The Age, Volume 4, Number 11, October 1, 1983 Page: 1 of 1
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THE AGE
Established at Houston, May 15,
1871 by D. L. McGary. Moved to
Wallisville March 15, 1897. Discon-
tinued in 1908. Reestablished by the
Wallisville Heritage Park, December
1, 1979. $1.25 per paper, $15.00 for
one-year subscription.
Wallisville Heritage Park
P.O. Box 16
Wallisville, Texas 77597
To the Senate & House of
Representative of the Republic
of Texas
A petition from sundry citizens of
Anahuac
Liberty County praying for a post
office & post route
14th Deer 1840
Post Offices & Post Road
Liberty County & Republic of Texas
Dec. 8, 1840
To the Honorable the members
of the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives of the Republic of Texas
in Congress assembled:
The undersigned your petitioners,
citizens of the town of Chambersia
(formerly known by the name of
Anahuac) and of the county of
Liberty, would beg leave respect-
fully, but most earnestly to represent
to your honorable body, that they
are laboring under very great incon-
veniences from a want of mail rout
through this neighborhood, & a post
office in the town named above.
That the nearest post office to them
under the law as it now exists, is at
the town of Liberty on the Trinity
river, about thirty miles distance.
That the mail to that place is carried
from Galveston to Houston, a
distance of 80 or 90 miles, and then
from Houston to Liberty, a distance
of 60 or 65 miles, by a tardy and
dilatory rout, and then your peti-
tioners are under the necessity of
travelling 30 or 40 miles to Liberty
before they can receive their letters
and papers, occasioning a lapse of
time of about three to four weeks or
more in general, after those letters
and papers are deposited in the Post
Office at Galveston before your
petitioners can be benefited by them;
when if they were carried by a direct
route from Galveston to Chambersia,
a distance of only 30 or 40 miles
the conveyance would 'be-both safe
and convenient and expeditious, and
your petitioners would be furnished
with the news in reasonable time.
Your petitioners would,, however,
represent that they are not insensible
that inconveniences like these in a
country newly and sparsely settled
often necessity exist. But in the
present instances they are sensible
that this case of hardship is not one
of necessity. That a remedy is avail-
able, and with but little or no addi-
tional expense to government. In
short, your petitioners would beg
leave to represent, that if a weekly
mail rout, by water from Galveston
to Chambersia, and by land from
Chambersia to Liberty, and to post
office at Chambersia, same author-
ised and established by law, the hard-
ships complained of would be re-
moved and your petitioners would be
accomodated. Your petitioners,
therefore, earnestly and respectfully
solicit that a law may be passed by
your honorable body, authorising the
establishment of said rout by water,
from Galveston to Chambersia, and
from Chambersia to Liberty by land,
and a post office at the town of
Chambersia (formerly known by the
name of Anahuac) and as in duty
bound they will ever pray
1 Uriel B. Chambers
2 B. Reynolds
j 3 T. W. Chambers
4 Jackson
I 5 James T. Dunman
6 James Wellborn
7 Wm. A. Smith
8 G. Thomas
9 A. G. VanPradelles
10 F. C. Rector
11 Charles Willcox
12
13 S. A. Chambers
14 M. Chism
15 James P. Chambers
16 P. H. Carraway
17 Thos. Carraway
18 James T.White
19 Norman McMillan
20 Silas Smith
21 John A. Barber
22 Charles Wilbourne
23 Benjamin Barrow
24 Henry Dunman
25 John Wever
NOTE: The following article by
David Carlton Hardee about his stay
in Liberty County in the 1840's was
begun in the September issue of THE
AGE. Hardee last month described
how he had narrowly escaped from
law officers in Smithfield, once a
booming river town on the Trinity.
THE LIBERTY VINDICATOR
Friday, November 12, 1897
REMINISCENCES OF TEXAS
(Continued from last week.)
As I rode up the banks of the
river on the opposite side I heard
someone shouting behind me. I
looked back and saw the amiable
constable trying to bring me to a halt
with a small pocket pistol. This was
the last I saw of him. I reached the
Liberty ferry thirty or more miles
below about midnight and crossed
over into town. Next morning about
nine o'clock Roe, the man from
whom I had taken the negro girl, was
in Liberty with his brother-in-law.
They employed lawyers to recover
the negro girl and had me again ar-
rested charged with unlawfully
taking possession of the girl. It was
the 2ist of April and the battle of
j San Jacinto was to be celebrated
that night in Liberty with a ball.
I The day was spent in speech-making
before the magistrate. My character
was fully vindicated. My friend
[William H.] Palmer rose to his
full height on the occasion. Besides
he had assistant counsel who more
than emphasized what he said. 1
did not know until after this trial
how I stood in Liberty county. The
magistrate reserved his decision until
next morning. Roe and his brother-
in-law were both great ball men and
were anxious to attend that night.
Hostilities were so great however
as to exclude the idea of our meeting
together at the ball. About sundown
Roe called upon me and asked if I
and my friends were willing to be
friends with him and his brother-in-
law until morning so that they could
attend the ball without any fuss or
trouble when we would again resume
hostilities. Of course I consented.
Roe was a fine singer. At the rest
hour of the ball, which in Texas is
about midnight, I called upon Roe
for a sentimental song. He responded
readily as my call was heartily
seconded. His song was greatly ap-
plauded and to repeated calls gave a
second song. Besides I introduced his
young brother-in-law, who was a
young man of fine appearance, to
several young ladies with whom he
danced. I did not see him (Roe) until
about nine o'clock next morning
when he informed me that the magis-
trate had decided the case against
him and he did not see any necessity
for any further hostilities. Roe and
myself were ever afterward friends
and we had many business trans-
actions.
