Download or read book Samuel May Williams written by Margaret Swett Henson and published by Reveille Books. This book was released on 1976-03-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite his important role in the development of early Texas—he was a close associate of Stephen F. Austin, a successful businessman and land speculator, father of the Texas navy, founder of Texas' first bank, and co-founder of Galveston—Samuel May Williams is unknown to many Texans. Elitist, arrogant, shrewd, sometimes sharp in his business dealings, and politically conservative, Williams made enemies easily, and contemporary prejudice has perhaps led modern scholars to overlook his genuine significance in Texas history. Margaret Swett Henson's biography examines the career of this early entrepreneur, whose interests were closely entwined with those of Texas. Arriving in Texas in 1822 under an assumed name with little but good family connections, some mercantile experience, and fluent Spanish, Williams was hired as secretary in charge of Austin's colonial land office at San Felipe and before long had acquired large holdings of his own. In partnership with Thomas F. McKinney he set up a commission house that did a thriving business and later added a small banking function. The two men helped found the Galveston City Company and in 1848 Williams opened his Commercial and Agricultural Bank in that city. Over three decades Williams participated in the events that determined the course of Texas history and did much to advance the development of Texas and its economy—a less romantic but no less vital role than that of more popular folk-heroes. This study makes extensive use of heretofore largely unexplored manuscript material, notably the Samuel May Williams Papers at the Rosenberg Library in Galveston, Texas.
Download or read book The Samuel May Williams Home written by Margaret Swett Henson and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2013-01-30 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Built in the winter of 1839-1840, this house, and the Texas pioneer who inhabited it, are the central focus of this thoroughly researched and well-written study of Galveston's merchant elite—Gail Borden, Michel Menard, Thomas McKinney, and others—a generation of leaders who did much to shape their city and Texas itself.
Download or read book Freebooters and Smugglers written by Ernest Obadele-Starks and published by University of Arkansas Press. This book was released on 2007-11-01 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1891 a young W. E. B. DuBois addressed the annual American Historical Association on the enforcement of slave trade laws: “Northern greed joined to Southern credulity was a combination calculated to circumvent any law, human or divine.” One law in particular he was referring to was the Abolition Act of 1808. It was specifically passed to end the foreign slave trade. However, as Ernest Obadele-Starks shows, thanks to profiteering smugglers like the Lafitte brothers and the Bowie brothers, the slave trade persisted throughout the south for a number of years after the law was passed. Freebooters and Smugglers examines the tactics and strategies that the adherents of the foreign slave trade used to challenge the law. It reassesses the role that Americans played in the continuation of foreign slave transshipments into the country right up to the Civil War, shedding light on an important topic that has been largely overlooked in the historiography of the slave trade.
Download or read book New Orleans and the Texas Revolution written by Edward L. Miller and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2004-08-30 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the fall of 1835, Creole mercantile houses that backed the Mexican Federalists in their opposition to Santa Anna essentially lost the fight for Texas to the Americans of the Faubourg St. Marie. As a result, New Orleans capital, some $250,000 in loans, and New Orleans men and arms—two companies known as the New Orleans Greys—went to support the upstart Texians in their battle against Santa Anna. Author Edward L. Miller has delved into previously unused or overlooked papers housed in New Orleans to reconstruct a chain of events that set the Crescent City in many ways at the center of the Texian fight for independence. Not only did New Orleans business interests send money and men to Texas in exchange for promises of land, but they also provided newspaper coverage that set the scene for later American annexation of the young republic. In New Orleans and the Texas Revolution, Miller follows other historians in arguing that Texian leaders recognized the importance of securing financial and popular support from New Orleans. He has gone beyond others, though, in exploring the details of the organizing efforts there and the motives of the pro-Texian forces. On October 13, 1835, a powerful group of financiers and businessmen met at Banks Arcade and formed the Committee on Texas Affairs. Miller deftly mines the long-ignored documentation of this meeting and the group that grew out of it, to raise significant questions. He also carefully documents the military efforts based in New Orleans, from the disastrous Tampico Expedition to the formation of two companies of New Orleans Greys and their tragic fates at the Alamo and Goliad. Whatever their motives, Miller argues, Texas became a life-long preoccupation for many who attended that crucial meeting at Banks Arcade. And the history of Texas was changed because of that preoccupation.
Download or read book A Month of Sundays written by Kent Biffle and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In memory of Mary Lou "Douse" Thrasher given by Mr. and Mrs. James Reeves.
