GCHC NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2015

Grimes County Historical Commission

Issue 3 Volume 1 December 2015 Meetings of the Grimes County Historical Commission are held on the Second Monday of the Month at 7:00 pm in the Courthouse Annex in Anderson, Texas Contact Information Russell Cushman 403 Holland Navasota, TX 77868 (936) 825 8223 rcush403@aol.com Visit us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Grime sCountyHistoricalCommission Online Website (coming soon) www.grimescountyhistoricalcom msion.com

Photo of the Month

Grimes County Historical Commission Executive Board Chairman Russell Cushman Vice Chairman Joe King Fultz Secretary Rebecca Duff Treasurer Malcom Green

COMMITTEES Historic Markers Denise Upchurch Cemetery Markers Denise Upchurch Historic Preservation Sarah Nash

Horlock House Navasota, Texas

Newsletter & Publicity Vanessa Burzynski

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2015

Killing at Courtney FROM: The Daily Examiner, Navasota, Texas, Thursday, January 31, 1901: KILLING AT COURTNEY -------------------------Constable Jones slain by his son last Monday --------------------------Courtney ~ January 30 "At about 6:30 a.m. Monday a tragedy occurred here in which R.H. Jones, constable at this place, was shot and instantly killed by his son Robert.

Deceased is said to have been unmercifully beating his wife with a large black snake whip, when the boy interposed in behalf of his mother. It is said that the father had been belaboring his wife for quite a while that morning when the boy and a younger brother had interrupted him, and each time were struck several licks by the deceased.

At a time when the mother was being beaten so severely the boy Robert interfered when the deceased hit him on the forehead with the whip, whereupon the boy stepped into an adjoining room, picked up the gun loaded with duck shot, advanced towards the father and shot him in the head. The brain was torn from the deceased's skull and was seen scattered on the floor, the man dying instantly.

Robert, the son, is 19 years of age and is a quiet, unassuming kind of a boy. After the killing he went immediately and gave himself into the officer's hands. On being asked why he had killed his father his reply was, "I could not stand to see my mother beat and abused in any such manner." The deceased, Jones, has been constable here for about the past 8 years, was a stout, robust man, about 50 years of age and over 6 feet in height, and is said to have been a

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man who was a tyrannical ruler in his home on quite a number of occasions for years.

Mrs. Jones is a small, weakly woman, and one who was unable to perform her household duties. Her condition at present is serious; one or two ribs being broken, besides several severe bruises about the face and body.

The examining trial was held the afternoon (sic) of same day the killing took place, and the son was placed under a $100 bond, which was made instantly. The consensus of opinion is that the deceased came to his death in a well deserving and meritorious manner."

THE EXAMINER-REVIEW Navasota, Texas July 16, 1908 FARMER KILLED Shot Four Times While Opening Gate, Going Home: Word was received here yesterday of the assassination of young Sam Thomas on Mustang Prairie, Thursday night. It seems Thomas had been to church and on returning to his home got down from his buggy to open a gate near the home of Mr. Mack Thomas when whoever did the killing instantly shot him. He was hit twice with a shot gun and twice through the head with a pistol. His body lay where it fell until the next morning at sun up when it was found.

Several arrests were made by Sheriff Hooker and his deputies and thorough investigation is being made of all causes that tend to throw any light on the deed.

Tracks leading from the scene of the murder to a certain house resulted in the arrest of one or more parties and in all some five or six persons were placed under arrest. A message this morning, however, states that all suspects were turned loose but Goodie Wheeler, a cousin of young Thomas.

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2015

County Capital Notes Anderson, January 11 1899 Frank Miner shot Henry Ward yesterday.

Both parties live on John T. McGinty's place and are colored. It appears that Ward took a sweet potato out of the fire that Miner had put in to toast. He ran out of the house with it and Miner shot him with a gun, using No. 4 shot; the charge took effect in his feet and legs.

