The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 51, July 1947 - April, 1948 Page: 141
406 p. : ill., ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Some Gail Borden Letters
But now my dear Brother, I sympathize too deeply in your mani-
fold troubles to write further in this strain. You know me too well,
and my ways, to take umbrage at what I have written-only read it
as I would speak it and there will be no harm done.
But evidently some harm had been done, for Cole's next letter
reads:
Your letters No. 6, 7, 8 and 9 are all before me, besieging me with
reproaches and I yield without firing a shot. You take entirely too
seriously what we have said. If anything I wrote has offended your
sensibilities, it certainly was not designed. We could not well love
you more than we do, but we certainly feel the great loss we have
sustained in your leaving us, and we long for the day that in the
Providence of God may restore you to a church and a people that
are more attached to you and appreciate your many virtues. A char-
acter like yours cannot be built up in a day.
III
By the end of the Civil War Borden's Eagle Brand Milk was
well established, and Gail Borden had made a fortune. After
1867 he and his third wife, Mrs. Emaline Church, spent most of
the winters in Texas. The presence of the vast herds of cattle
which had accumulated in Southwest Texas during the war re-
vived his interest in a scheme to preserve meat. At Borden's
Station, nine miles west of Columbus, Borden established a
plant to can beef. The last letter of this collection, only a typed
copy of which has been located, was dated at Borden's Station,
March 20, 1873, about ten months before Borden's death. It is
addressed to Mr. W. S. Griffin of Galveston.
Your favor enclosing bill $39 for pew rent for the quarter ending
March 31, 1873, has been received. My interest in the prosperity of
the Church that first fostered my spiritual growth has not in the least
abated, but it seems necessary and expedient at the present time
to concentrate both my energy and my material means in the section
of the state where I have now located the "Meat Works" of the Bor-
den Meat Preserving Company and where I now reside.
Since my return here from the North on January 20 last, I have
had a schoolhouse built and turned over to the Freedmen and have
had it dedicated both for school purposes and religious services on
the Sabbath. The day school is in successful operation and a Sabbath
School has also been organized. I have nearly completed a school-141
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 51, July 1947 - April, 1948, periodical, 1948; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101119/m1/183/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.