The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964 Page: 313

Book Reviews

freshing reaction one experiences in absorbing page after page
of this memorial to the folks who established their homes in the
hills of Wimberley. GUIDo E. RANSLEBEN, SR.
G. P. Reagan, Country Doctor. By Rocky Reagan. San Antonio
(The Naylor Company, 1963. Pp. ix+39. $2.95.
This little book of thirty-nine pages makes no pretense of
superiority of content or completeness. On the contrary, it is a
simple, straightforward presentation of a few episodes in the life
of a conscientious country doctor, Green Pryor Reagan. The
author is a son, Rocky Reagan, who at the age of eighty, is
himself a sturdy son of South Texas. The language of the book
is that of the cowman. For example, Doctor Reagan, instead of
forming a partnership with a Doctor Calaway, "threw in" with
him.
Doctor Reagan was born in Mississippi in 1835, studied medi-
cine at Tulane University, and came to Texas in 1858. He and a
a brother in a wagon attached themselves to a caravan. He
did his first practice in this caravan and was probably the first
doctor to deliver a baby in a covered wagon on the way to Texas.
His first stop was at Flatonia. He moved to Helena in Karnes
County just before the Civil War. After four years in Green's
Brigade, Reagan moved his family to Banquete. There he was
enrolled as a ranger. He was related to the well-known Rabb
family as rangers and as kinsmen. The final move was to Oakville,
where the ancestral Reagan home still stands.
Doctor Reagan took good care of the medical needs of his
people, near and far. From the evidence, he was a man of ability
and integrity. The life of the family was worthy. They accepted
their responsibility in church, school, and civic affairs. Their
routine duties were punctuated by a seriously lost little boy,
Indian raids, and the presence of a baby and a large rattlesnake
on the same pallet.
This story rings true with one glaring exception: Mrs. Reagan
served tea and toast at breakfast at least once, and in the area
which is hallowed by the footprints of Captain McNelly! This
transgression is remindful of the cowboy who went to work for
a tenderfoot cowwoman. The first morning she served him a

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