Navasota, January 6, 1899 Another New Family Here Gus Mittanck and bride arrived here on yesterday evening's Santa Fe from Kenny, where they were married Wednesday.

They went to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Rowland to remain several days, after which they will take a cottage in the Felder addition, to which they will be cordially welcomed and Gus' friends here wish for himself and wife unbounded happiness in their new relationship.

Last Night's Frolic.

The country home of Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Camp, near the suburbs of the city, was the scene of a lively gathering of pleasure seeking young people last night, where Miss Minnie entertained a list of friends; and the crowd, notwithstanding the darkness of the night, was large and jolly.

Misses Bonnie Deadrick and Louise Brown presided over a handsome punch bowl filled with a thirst quenching mixture.

The other guests were: Misses Minnie Camp, Carrie Davis, Nana Mae Sellers, Helen Lott, Corinne Bridges, Fannie Leake, Anne Terrell, Effie and Ida

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Horlock, Clara Lange, Marie Ketchum, Clarabel Jack, Corinne Kennard, Pearl Terrell, Virgie Scott, Mary Lou Thomas, Edna Roberts, Mattie Ella Yarborough, Lucile Shaw.

Messrs. Tom Buckingham, Tom Trisfrith of Dallas, Joel Terrell, Mack Meachum, Latham Boone, Arthur Smith, Larry Jacobs, Oscar Davis, Hood Boone, George Dwyer, Robert Cuthrell, Collie Camp, Tom Matthews, Sterling Davis, Minter Uzzell, Ira Camp, W. E. Wilson, Ben Pearce, Ben Ahrenbeck, Roy Camp, Robert Flewellen, Shield Norwood, Jesse Dwyer.

Last Night's Dance Yesterday's new year festivities could hardly have been more pleasantly rounded off than by the dance given last night in the German club hall, which was made to be quite in keeping with the polished social events of the earlier evening. The Mexican band seemed to out do itself for the occasion; those whom the scribe noted present were: Misses Cora Froehlich, Ira Mae Blackshear, _____ Hendley, Mattie Fisher, ____ Harn, Minnie Ferguson, Monnie Peacock, Maggie Wasson, Olla Wilson, Maud Hardesty, Irma Chinski, Hattie Chinski, Nettie Brosig, Nita Camp, Beatrice Hearne, Agnes Horlock, Hilda Preston, Mattie Yarborough, Alice Dunlap, Katie Norwood, Corinne Bridges.

Messrs. W. G. Peterson, W. G. Scott, B. W. Pearce, Knox Williams, R. a. Patout, F. S. Dixon, Ernest Schumacher, W. E. Wilson, H. L. Boone, John Driscoll, E. M. Smith, David Marks, O. B. Preston, Robert Harrison, S. M. Collet, John Felder, Arthur Smith, Will Dunlap, G. A. Wood, Robert Flewellen.

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2015

OAKLAND CEMETERY The Oakland Cemetery serves as a historic chapter of Navasota's past. The Oakland Cemetery was originally owned by a private association known as the Oakland Cemetery Association. The association was formed in 1867 during the yellow fever epidemic.

The City of Navasota acquired the Cemetery from the Oakland Cemetery Association and the Women's Cemetery Association on June 23, 1954.

The Resthaven Section, located on the west side of Oakland Cemetery, is also a piece of historical significance for Navasota. This section was used primarly for the black population and is the burial ground for Navasota's Famous Blues Musician and Songster Mance Lipscomb.

There is also a Jewish Section of the cemetery enclosed inside a chain link fence.

This cemetery is also the final resting place of many of our country’s war veterans from all different wars including the Civil War, World Wars One and Two, the Spanish American War, Vietnam, Korea and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This cemetery is still in use today. For more information on records, plots or regulations, please contact Navasota City Hall at (936) 825-6475.