Download or read book Revolts Protests Demonstrations and Rebellions in American History 3 volumes written by Steven L. Danver and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-12-17 with total page 1422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This three-volume work traces the history of revolts and rebellions from the colonial era to the 20th century. America has a long history of rebellions extending back before 1776. Revolts have taken place because of economic hard times, the denial of civil rights, racism, sexism, and classism. Studying the reasons for and results of these uprisings provides a window into the life of the American body politic—and what moves the American people to action. Revolts, Protests, Demonstrations, and Rebellions in American History: An Encyclopedia details the history of popular actions from the colonial era to the 20th century. Each event in the three-volume encyclopedia is covered by an overview entry that details who was involved, why the revolt took place, what happened, and what the aftereffects were. Shorter subentries provide further detail on the important people, places, events, and ideas that were a part of the action. By presenting both the broad themes and the specifics, the encyclopedia enables readers to gain a general knowledge of the event or drill down to acquire a greater understanding.
Download or read book Galveston Chronicles written by Donald Willett and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2013-08-13 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Named for Bernardo de Galvez and established in 1839, Galveston measures just over two hundred square miles. In early Texas history, however, it was actually the largest city in the Lone Star State, as well as a hugely important port that would become a strategic target during the Civil War. The Oleander City survived the depredations of war and flourished, a resilience it would also display in the wake of the devastating hurricane of 1900. From early cannibals and pirates to the woman suffrage movement and Nazi POWs, Galveston's amazing story continues to evolve today. Join thirteen of Texas's most noted scholars and historians as they share this remarkable island history.
Download or read book Jim Bowie written by Ann Graham Gaines and published by Enslow Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2014-12-15 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book follows the life of Jim Bowie from his childhood on the American frontier to his courageous death at the Alamo. Highlighting the spirit of adventure that led Bowie to Mexico and involved him in the war for Texas independence, author Ann Graham Gaines examines the personal side of this legendary frontiersman.
Download or read book Battle on the Bay written by Edward T. Cotham and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Civil War history of Galveston is one of the last untold stories from America's bloodiest war, despite the fact that Galveston was a focal point of hostilities throughout the conflict. As other Southern ports fell to the Union, Galveston emerged as one of the Confederacy's only lifelines to the outside world. When the war ended in 1865, Galveston was the only major port still in Confederate hands. In this beautifully written narrative history, Ed Cotham draws upon years of archival and on-site research, as well as rare historical photographs, drawings, and maps, to chronicle the Civil War years in Galveston. His story encompasses all the military engagements that took place in the city and on Galveston Bay, including the dramatic Battle of Galveston, in which Confederate forces retook the city on New Year's Day, 1863. Cotham sets the events in Galveston within the overall conduct of the war, revealing how the city's loss was a great strategic impediment to the North. Through his pages pass major figures of the era, as well as ordinary soldiers, sailors, and citizens of Galveston, whose courage in the face of privation and danger adds an inspiring dimension to the story.
Download or read book The Lure of Texas written by Robert D. Morritt and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2011-01-18 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book affords the reader an in-depth history of Texas from the earliest Paleographical era, providing details of the occupation of Texas by Spain, France and Mexico, and gives the reader contemporary accounts of battles and incursions leading up to the Battle of the Alamo and to the establishment of Statehood.
Download or read book Unforgettable Galveston Characters written by Jan Johnson and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2018-09-24 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From financiers of the Texas Revolution to contestants in the Pageant of Pulchritude, the shores of Galveston enticed and cultivated a host of memorable men and women. Bishops and bookies, concert pianists and cotton tycoons--all left an indelible print on their remarkable home. Magnolia Willis Sealy and the members of the Women's Health Protective Association reshaped the ravages of the Great Storm into the glories of the Oleander City. The benevolent activism of Norris Wright Cuney transformed the social landscape, while actress Charlotte Walker and painter Boyer Gonzales Sr. extended the island's cultural reach abroad. Jan Johnson keeps company with Galveston's most fascinating characters.
Download or read book The Pirates Laffite written by William C. Davis and published by HMH. This book was released on 2006-05-01 with total page 735 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An “engrossing and exciting” account of legendary New Orleans privateers Pierre and Jean Laffite and their adventures along the Gulf Coast (Booklist, starred review). At large during the most colorful period in New Orleans’ history, from just after the Louisiana Purchase through the War of 1812, privateers Jean and Pierre Laffite made life hell for Spanish merchants on the Gulf. Pirates to the US Navy officers who chased them, heroes to the private citizens who shopped for contraband at their well-publicized auctions, the brothers became important members of a filibustering syndicate that included lawyers, bankers, merchants, and corrupt US officials. But this allegiance didn’t stop the Laffites from becoming paid Spanish spies, disappearing into the fog of history after selling out their own associates. William C. Davis uncovers the truth about two men who made their names synonymous with piracy and intrigue on the Gulf.