After getting ail of the negroes in
my possession except one who was
in the possession of a man in Jeffer-
son, a county adjoining Liberty on
the East, Palmer and myself with my
negro man Jim all armed to the teeth
started for the locality of the man
who had possession of her. He lived
near the town of Beaumont. About
forty miles from the town of
Liberty, we rode up to the man's
house (I cannot now remember his
name) and were about to get down
from our horses when five or six
men with double barrel shot guns
came from behind the house. Then
and there I received the worst scare
that I ever experienced. Gathering
all my wits about me and with all
the coolness I could command I
inquired how far it was to the town
of Beaumont and which was^the
most direct road. They replied saying
that it was about two miles off and
j that if we could return to the road
which we left to come there that
we would be in the direct and only
road there was to go to town. We
lifted our hats and bid them good
evening. Some person belonging to
the same gang that this man belonged
to from Liberty county had preceded
us and had given notice that we were
on the way to take possession of the
negro, hence they were prepared to
receive us. We had hardly stopped at
the tavern and made arrangements
for ourselves and horses for the night
before we were arrested charged with
trying to get possession of the negro
girl by unlawful means.
In the mean time a number of
men, ten or fifteen, had gathered
around the mayor's office where we
were stationed, and drinking to
great excess. During this time the
mayor, who was ex-officio J. P.,
had disarmed us and put our arms
in his office. Altogether we had
about a car load of arms. We were
glad to be disarmed. If we had re-
tained our arms both Palmer and
myself would have been killed. Every
effort was made to pick a quarrel
with us, and Palmer was but too
ready and willing to meet the small-
est insult, ignoring all danger. For my
own part I was greatly alarmed.
I When liquor began to rule and every-
I thing was most threatening the
Mayor took me aside and asked if I
was a Mason. I told him that I was.
He then told me the most desperate
and leading man of that violent
crowd was a most enthusiastic Free
Mason. He told me to appeal to
him and all would be right. I im-
mediately led him away and made
myself known to as a Mason and
appealed to him as a brother Mason
for protection. This he promised to
give me, but advised to go to jail, as
some of the men were already drunk
and unmanageable. The kind jailer
took us to jail but as he and his
family lived in a portion of the
building he gave Palmer and myself
a sleeping room in his family com-
partment. After breakfast we went
before the Mayor for a hearing. As
no one appeared against us we were
dismissed on paying costs which was
one dollar and fifty cents, payable
in silver.
I was in Beaumont several times
afterward, but always found every-
thing peaceable and well-behaved.
The man who had the negro woman
in his possession moved to a distant
and western county soon after my
effort to recover the negro girl,
taking the girl with him. I have
mentioned two out of the three
occasions when my life was put in
jeopardy in trying to get possession
of this property. The other case was
attended with no special hazard.
NOTE: The bayous and waterways,
bays and lakes of Chambers County
served its residents well as a natural
highway. Many people today still
speak fondly of the old mail boats
that transported people, freight and
mail to and from Galveston. The
Velma was one of the finest such
boats to make the trip from
Anahuac to Galveston.
THE PROGRESS
Gay L. Tufts, Editor & Publisher
Friday, July 10, 1914
THE NEW MAIL BOAT
The Velma made her first trip
with the mail Friday of last week.
She has been remodeled into an
elegant passenger boat, capable of
accommodating 125 passengers com-
fortably. Capt. John P. Mitchell, the
owner, has spared no pains in making
this one of the finest boats in the
bay, and also one of the swiftest.
The upper deck is exclusively for
passengers and at no time will an
excess of freight interfere with the
comfort of the passengers. There
are two long benches, affording one
an opportunity to lie down and sleep
an hour or so if desired when the
boat is not crowded, and there are
plenty of chairs for those who wish
to occupy seats on the lower deck,
upper deck or any place outside of
the engine room or pilot house.
Preparations have also been made
to serve coffee and sandwiches to
those who might become hungry
on the way. The Velma is equipped
with a 60-horse power engine, rides
the sea like a swan and makes the
trip from Galveston to Anahuac in
about four and one-half hours.
MEMORIALS & HONORARIUMS
Mr. Ralph James Barrow
Mr. & Mrs. S. W. Barrow
Mrs. Sarah Jane Burch
Mrs. Aileene Manning
Ms. Gisella J. Manning
Mr. & Mrs. John Middleton
Rev. Walter P. Gibbs
Mrs. Tavia LaFour
Mrs. Effie May Haynes
Mrs. Lorraine Silva
Mr. James H. (Casey) Jones
Mr. & Mrs. Roger L. Vaughan
Mrs. Maggie Cleo Jones
Mrs. Lorraine Silva
Mr. James Portis
Mrs. Lorraine Silva
Master John Howard Ragan
Harry & Jeffie Daves
Mrs. Callie Belle Wilcox
Mrs. Lorraine Silva
Mrs. Gertrude LaCour Woods
Mrs. Tavia LaFour
Mr. & Mrs. John Middleton
HONORARIUM
Master David Mayes Middleton, II
Mr. & Mrs. G. C. Chambliss, Jr.
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Wallisville Heritage Park (Organization). The Age, Volume 4, Number 11, October 1, 1983, periodical, October 1, 1983; Wallisville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth404160/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Chambers County Library System.