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GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2015

PAMELA PURYEAR Pamela Ashworth Puryear was born December 22, 1943, in Navasota, Texas, to Laura Lott Puryear and the late Orville Puryear who recently had perished in the line of military duty. She was raised in a multi generational environment as a Southern Belle, a manner which followed her through life. Pam graduated from Lamar University and lacked only a thesis to complete the M.A. in History at Texas A&M. She briefly taught English and journalism at El Campo and Anderson, retiring to Navasota to pursue a rich life of creative and scholarly activity.

Her scholarly activity includes co-authorship with Nath Winfield of Sandbars and Sternwheelers: Steam Navigation on the Brazos (Texas A&M University Press, 1976), which is cited in international research on transportation, rivers and ecology, and is a reference noted in the Handbook of Texas Online. Her illustrated monograph, Dressing Victorian: Being a Brief Overview of Women's Victorian Clothing in Texas, 1837-1900?

(1987), appears in bibliographies of historical dress. Pam's other publications include articles in the Heritage Rose Foundation News on using willow water to root rose cuttings and on cultivating roses from seeds. She spoke at numerous garden organizations and venues including the Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Garden.

Pam was one of the original three founders of the "Texas Rose Rustlers" and is credited with locating heritage Texas roses given the names "Pam's Pink" and "Climbing Lady Pamela." Through her pioneering effort she helped collect in Navasota the "Martha Gonzalez," a semi-double red China rose, and in Anderson, the "Mary Minor," later identified as the "Souvenir de la Malmaison. The story of the "Martha Gonzalez" rose: "Martha Gonzales" is a found rose with a truly heart-warming story behind it. As the story has been passed down to me, Pam Puryear, a well known Texas Rose Rustler, and Dallas rosarian Joe Woodward were rose rustling.

While they were driving in when they spotted the roses in the yard of a lady named Martha Gonzales while still a block away. Mrs. Gonzales kindly let them take cuttings of her 'Old Blush' and 'Mrs. Dudley Cross' specimens. Joe Woodward insisted that they should also take cuttings of the "little red China" rose, although Pam was not particularly enthusiastic about it. Well, the "little red China" rose turned out to be a treasure. When Pam returned the next year for some more cuttings, the house seemed to be vacant, the rose was gone and it seemed that Martha Gonzales had passed away!

But that is not the end of the story. In the fall of

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1999, I was contacted by the granddaughter of Martha Gonzales who had seen this web page and wanted to know if I had a picture of Martha Gonzales (the woman, not the rose). I sent a picture and learned that Martha Gonzales was still alive.

Martha Gonzales was told that her little rose had become really famous. She passed away the spring of 2000, but her name lives on in this wonderful little rose that was snatched just in time from oblivion and possible extinction."

Thomas Christopher's In Search of Lost Roses credits her with finding a 19th century Belgium specimen, "Marie van Houtte." He also describes how Pam carried an old cavalry saber while out rose hunting to ward off snakes. He writes about finding this-now-his-favorite rose with Pam: "One of my favorite old roses is the "Hole Rose," a vigorous shrub that bears pale yellow blossoms touched with a blush of pink. It was discovered by Pamela Puryear, a founder of the Texas Rose Rustlers, growing up through the weeds in the yard of an abandoned cottage in Navasota, Texas. I helped Pam to collect cuttings from this bush to share with the other rustlers at the annual old rose rustle.

Later, we learned that this shrub was actually a specimen of a tea rose of 1871 from Belgium, 'Marie van Houtte.' How this exotic shrub found its way to rural Texas and survived a century of Texan summers I cannot imagine." Thomas Christopher describes Pam as "certainly one of the most colorful, a well-educated but reclusive Texan lady who lived in a crumbling mansion her grandfather had built according to a pattern purchased from a magazine."

