Traces of Tx (today)

[Shakey Jake]

I've been unintentionally absent the last two days. I think this one is appropriate for the occasion:
The Texas Quote of the Day:
“Money can buy you a fine dog, but only love can make him wag his tail.”
----- Kinky Friedman

[Shakey Jake]

Per TSHA:
On this day in 1824, James Franklin Perry married Emily Margaret Austin Bryan, the widowed sister of Stephen F. Austin, in Potosi, Missouri. At Stephen Austin's urging, Perry came to Texas in 1830 and, pleased with what he saw of the country, moved his family to San Felipe de Austin in 1831. Shortly thereafter the Perrys began developing Peach Point Plantation near Brazoria; Stephen F. Austin considered Peach Point to be his only home in Texas, and was buried in the family plot there, though his remains were moved to the State Cemetery in Austin in 1910. James Perry's loyalty to Austin was complete. Perry took care of Austin's papers and tried to collect some notes while Austin was imprisoned in Mexico. Following his brother-in-law's advice, Perry "steered totally clear of politics" until Austin's return but thereafter became active in the movement for independence. After the Texas Revolution Perry settled down to plantation life but was soon called into service as the administrator of Austin's estate. He was one of the first to shift from cotton to sugar as a plantation product. Mrs. Perry died in 1851, and Perry moved to Biloxi in 1853 for health reasons. He died of yellow fever on September 13 of that year.

[Shakey Jake]

Per TSHA online:
On this day in 1874, Louise Heuser Wueste, the first professional woman artist in western Texas, died in Eagle Pass. Wueste, born in Germany in 1805, studied portraiture at the Düsseldorf Academy before marrying in 1824 and had three children before her husband's death. Thereafter, she resumed her art career as a teacher of portraiture. In 1859 she followed her son and two daughters to Texas and opened a studio in San Antonio in 1860. During the Civil War she moved to Piedras Negras, Mexico, to live with her son. She received few commissions for work during her first years in North America. After 1865, however, she found many opportunities for painting and teaching. Louise Wueste periodically left San Antonio after the mid-1860s to live elsewhere in Texas with her children, including her son, Daniel, an Eagle Pass merchant. Her later work reflected an interest in the people and landscapes along the Rio Grande. Her work, possibly numbering in the hundreds, has never been cataloged. Most of it is held by descendants and private collectors. The largest public collection of her output is owned by the Witte Museum in San Antonio.

[Shakey Jake]

Blessing, Texas, which is a small town in northwest Matagorda County, was nearly named "Thank God," Texas. The town was the creation of Jonathan Edwards Pierce, brother of famed cattleman Shanghai Pierce, on whose land the town was established. Jonathan had wanted for the longest time to have a railroad depot built on his land so that cattle could be easily transported to market. Finally, in 1903, he prevailed upon the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway by granting them a right-of-way. A grateful Jonathan Pierce hoped to designate the place "Thank God," but the United States Postal Department rejected his proposal. As a compromise, the place was named Blessing, and the post office in Blessing opened. I really like the name "Blessing," but I think "Thank God" would have been slightly better.

This photo is of Jonathan E. Pierce, who was born in 1839 and died in 1915. He is buried in the Hawley Cemetery about three miles northeast of Blessing, as is his more famous brother Shanghai.

There's not much left in Blessing these days. There is an old hotel there that still exists. It's said to be haunted on the second floor. I've never stayed there. They do still have a Sunday buffet that they serve right in the kitchen. It's amazingly delicious and I ride my motorcycle down there every now and again to partake of their awesome vittles.

