Carole Sikes Artist / Writer in Austin, Texas

WHAT DO YOU KNOW about the Old 300? The “Old 300” (actually 297) were the first Anglo families to form a colony in the Mexican state of Tejas. Moses Austin was a Missouri businessman with many varied investments, including mining, banking and others. He educated his son Stephen in the east. As a result of his business ventures, Moses Austin had much indebtedness and the financial panic of 1819 was devastating for him and his family. While attempting to settle his debts, he became ill and died leaving his vision of a colony in the Mexican state (Coahuila y Tejas) to son his Stephen F. Austin. Before his death, Moses Austin had begun seeking persons eager to acquire new land. However it was his son Stephen who dutifully, but with reluctance, took up his late father’s project and brought the new settlers to Texas from the years 1822 to 1824. The “families” were loosely defined. Some were people of means. Some were traditional families with children. Others were couples,...

WHAT DO YOU KNOW about “PA and MA” Ferguson? Because Texas was an agrarian state, James Ferguson (1871-1944) took on the nickname name “Farmer Jim” and made his first run for public office while only in his 40s. He became governor of Texas. Born on a farm near Salado, Texas, he was kicked out of a prestigious school when he was 16, wandered in the west for several years, then returned to be a lawyer. He never attended a law school but passed the bar with help from friends of his circuit riding father. James is described as “magnetic, grandiose, a bully and a crook.” (*) By contrast his wife, Miriam Amanda Wallace (1875-1961) was introverted, apolitical, and daughter of a nearby rancher/preacher. “Even if I had the right to vote I wouldn’t do it” she said. Ferguson posed as a Democrat-populist farmer but he had a chauffeur. His wife’s money bought a big house, a farm and interest in a bank. As an anti-prohibitionist, campaign money came from brewers. Speeches were drafted on pages fro...

WHAT DO YOU KNOW about the Texas State Cemetery? If you read Michael Barnes’ two recent features about the cemetery in the Austin American Statesman you already know more than I can add. Perhaps an impetus for his article was journalist Julian Read’s recent interment there. Julian was a resident in Westminster Retirement Community. He is certainly not the only, nor will he be the last Westminster resident to be recognized for public service with a resting place in our beautiful State Cemetery.________ Huge trees shade the gravesites of individuals who have made both major and minor marks in the history books of Texas. Stephen F. Austin’s remains were transported from his sister’s land and reinterred in the city named for him.________ Early settler Joseph Wilbarger lived many years after Indians scalped him and left him to die near the Colorado River. His remains are in the cemetery. There is a monument honoring Susanna Dickinson, survivor of the Alamo, but she is buried at nearby Oakw...

WHAT DO YOU KNOW about the French Legation?________ The French Legation was originally the private home of Count Jean Pierre Isadore Alphonse Dubois de Saligny (1841). As a lesser French diplomat, the Charge d’ Affairs entertained politicians of the new Republic of Texas hoping for legislative favors which never came. If you read my story about Dubois and the “Pig War”(1) you will know the details of his disastrous few years in the very rudimentary village of Austin, resulting in his recall to France.________ In 1849, Dr. Joseph W. Robertson bought the property as a home. He and his wife had 11 children and 9 enslaved workers. Later the former Legation was purchased by the State of Texas making it a museum. The Daughters of the Republic were appointed its custodians. DRT member “Miss Lillie” Robertson became enthusiastic keeper of its history and tour guide.________ The DRT and Violet Crown Garden Club (2) hired landscape architect Charles Pinkney (1906-1994) and iron worker For...

WHAT DO YOU KNOW about Texas inventors? There were some who were tinkers and struck it rich quite by surprise, others were creative thinkers finding solutions to problems, and my last example was man who inherited millions from his father but also made a name for himself. ________ In 1829 Texas was still part of Mexico. Gail Borden Jr. joined his father who printed the newspaper in San Felipe, an early Texas settlement. The father-son team printed the original Texas Declaration of Independence. But Borden Jr. was also and inventive thinker. He created a horse-drawn wagon that was also a boat. More importantly he found a way to evaporate 60 percent of the water from milk, resulting in milk that didn’t go bad in the Texas heat. This was a boon for a society that didn’t yet have refrigeration. Much later sugar was added to the vacuum sealed milk and it lasts for years. I think it is still on grocery store shelves today with the name “Eagle Brand Condensed Milk.” ________ Native Texan Sc...

WHAT DO YOU KNOW about these Texas facts? Sorry, no story this time but see how many of these Texas Brags you already know: All 15: You get the Texas Brag trophy, but you must have cheated. Seven: You’re on the way to becoming a Texan. Anything less than 5 is pathetic and I might tell you to go back where you came from but I need readers for my future essays. 1. Texas is the only state joining the U.S. by treaty. (It was first a sovereign nation.) 2. Six flags have flown over Texas (Spanish, French, Mexican, Republic of Texas, United States of America, and the Confederate States of America.) 3. Texas is the second largest land mass in the nation. (El Paso is closer to San Diego than to Houston and Dallas is closer to Memphis TN than to South Padre Island.) 4. In the list of the most populous cities in the United States, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas rank 4, 7, and 9. ( May have changed since this list was published.) 5. In wool production, Texas...

WHAT DO YOU KNOW about Richard Denney? Rick Denney; Vice Chair of Travis County Historical Commission, called me about a story in my book Hudson Bend and the Birth of Lake Travis. (1) Perhaps he and I qualify as Rut Nuts. A “rut nut” is someone interested in history, particularly swales and ruts which are physical remains of old trails.______ Our online discussions included trails west of Austin made by the Comanche, the mid-century trails made by the Boy Scouts of Camp Tom Wooten and the old rail line established to deliver supplies and equipment to the Mansfield Dam being constructed (1937- 1941) At Marshalls Ford to create Lake Travis.______ Tiny trails become freeways! Insect tracks are followed by mammals small and large. Humans with their livestock make tracks into wider roads and even highways. Spanish explorers’caminos become paved roads and rail lines.______ Today Austin citizens travel an old path used by the Comanche and early settlers that became a road and a later railro...