Mike Shoup’s Talk, November 23, 2023

Texas became a State in 1845
It was a tme of urbanizaton, industrializaton, immigraton, and expansion of educaton.
Coton was King, Agricultural pursuits including gardening were an important part of the life of a Texan. CONTINUE READING | Download PDF

The Night The Stars Fell –The Great Leonid Meteor Storm of November 13, 1833

The Leonids meteor shower is one of the biggest meteor showers of the year. This
year’s shower will have its best viewing conditions beginning around 11:45 PM the
night of November 17, and for several hours afterwards until dawn. CONTINUE READING | Download PDF

Along The Waterways – Nancy Shoup

European politics of the 18th century paved the way for the settlement of Texas. Rivalry between Spain and France in colonizing North America played a strong part in drawing the boundaries of the area we now call Texas. The Spanish established forts (presidios) to counter the ever encroaching French. The clergy, interesting in converting the Indians to Christianity, connected missions to the presidios and between these forts they staked out roads called caminos reales or King’s Highways. The road connecting Saltillo, San Antonio and Natchitoches was the major camino reale (The Old San Antonio Road). A southern alternative route ran from La Bahia ( Goliad) to join the San Antonio Road at the Trinity River. CONTINUE READING | Download PDF

Andrew Robinson (The Old Three Hundred) – Nancy Shoup

Andrew Robinson may well have been the very first of Austin’s colony to cross the Brazos River and camp near the La Bahia Crossing. This area was to become the town of Washington-on-the-Brazos. Andrew claimed to have seen the cliffs before, when he traveled to San Antonio in 1812 as a part of the Magee Guiterrez Expedition. This time he brought his family; his wife Nancy, a son, Andrew Robinson, Jr., a daughter, Patsy, and two slaves. He planned to stay in one place despite his earlier tendencies to roam the rivers and creeks, then, expand the glory of it all in a tavern where he found willing listeners. ¹ CONTINUE READING | Download PDF

Abner Kuykendall (The Old Three Hundred) – Nancy Shoup

The Kuykendall brothers, Abner, Joseph and Robert, were among 50 families gathered at Nagadoches to come into Texas on November 26, 1821. The brothers were sons of Adam and Margaret Kuykendall of Dutch heritage, born in North Carolina and Kentucky but living in Arkansas Territory by 1808. Of hardy pioneer stock from the Allegheny Mountains, the brothers brought large families eager to obtain land at 12.5 cents an acre offered by the Spanish government of which Texas was a province. CONTINUE READING | Download PDF

James Lynch, The Old Three Hundred – Nancy Shoup

In telling the stories of the settlers among the First 300 who were recruited by Stephen F. Austin to colonize the area now called Washington County, we find a young farmer, James Lynch. Lynch came to Texas with his wife, Anna and their young son. His settlement was between Andrew Robinson and Micajah Byrd on the Brazos River. Coming to Texas as an entrepreneur to acquire free land offered in the colonization plan of 640 acres for the head of the household, 320 for the wife and 100 for the child, Lynch shared in the community development by participating in the committees to build roads and in jury duty to protect his family and community from thieves and marauders. CONTINUE READING | Download PDF

The Old Three Hundred – Nancy Shoup

The Old Three Hundred is a term used to describe 297 settlers who purchased grants of land from Stephen Fuller Austin, an empresario appointed by the governor to distribute land in the name of the Mexican government. The settlers made up the first approved group of Anglo-American immigrants to Texas. The titles covered the land between the Brazos River and the Colorado River from the Gulf Coast to the San Antonio Road. Brenham and Independence are included in that corridor of land. CONTINUE READING | Download PDF