June 18, 2003
FAMILY BIBLES - Dr. E. B. "Booster" Stephenson of Wallisville donated four old family Bibles that were in the possession of his late mother, Mrs. Elva Stephenson. These include Bible records from the Sherman, Wiggins, Barnes and Clark families. The Bibles will remain in fireproof storage at the Wallisville Heritage Park. We are very happy to have these Bibles.
DR. NICHOLAS D. LABADIE - The Galveston County Historical Commission dedicated a historical marker honoring Dr. Nicholas D. Labadie (1802-1867) on Saturday, May 17, 2003 at 2 p.m. The marker was erected at the site of his grave in the Galveston Catholic Cemetery. This old burial ground is located at 41st Street and Avenue L. Dr. Labadie arrived in Anahuac in 1831 and briefly operated a general merchandise store there in partnership with Charles Willcox. In addition to that, he served briefly as surgeon to the Mexican garrison at Anahuac and in 1836 was a surgeon under General Sam Houston and his Texian Army. After the battle of Anahuac, Labadie moved his wife and family to a plantation on Lake Charlotte, where he remained until 1838 when he relocated to Galveston. Les and Edna Neumann and other descendants of Dr. Labadie sponsored the marker. Heritage Park Director Kevin Ladd delivered the main address at the dedication.
SUSAN ROSHTO ELECTED TO WHP BOARD - We are pleased to report that Susan Roshto, our new Chambers County Clerk, has agreed to serve on the Wallisville Heritage Park Board of Directors. Mrs. Roshto was elected as county clerk during the November general election and took office on January 1, 2003. She is the first Republican to hold that office since Reconstruction She was elected to our board during its annual meeting in mid-November.
FILES FOUNDATION - The Wallisville Heritage Park was honored during the month of January to receive a $10,000 grant from the Files Foundation of Anahuac, Texas. This money is to be used as a match for other grant applications. Many charitable foundations require an organization like ours to have matching funds from some other foundation before they will consider a grant application. This grant will be extremely important to us as we pursue other grants. This is a very generous gesture by the Files Foundation.
HERITAGE PARK COOKBOOK - We are getting really close to publishing the early pioneer recipes that we have been collecting for the past three or four years. We presently have over 500 recipes in the computer and people are still bringing in more recipes to be included. Mary Jean Abshier continues to work with Kevin. Most of our recipes have been typed by Shelley Davis, proofed by Mary Jean, and corrected by Kevin. We would like to have this cookbook published next year.
CARRIAGE JACK - J. F. "Tooter" Haynes, Jr. has donated a very unusual carriage jack or buggy jack to the Heritage Park, which he says belonged to Mr. John Rudolph Jenny. The jack was used to lift and grease a wheel of the carriage.
JAMES TAYLOR WHITE HOUSE MODEL - Susan Middleton donated a large model of the James Taylor White home that was built for Mayes when he was a young boy. The model needs a little repair work, but is otherwise in good shape.
ERDLE BARROW'S PISTOL - Jesse Moss of Dayton has donated a 38 special Smith and Wesson pistol that originally belonged to John Marion "Erdle" Barrow, a son of John Shadrack "Shake" Barrow and his wife Eliza Jane Whittington. The pistol is in good condition and is housed in a handmade leather holster that was made by Mr. Barrow. "Smith and Wesson" is visible near the grip.
1935 CALENDAR - Barbara Cotton, a descendant of the Wiggins and Wells families, has donated a 1935 calendar from Normie Sherman's Red and Whtie Grocery in Anahuac. Mr. Sherman was also a dealer for International Harvester farm equipment and the calendar carries their emblem. We will have this farmed and hang it in the Heritage Park.
BOOK PROJECTS - Kevin has assisted two of our board members with book projects during the past year. Both books are very close to publication. Jim Bob Jackson has done a great deal of research into cattle drives from Texas to New Orleans during the mid-1800s. These cattle drives, which involved James Taylor White and Joshua J. Mayes, among other local men, preceded the more legendary cattle drives to Kansas and other points north. Bobby Scherer has written a biographical history of his grandparents, Walter Ament Scherer and Anna Laura (Willcox) Scherer.
PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS - Since we have purchased our Hewlett Packard scanner, we have copied a large number of photographs and some early documents. Here are some of the more interesting photographs:
HERITAGE PARK COOKBOOK - We are getting really close to publishing the early pioneer recipes that we have been collecting for the past three or four years. We presently have over 300 pages of recipes in the computer and people are still bringing in more recipes to be included. Since Mary Jean Abshier is very good at this, we will be asking her to proof each original recipe against our typed copy to make sure no ingredients are missing or incorrect, and make sure that each recipe is accurate. We expect to have this cookbook published by next summer.
PORTRAIT OF JAMES TAYLOR DUNMAN & RACHEL WALLIS DUNMAN - One of the most exciting accessions we have had during the past year is a large hand-tinted tintype that shows James Taylor Dunman and his wife Rachel (Wallis) Dunman, early settlers of Wallisville. This tintype was donated by Mr. Fred Fisher, 6522 Wynnwood, Houston, Texas 77008 ---- a descendant of this family. These are also the great-great-grandparents of John Middleton.
WILEY SMITH COLLECTION - Cynthia Smith Kuslich, the owner of "The Liberty Gazette" newspaper this year gave us another six garbage bags filled with 35 mm and larger negatives from the collection of her late father Wiley Smith. Juanita Mayes has gone through all the negatives, cleaned them, cut them into strips and placed them in acid-free sleeves. Kevin has been identifying them and then adding the negatives to the rest of the collection. Cynthia says there are some more negatives that she is working through and will be giving these to us in the near future. (Some of the negatives contain family pictures that she would like to save for her family, and that is the reason for the delay.)
JACKSON FAMILY GENEALOGY - One of the most exciting events during the past year within the Jackson family of Chambers County was the discovery of the ancestry of Humphrey Jackson, the founder of this old clan, who was a native of Ireland. Mr. Guy C. Jackson, III of Anahuac had employed a professional researcher in Ireland for several months and he eventually traced the line back to a Jackson family of Ballybay, Ireland. Jim Bob Jackson purchased a copy of "At the Ford of the Birches: The History of Ballybay, Its People and Vicinity" and donated it to the Heritage Park Library. A copy of this "new" Jackson genealogy line is found on next page.
WETLANDS EDUCATION CENTER - The Heritage Park has been associated with the new Wetlands Education Center, which is operated under the auspices of the Chambers-Liberty Counties Navigation District. Kevin was appointed as one of five board members for the center (others are Gene Best, Tommy Chambers, Tommy Willcox and Guy Robert Jackson). The center currently has two boats, the "Moss Bluff" and the "Smith Point," which are available for rental by schools, colleges, groups, etc. Kevin helped develop the historical materials that went into handbooks to be used by various volunteers who help conduct the tours. The WHP Board of Directors has a standing invitation from the WEC to take a boat ride and look at historical sites on the river from Anahuac to Wallisville and at least as far up as the "Sulphur Cut." We're going to go out in the near future and set up an actual tour that would cover only historical sites.