The New York Times reviewer of that book must have had Pam in mind when she writes: "What sticks in the mind...is stories he tells and the people he's met, researched, or gone to look for--the mad, passionate, wildly uncompromising people, fixed on a flower." Ken Druse in The Collector's Garden describes Pam as a passionate gardening extremist who turned a particular species of plant into a mission in life. Dr. William C. Welch in Antique Roses for the South generously recognizes her expertise and research skills in historical gardening, and includes a picture of her with close friend Greg Grant "rustling" cuttings of a "Canary Island Rose" in San Antonio during the mid-1980's.

She was also an official judge for the Search for the San Antonio Rose as described in plantanswers.com October Garden Column.

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2015

Recognized for her rosarian skills, Pam was one of the official judges sponsored by a major corporation to identify and award a prize for the "genuine" San Antonio rose. Roses were not her only horticultural discoveries. Other flowers found in her own yard bear her name. A climbing pink and gold extremely floriferous honeysuckle, "Pam's Pink," is commercially available as described at vintagerosery.com.

Also available commercially now is a large flowered red-and-gold columbine, named "Blazing Stars Columbine," with the scientific Latin name "Aquilegia x puryearana," recognized as an excellent cut flower and for attracting hummingbirds (as described at plantanswers.com Arcadia Pages) She is also "rumored" to have a great deal to do with the creation of the Pink Bluebonnet Legend as seen at plantanswers.com Parsons Bluebonnet Pages: "Pink Bluebonnet Legend".

Pam's creativity was not limited to gardening. She painted oversized murals, created unique ceramic mead wrist cups, and wove or embroidered heraldic tapestry. She illuminated her own English genealogy research with detailed heraldry and coats of arms, a service which she provided for free to her friends. Her other interests include making jewelry from semi-precious stones, and crafting period costumes. She is warmly remembered by friends for her creative theme parties, such as the tea parties to craft multi-dimentional Valentines, and birthday parties like one featuring the Loch Ness monster cake. Childhood friends from the Vacation Bible School at the First Presbyterian Church of Navasota recall her summer 1955 cinematographic epic filmed at the rapids on the Brazos River, a realistic re-creation of "The Parting of the Red Sea." She was a fourth-generation member of the First Presbyterian Church, Navasota, where she shared her artistic talent with the Bible School and sang in the Choir. She belonged to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and provided programs for countless civic and gardening organizations around the State, and was Troop Leader for several Girl Scout and Campfire Girls. She was a founding member of the Navasota Heritage Home Tour and Nostalgia Days as well as The Pioneer Plant Society. Pam is survived by a number of cousins, lifelong friends, colleagues from the world of ornamental heritage flowers, and caring friends from the First Presbyterian Church of Huntsville who helped her through her final years. Pam was passionate about our Texas and Southern

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gardening heritage and was highly successful in motivating others to explore plants and gardens important to their own families and communities.

She leaves behind an enduring legacy of "found flowers," some of which bear her name, and an impact on heritage gardening which will continue to attest to her pioneering spirit, generosity, energy and creativity.

Posted 28 March, 2005. Communicated by Dr. Jerry Parsons, Texas Cooperative Extension. Heroes for Horticulture"

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2015

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HENRY SCHUMACHER Henry was born in 1832 in Mecklenburg-Schwerein, Germany. This is now part of East Germany. In 1847, at the age of 15 he came to Texas, his father having died and his mother having come on the year before to find a home for herself and 4 children.

In 1854 he married his first wife, Louise Koch, also a native of Germany who had arrived in Galveston about the same time as Henry. In 1855 he moved to Anderson, TX because of his wife's health, she had been a sufferer of Yellow Fever. A daughter, Minnie was born January 16, 1855, and a son, Henry Daniel was born September 15, 1856. Minnie died September 20, 1856, five days after her baby brother was born, and Louise died shortly afterward on October 14, 1856. On January 1, 1858, Henry married Susan Berryman, granddaughter of Francis Holland, daughter of Nancy Holland and William Berryman. They had a son, William T. born June 4, 1859. Susan died a few months later on September 4, 1859. William T. Schumacher married Isa Ann. After his second wife's death, it was nearly 9 years before he married his third wife, Emma Louise Birley Horlock in Galveston, September 3, 1868. They had 9 children.

