
War * the renowned Scotch-man, Ewen
Cameron * the Mier Expedition *
Juan N. Seguin * Colonel William
S. Fisher, Captain S. W. Jordan
* Samuel Augustus Maverick * Matthew
M. Cody * James Wilson * Michael
Fox * Jeremiah Findley * Benjamin
F. Neal * Edmund FitzGerald * John
McDaniel * Charles Smith * Willard
Richardson * John W. B. McFarland
* Edward St. John * Raphael Gonzales
* Michael Cahill * Michael Whalin
* Walter Lambert * Frances Plummer
* Joseph E. Plummer * Edward Drew
* James B. Collinsworth * Matthew
Cody * Ben F. Neil * General Rafael
Vasques * General James Davis *
General, Antonio Canales * Mathew
Caldwell * John Lowe * Stephen Jett
* Capt. Nicholas Mosby Dawson *
Colonels William S. Fisher and Thomas
Jefferson Green *
(Continued Next Month.)
A. B. Reagan Has Eventful Life
Account of Hon. A. B. Reagan,
long-time postmaster at Brady, Texas.
He has been referred to as Brady's
No. I Pioneer, good citizen, and
man of affairs. (Includes photo
of Mr. Reagan)
A Tribute To Arizona Bill
Account is a tribute to Raymond
Hatfield Gardner, better known as
"Arizona Bill," scout and Indian
fighter.
Mentions: Buffalo Bill, (William
F. Cody) * General Hagood * Tim
McCoy who owned the wild west show
of the circus * Ringling Brothers
Circus * Thomas J. Jenkins *
The Old Chisholm Trail
Elmo Scott Watson
Account of the Old Chisholm Trail
and it’s hostorical legacy - thousands
upon thousands of long-horn cattle,
driven north from the wide plains
of the Lone Star state to the roaring
cow towns of Kansas by as bold,
as reckless, as brave a crew of
daredevils as the world has ever
known—the old-time cowboys.
Mentions: Kit Carson and Uncle
Dick Wooton and Old Bill Williams
* Kearny's Dragoons * Bent's Fort
* Maxwell's hacienda * John D. Chisholm
* Ignatius Chisholm * Tiana Rogers
* James R. Mead * Fort Cobb and
the former Wichita agency * Chisholm's
trading post at Council Grove *
Lieut. Col. W. H. Emory * Joseph
B. Thoburn * Joseph McCoy of Springfield,
Illinois, * the Chickasaw Nation
* the town of Terral * Rock Island
bridge * Ben Bolt *
SAM HOUSTON SOUGHT TO SMASH SLAVE
RACKET
Smashing of the Texas slavery
racket of a century ago was urged
by Sam Houston—twice president and
once governor of Texas— in a letter
obtained by University of Texas
historians.
Written to Isaac Van Zandt charge
d'affairs of Texas at Washington
in 1843, the letter asked for appointment
of a consul at the Port, Dr. Eugene
C. Barker and Miss Amelia Williams
said.
"Houston's main argument for
the appointment is that …
THE EDITOR’S BOX
Mentions: Rev. Stewart Newell
* Albert Williams, Jr., of Houston
* Jefferson Davis Smith * Clinton
Smith * Dripping Springs * Judge
O. W. Williams of Fort Stockton,
Texas * John C. Rosebgrongh * Alexander
Campbell * W. K. Pendleton * McAllister
* Champ Clark of Missouri * Miss
Sallie Wheat, daughter of C. M.
Wheat, Dallas, Texas * F. M. Getzendaner,
the Uvalde geologist * Mr. Lowman
