The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957 Page: 239
616 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Early Texas Inns: A Study in Social Relationships
worked to increase it. These latter were known as "ladies' men,"
gentlemen who lost no chance to work on the women's emotions
so as to have an excuse for comforting them. But often as not
the rumors were serious and at these times the more tearful ladies
reproached, of their own accord, those who laughed and waltzed,
admonishing them to "cease their levity and pray." It was then
that the more courageous men went out in groups or singly to
fight off the Indians, and it was these men, of course, who were
the usual victims.7'
Among the other inns which were celebrated at an early date
were the Fanthorp Inn at Anderson in central Grimes County, the
Whiteside Hotel at San Felipe de Austin, the Berry Hotel at
San Augustine, and the Tremont House in Galveston. The old
Fanthorp Inn, like so many of these establishments, was originally
built for a private house and later enlarged to accommodate
boarders. Its owner, Henry Fanthorp, was a gentleman who, in
sorrow over the death of his wife and only son in England, had
come to Texas to start life anew. His inn, which had been built
as a home for his American bride in 1834, was a large log house
with a rock chimney at either end, situated in a beautiful clump
of trees. In 1835 the house was put to additional use by serving
as post office for the weekly mail route, which had been estab-
lished by the provincial government, between San Felipe de
Austin and Nacogdoches.72
The Fanthorp Inn, like the others mentioned, attracted dis-
tinguished visitors. Among these were Sam Houston, the Hon-
orable Amelia Murray, one of Queen Victoria's maids of honor,
and, later, in 1846, General Zachary Taylor, when his army
passed through the town on its way to the Mexican border. One
of the reasons for the inn's fame was the fact that it was situated
at a spot where two of the most important stage lines of this
section crossed-one line traveling between Houston and old
Springfield, the other between Nacogdoches and Austin. In fact
it was across from the inn that the stage stands were built, and
here that the drivers watered or exchanged teams and made re-
pairs, while the passengers refreshed themselves at the inn. Gen-
7'Ibid., 22-23.
72Blair, The Early History of Grimes County, 121.239
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957, periodical, 1957; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101163/m1/264/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.