Henry Schumacher served honorably in the War Between the States as a Sgt. Co. D 12th Regiment Texas Infantry also known as the Grimes County Greys.

Emma Louise Birley Horlock was born in 1845 in Pennsylvania. Emma's parents came south when she was a child and settled in New Orleans, LA where her father died of yellow fever. Her mother, Lucetta Biley/Birley, moved to Mobile, AL married Mr. John Horlock, father of Robert A. Horlock, Sr. and William Horlock. The family moved to Galveston just before the Civil War, and from there went to England. Later after their return to America, Emma Louise married Henry Schumacher on Sept 3, 1868.

Emma was the third wife of Henry Schumacher, they had 8 children: Robert Henry, John William, Ada Dorothea (married Walter Blake Wesson), Minnie J (never married and died at 29); Ella A.; Emma Henrietta (never married and died at 82); Ruth (born 11/10/1879), and Baylor Henry. Emma died on June 28, 1893 at the age of 47 years, 8 months and 2 days.

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2015

MANCE LIPSCOMB Mance Lipscomb (1895-1976), guitarist and songster, was born to Charles and Jane Lipscomb on April 9, 1895, in the Brazos bottoms near Navasota, Texas, where he lived most of his life as a tenant farmer. His father was an Alabama slave who acquired the surname Lipscomb when he was sold to a Texas family of that name. Lipscomb dropped his given name, Bowdie Glenn, and named himself Mance when a friend, an old man called Emancipation, passed away. Lipscomb and Elnora, his wife of sixty-three years, had one son, Mance Jr., three adopted children, and twenty-four grandchildren.

Lipscomb represented one of the last remnants of the nineteenth-century songster tradition, which predated the development of the blues. Though songsters might incorporate blues into their repertoires, as did Lipscomb, they performed a wide variety of material in diverse styles, much of it common to both black and white traditions in the South, including ballads, rags, dance pieces (breakdowns, waltzes, one and two steps, slow drags, reels, ballin' the jack, the buzzard lope, hop scoop, buck and wing, heel and toe polka), and popular, sacred, and secular songs. Lipscomb himself insisted that he was a songster, not a guitarist or "blues singer," since he played "all kinds of music." His eclectic repertoire has been reported to have contained 350 pieces spanning two centuries. (He likewise took exception when he was labeled a "sharecropper" instead of a "farmer.")

Lipscomb was born into a musical family and began playing at an early age. His father was a fiddler, his uncle played the banjo, and his brothers were guitarists. His mother bought him a guitar when he was eleven, and he was soon accompanying his father, and later entertaining alone, at suppers and Saturday night dances. Although he had some contact with such early recording artists as fellow Texans Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Willie Johnson and early country star James Charles (Jimmie) Rodgers, he did not make recordings until his "discovery" by whites during the folk-song revival of the 1960s.

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Between 1905 and 1956 he lived in an atmosphere of exploitation, farming as a tenant for a number of landlords in and around Grimes County, including the notorious Tom Moore, subject of a local topical ballad. He left Moore's employ abruptly and went into hiding after he struck a foreman for abusing his mother and wife. Lipscomb's own rendition of "Tom Moore's Farm" was taped at his first session in 1960 but released anonymously (Arhoolie LP 1017, Texas Blues, Volume 2), presumably to protect the singer.

Between 1956 and 1958 Lipscomb lived in Houston, working for a lumber company during the day and playing at night in bars where he vied for audiences with Texas blues great Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins, whom Lipscomb had first met in Galveston in 1938.

With compensation from an on-the-job accident, he returned to Navasota and was finally able to buy some land and build a house of his own. He was working as foreman of a highway-mowing crew in Grimes County when blues researchers Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records and Mack McCormick of Houston found and recorded him in 1960.