[Shakey Jake]

Phyllis Coates (born Gypsie Ann Evarts Stell; January 15, 1927) is an American former actress, with a career spanning over fifty years. She is perhaps best known for her portrayal of reporter Lois Lane in the 1951 film Superman and the Mole Men and in the first season of the television series Adventures of Superman. 71 years ago on September 19th, 1952, the Adventures of Superman premiered. It was an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created in 1938. The show was the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California on RKO-Pathé stages and the RKO Forty Acres back lot. Cereal manufacturer Kellogg's sponsored the show. The first and last airdates of the show, which was produced for first-run syndication rather than for a network, are disputed, but they are generally accepted as September 19, 1952, and April 28, 1958. The show's first two seasons (episodes 1–52, 26 titles per season) were filmed in black and white; seasons three through six (episodes 53–104, 13 titles per season) were filmed in color. George Reeves played Clark Kent/Superman, with Jack Larson as Jimmy Olsen, John Hamilton as Perry White, and Robert Shayne as Inspector Henderson. Phyllis Coates played Lois Lane in the first season, with Noel Neill, who previously played Lois Lane in the film serials Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950), stepping into the role in the later seasons. Superman battles crooks, gangsters, and other villains in the fictional city of Metropolis while masquerading "off duty" as Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent. For nearly all of the series' episodes, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, Clark's colleagues at the office, found themselves in dangerous situations that only Superman's timely intervention can resolve. The opening theme is known as The Superman March. In 1987, selected episodes of the show were released on VHS. In 2006, the series became available in its entirety on DVD to coincide with the DVD release of Superman Returns, the first Superman feature film to emerge after almost two decades without such a movie. The feature film Hollywoodland, released in 2006, dramatized the show's production and the death of its star, George Reeves. ed: I forgot to mention she was born in Wichita Falls, TX.

[Shakey Jake]

This comes from Mrp Hicks from Texas Back Roads:
This is a picture of a cemetery with Military members of several wars, one being the War of 1812 and WWII, and if you look at this picture at the top left, it appears to be a shadow of a person standing over this grave.
Some think it's a sunflare, but others think it's a shadow of a man, as I do.
One of my favorites I've taken.
Wallisville, Texas, US
Note: Wallisville is in Chambers Co not too far from Houston. One of the major roads on the NE side of town is Wallisville Road. A military settlement, known as "El Orcoquisac", consisting of the Spanish fort, Presidio San Augustín de Ahumada and its complementing partner, Mission Nuestra Señora de la Luz, was established in 1756, on the east bank of the Trinity River near present-day Wallisville, upon the former site of an early French trading post. It's been around for quite a while.

[Shakey Jake]

Per TSHA:
On this day in 1917, diarist Elizabeth Scott Neblett died in Anderson, Texas. “Lizzie,” born in Mississippi in 1833, grew up a southern belle in Grimes County and married William H. Neblett, a planter and aspiring attorney, in 1852. From 1852 until 1863 she kept a diary that revealed an intimate portrait of southern culture and her own bitterness about a woman’s place in society. “Fame can never be mine,” she wrote. “I am a woman! A woman!” Her letters to her husband during the Civil War discussed varied topics that ranged from the economics of their plantation to the use of artificial birth control. They had six children, and often Lizzie’s writings addressed the hardships of childbirth and childrearing. Her journal and letters were finally published in 2001.

[Shakey Jake]

Aja Trier from San Antonio took this marvelous photograph (posted on the Back Roads of Texas). The station is in Albany, Texas which is the county seat of Shackleford County, a few miles northeast of Abilene. I wonder who now owns the station and the fantastic Sinclair truck parked there! My, what a great photo!

[Shakey Jake]

Per T of T Facebook group:
Traces of Texas reader Susan Buentello graciously sent in this wonderful circa 1890 photo of her great grandfather, Louis Pauli, in Seguin. He was not only a genuine cowboy but subsequently a Texas Ranger. He was born in 1874 and looks to be perhaps in his early 20s here, so this was probably taken in the 1890s.
Just an outstanding image. Thank you, Susan!

(note: Another picture of him can be found in a group picture I posted earlier in the year:
http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... li#p217412}

[Shakey Jake]

Every good Texan knows that Pecos, Texas is the site of the world's first rodeo, which was held on July 4, 1883. Well, Traces of Texas reader Trey Armstrong sent in this unbelievably great photo of one of the four contestants that day, Mr. Henry Slack. Prize money for the event totaled 25 dollars. I wonder what Mr. Slack would say regarding the bull-riding extravaganzas that go on today? He'd probably nod his head in approval, I'm thinking.
Thank you, Trey. What a great portrait!