Download or read book De Le n a Tejano Family History written by Ana Carolina Castillo Crimm and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner, Presidio La Bahia Award, 2004 San Antonio Conservation Society Citation, 2005 La familia de León was one of the foundation stones on which Texas was built. Martín de León and his wife Patricia de la Garza left a comfortable life in Mexico for the hardships and uncertainties of the Texas frontier in 1801. Together, they established family ranches in South Texas and, in 1824, the town of Victoria and the de León colony on the Guadalupe River (along with Stephen F. Austin's colony, the only completely successful colonization effort in Texas). They and their descendents survived and prospered under four governments, as the society in which they lived evolved from autocratic to republican and the economy from which they drew their livelihood changed from one of mercantile control to one characterized by capitalistic investments. Combining the storytelling flair of a novelist with a scholar's concern for the facts, Ana Carolina Castillo Crimm here recounts the history of three generations of the de León family. She follows Martín and Patricia from their beginnings in Mexico through the establishment of the family ranches in Texas and the founding of the de León colony and the town of Victoria. Then she details how, after Martín's death in 1834, Patricia and her children endured the Texas Revolution, exile in New Orleans and Mexico, expropriation of their lands, and, after returning to Texas, years of legal battles to regain their property. Representative of the experiences of many Tejanos whose stories have yet to be written, the history of the de León family is the story of the Tejano settlers of Texas.
Download or read book Jos Mar a de Jes s Carvajal written by Joseph E. Chance and published by Trinity University Press. This book was released on 2012-08-31 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: José María de Jesús Carvajalis both a biography of a Mexican postrevolutionary and a study of the development of a new border between Mexico and the United States during the crucial decades of the early to mid–nineteenth century. The work examines the challenges faced by Carvajal, a bilingual, bicultural character in confusing times, against the historical backdrop of the history of colonial Texas and northern Mexico. Chance has chosen to focus on a political-military figure whose career stretches from the Texas Revolution to the French Intervention. Carvajal played a key role in the violent struggle between the liberal and conservative political factions that vied for control of the Republic of Mexico from 1830 to 1874. He was the leader of a mercenary army that invaded Mexico from the United States in 1851 in an unsuccessful attempt for the creation of the so-called independent Republic of the Sierra Madre. In addition, he played significant roles in the struggle for Texas Independence and formation of the ill-fated Republic of the Rio Grande; and he opposed the American occupation of northern Mexico during the Mexican-American War, the War of Reform that solidified liberal control of Mexico under the leadership of Benito Juarez, and the French Intervention into Mexico. Carvajal’s life and exploits have been largely overlooked by contemporary historians. This work sheds new light on several important chapters in the history of Texas and northern Mexico.
Download or read book Galveston written by Gary Cartwright and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 1998-08-01 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Galveston—a small, flat island off the Texas Gulf coast—has seen some of the state's most amazing history and fascinating people. First settled by the Karankawa Indians, long suspected of cannibalism, it was where the stranded Cabeza de Vaca came ashore in the 16th century. Pirate Jean Lafitte used it as a hideout in the early 1800s and both General Sam Houston and General James Long (with his wife, Jane, the “Mother of Texas”) stayed on its shores. More modern notable names on the island include Robert Kleberg and the Moody, Sealy and Kempner families who dominated commerce and society well into the twentieth century. Captured by both sides during the Civil War and the scene of a devastating sea battle, the city flourished during Reconstruction and became a leading port, an exporter of grain and cotton, a terminal for two major railroads, and site of fabulous Victorian buildings—homes, hotels, the Grand Opera House, the Galveston Pavilion (first building in Texas to have electric lights). It was, writes Cartwright, “the largest, bawdiest, and most important city between New Orleans and San Francisco.” This country's worst natural disaster—the Galveston hurricane of 1900—left the city in shambles, with one sixth of its population dead. But Galveston recovered. During Prohibition rum-running and bootlegging flourished; after the repeal, a variety of shady activities earned the city the nickname “The Free State of Galveston.” In recent years Galveston has focused on civic reform and restoration of its valuable architectural and cultural heritage. Over 500 buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and an annual "Dickens on the Strand" festival brings thousands of tourists to the island city each December. Yet Galveston still witnesses colorful incidents and tells stories of descendants of the ruling families, as Cartwright demonstrates with wry humor in a new epilogue written specially for this edition of Galveston. First published in 1991 by Atheneum.
Download or read book Catalog of Copyright Entries Third Series written by Library of Congress. Copyright Office and published by Copyright Office, Library of Congress. This book was released on 1977 with total page 1624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Galveston and the Great West written by Earle B. Young and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces Galveston's emergence as a key American port city: from its initial conception by risk-taking businessmen and daring civic leaders through the thirty-five years it took to realize the dreams of a world-class harbor.