His encounter with Strachwitz and McCormick marked the beginning of over a decade of involvement in the folk-song revival, during which Lipscomb won wide acclaim and emulation from young white audiences and performers for his virtuosity as a guitarist and the breadth of his repertoire.

Admirers enjoyed his lengthy reminiscences and eloquent observations regarding music and life, many of which are contained in taped and written materials in the Mance Lipscomb-Glenn Myers Collection in the archives and manuscripts section of the Barker Texas History Center at the University of Texas at Austin. He made numerous recordings and appeared at such festivals as the Berkeley Folk Festival of 1961, where he played before a crowd of more than 40,000. In clubs Lipscomb often shared the bill with young revivalists or rock bands. He was also the subject of a film, A Well-Spent Life (1970), made by Les Blank. Despite his popularity, however, he remained poor. After 1974 declining health confined him to a nursing home and hospitals. He died in Grimes Memorial Hospital, Navasota, on January 30, 1976, and was buried at Rest Haven Cemetery.

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2015

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Horlock House Ever wondered what life was like in the Brazos Trail Region of the late 1800s?

Then make your way to Navasota and visit the Horlock House History Center. The Center is housed in a beautifully preserved Victorian home built in 1892 by Robert Augustus Horlock and his wife Agnes, interpreting lifestyles of the period and Navasota country life. Considered a handsome example of the Stick style of Victorian-era architecture, the Horlock House displays the elegance of a simple layout with eloquent decorative accents, characteristics integral to the building design of the times. Elements of the home also suggest the Stick style’s transition into one of the most dominate styles of American architecture at the turn of the century – the Queen Anne style. The Horlock House’s wrap-around porch and spindle detailing give the design a more stylized version of Stick, known as the Stick-Eastlake, based on the designs of the British architect Charles Locke Eastlake.

Take a step inside the house and you will be transported back to the era courtesy of carefully appointed parlors and bedrooms, all filled with period furnishings. The house remained in the Horlock family for ninety years and today the City of Navasota has preserved it as a history and tourism information center.

Alabama native Robert Augustus Horlock (1849-1926) came to Navasota in 1871.

Here he became a prominent businessman and civic leader. He and his wife, Agnes (White), had this home built in the early 1890s. The house, which remained in the Horlock family for nearly 100 years, exhibits influences of the Eastlake and Stick styles of architecture. Prominent features include the corner porch, the arched windows with small gabled hoods, and the decorative woodwork. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 1984

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2015

Terrell House

In 1897 Elizabeth Owen had this two-story residence constructed for her daughter Emmeline B. Terrell (b. 1849), the widow of local pharmacist Joel W. Terrell, II, who had died the previous year. In 1899 the home was purchased by John H. Mickleborough, a leading Navasota banker and businessman, and his wife Georgia. An example of Queen Anne styling, the Terrell House features intricate Eastlake ornamentation on the gallery and gable ends. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark 1981 Step back in time and enjoy the pleasures of an era of elegance and tradition. This home sits on one + city lots and is zoned for commercial and/or residential use. At one time this property was used as a French restaurant, a bed and breakfast, an antique store and recently as a residence with a law office. The unique Queen Anne architecture with fret work, cornices and wood trim are just some of the historical details of this fine example of Victorian architecture. There are original wood floors, unusual double fireplace between living room and dining room with two sets of French doors connecting the rooms.

Original crystal chandeliers remain. Old pocket doors from the entry hall into living area are traditional as are the period walk

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out windows to the porches. There are six porches and two sets of interior stairs along with a third floor that could be finished out for additional living space. The exterior is painted with historical colors which enhance the lovely gardens. There is a pool with five fountains, arbor for relaxing in the cool shade of a hot summer day. There are five parking spaces on the front street and two additional parking spaces at the side entry to the property.

This antique treasure was built in 1887.

The wood friezes and trim work are hand turned and are an exemplary example of the era. The carved wainscoting trimmed with burl wood is exceedingly handsome.

