The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 7, July 1903 - April, 1904 Page: 67
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Mrs. Mary Jane Briscoe.
Texan victory at San Jacinto, the refugees returned to their deso-
late homes.
"However, matters did not remain in this state for a great length
of time. The same sterling qualities and brave, adventurous spirit
that brought the pioneers into Texas, now stood them in good stead.
Tents were spread until houses could be built, and all manner of
trials cheerfully borne-thus bridging the time . . . [until] a crop
could be raised and prosperity resume its reign.
......"[Meanwhile the] 'little white papoose', [now] grown to
young womanhood in her grandfather's home on the Seneca river,
was anxiously awaiting a summons to join the mother and brothers
in far away Texas.......... At last the summons from her mother
came, and in October 1836, Mary Jane, in company with her grand-
father and several other relatives left New York for Texas. She
tells [in her reminiscences] of the many friends who gathered to
see them start on their long journey, for in those days there was no
rapid transit to Texas, and these relations and friends knew that it
was separation for years, if not for all time...... [Again] she
tells......of the drive of 80 miles by stage to Buffalo, from which
they took passage on a lake steamer for Cleveland, Ohio, but a
dreadful gale overtook them, and after buffeting with the wind and
waves, they at last put in to the Canada shore, where they tied up for
two night and a day; also of how she and a young Quakeress nursed
and tended the sick passengers, of whom there were many, and of
how, after the third day, they got back to Buffalo, where the vessel
had to undergo repairs.
"[They] could not brook this delay, so took passage on another
boat and made a safe run to Cleveland; thence [they traveled] by
canal to Portsmouth, from there to Cincinnati, and so on, by slow
transits and many changes, [until] they reached New Orleans on
the first day of November ......
"After a week spent in this city, [they] embarked on the Julius
Ocesar, crossing the Gulf of Mexico to Quintana, at the mouth of
the Brazos. There were but a few houses at this point-roughly
built-the most comfortable one being a two-story boarding house,
and there they stayed a few days, meeting and being introduced to
many men who had lately made their names famous in heroic
action. One story is told of how the young girl from New York
State watched through the wide crack in the partition wall, the
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 7, July 1903 - April, 1904, periodical, 1904; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101030/m1/71/?rotate=90: accessed March 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.