Texas Almanac, 1947-1948 Page: 34
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34 TEXAS ALMANAC -1947-1948
the rules. These were happy times,
though, and the lad might have grown up
in the west coast port of England to fol-
low much in the footsteps of his ancestors
but for a blow which fell suddenly upon
the family.
Bold Adventure.
George Dealey's father some time be-
fore had gone surety on a debt contracted
by a friend. The loan came due, the
borrower was unable to pay and so the
Dealey family business had to be fore-
closed to satisfy the debt. In the face of
financial ruin the parents considered how
they might best face the future. Although
the father was now past forty, he decided
to take his family to a new land, there to
make a new start. There were some dis-
tant relatives in the seaport of Galveston,
through which the cotton of Texas started
its sea journey to England. Perhaps the
mother had a decisive voice in this bold
decision. Certainly her spirit buoyed that
of her husband and her children as they
broke ties of a lifetime to set forth on the
great adventure.
The Dealey family did not embark for\
Texas on one of the luxurious new trans-
atlantic steamboats which the Cunard
line had recently introduced to carry
more than 200 passengers. No such revo-
lutionary advance in ocean travel ran to
Texas in those days. The Dealeys instead
contracted for part of the deck on the
bark Herbert, a cargo-carrying sailing
vessel in the Texas cotton trade. For the
parents it was a long and tedious journey
of more than forty days. But for George
and his brothers and sisters it was a
memorable adventure. And when the low-
lying island of Galveston with its town
and harbor hove into sight, the young-
sters were even more excited by what lay
before them.
Galveston in 1870 was in the midst of a
postwar boom. Still largely a sprawling
village of wooden houses and buildings,
already two-, three- and even four-story
brick business houses were creating a sky
line. The harbor on the bayside between
the island and the mainland was filled
with the ships of all nations. It was hard
to realize that only six years before Gal-
veston had been paralyzed by war, a prize
fought over by Unionist and Secessionist
and occupied for a while by blockading
federal forces.
Young George was only eleven when
the family reached its new home in Texas.
He was promptly put into public school, aterm new to the parents. The term was
new to Texans as well for only the year
before had the Legislature authorized the
start of a publicly financed school system,
and the Galveston school was one of the
first in all Texas.
The oldest brother, Thomas W. Dealey,
was George's senior by five years. The
family cold not realize a sudden fortune
even in this fabulous new country, so
the sixteen-year-old Tom Dealey looked
around for a job to help swell the family
income. The first place he applied took
him on as office boy. It was the Galveston
Daily News which was enjoying its share
of the boom then enveloping the seaport.
The News in 1870 was still a young
enterprise but it was already one of the
most famous institutions in Texas. It had
been founded in 1842 when Texas was
still a republic. The printer-editors who
started it, Samuel Bangs and George H.
French, had soon sold it to Willard Rich-
ardson, a South Carolina schoolteacher
turned journalist.
Progress of The News.
Under Richardson The News had led
the newspaper campaign for annexation
of Texas to the union. His had been a
thundering voice in behalf of the Mexican
War. In the decade leading up to the War
Between the States, Richardson through
his paper became one of the best-known
and most widely quoted advocates of the
rights of the South. When the "Irrepress-
ible Conflict" came in 1861, The News
became a leading editorial voice in behalf
of the Confederacy.
Richardson was more interested in the
economic than the political development
of Texas, however. During the fifties he
was in the forefront of movements look-
ing toward the opening of the rich interior
of Texas to prosperous settlement. The
building of railroads to serve this inland
empire held top priority with him.
Through the Texas Almanac he redoubled
the promotion of the economic and social
advancement of Texas.
The News suffered greatly during the
War Between the States, being forced to
evacuate to Houston when Galveston fell
into federal hands. By his indomitable will
and courage Richardson saved the paper
from suspension and death, however, and
once the clouds lifted he resumed publi-
cation in Galveston. He had been joined in
1866 by Colonel A. H. Belo, a Confederate
officer from North Carolina, who soon
became a full-fledged partner. Together
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Texas Almanac, 1947-1948, book, 1947; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117136/m1/36/?q=%22oil-gas%22: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.