The large entry hall with original stained glass and turned banister is one of a kind.

The perfect space for entertaining family and guests or, if you prefer your Bed & Breakfast guests or clients should you choose to use the commercial zoning for it.

The kitchen and back hall are conveniently placed and have access to the back gardens and a second back staircase. A room most recently used as a bedroom and bath are downstairs and the remaining rooms.

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2015

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Joseph Brooks Home

Foster Home

A native of England, Joseph Brooks (183189) migrated to Texas with his wife Mary Ann (Farrer) (1833-1900) in 1853. After serving in the Civil War, Brooks moved to Navasota, where he survived an 1867 yellow fever epidemic and became a leading area lumberman. In the 1870s he had this home built for his family. Originally Victorian in design, it was modified with classical revival detailing in 1909-11 by the Brooks' daughter Mary Elizabeth Brooks Salyer.

Mattie Brigance Foster, daughter of Grimes County settler Franklin Brigance, had this home built in 1900 shortly after the death of her husband. Incorporating elements of the colonial revival and shingle styles, the house is of cypress frame construction and features a multi-gabled roof. Its design is indicative of the movement away from the elaborate detailing of the Victorian era. The home remained in the Foster family for 60 years.

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 1981 612 E. Washington Ave. Navasota, Texas Grimes County Year Erected: 1981 Marker Type: Medallion and Plate

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1982 Incise on base: Sponsored by Salih M. Yilmaz, M.D., Ph.D. 1015 E. Washington Ave. Navasota, Texas Grimes County Year Erected: 1982 Marker Type: Medallion and Plate

GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2015

Poem taken from the Central Texian Volume 3, No. 33 Saturday, January 17, 1857

Ode to Texas Texas! Thou land of glorious deeds.

Of conflicts dire of mortal toil!

A stranger’s firm, but buoyant step, Now presses light thy virgin soil.

Far from the many friends he loved, From childhood’s bright and sunny home, To they fair shores and prairies green, A lonely pilgrim now doth come.

Amid thy forests, vast and dim, Thy moss-clad hills of sober gray, Among thy bright-hued birds and flowers, At eventide, he loves to stray.

He loves thy fierce, impetuous streams, Dashing, resistless, to their goal; He loves thy light and snowy craft That o’er thy waters swiftly roll.

He loves thy clear and placid lakes, Their finny tribes in sportive glee, Thy dark green woods and tangled brakes, All have a witching charm for me!

He loves thy bright Italian skies, Thy soft and gentle balmy air; Thy wealth of varied scenery, From Nature’s hand so fresh and fair!

He loves thy brave, chivalrous sons, Whose bosoms never throbb’d with fear; Who can attune War’s thunder tones To friendships notes, so soft and dear.

When stern oppression clanked per ponderous chain, And tales of butcheries were echoed far, The slumb’ring spirits of their sons were roused, And sounded loud the clarion blast of War! On many a sanguine field, thy valiant sons Poured forth the crimson tide of ebbing life, Courted grim danger in her darkest mood, And smiling, mingled in the thickest strife.

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A glorious band was here. Here sister States.

Countered all their warmest brightest rays, And spread a halo round the proud “Lone Star” And lighted Freedom’s torch in her pure blaze!

Long may she blaze and burn, till tyrant power, With broken scepter from its throne is hurled; Until its gorgeous luster shall diffuse The light of Liberty throughout the World!

Let ancient bards sing of their halcyon days, Of warriors brave, of nations proud and free, Their fabled grandeur let their minstrels praise, But Eden-Texas is the land for me!

Zeno

The Central Texian Vol. 3 No. 31 Wednesday, December 24, 1856 We have barely time to remark that the ball at the Anderson Hotel this evening was a splendid affair. The ladies all life and beauty, and the gentlemen all suavity and gallantry.

The supper was all that the veriest epicure could desire, and reflected credit upon the taste and skill of the gentlemanly landlord, Mr. L. M. Jones and his lady.