"Between the Creeks" Page: 8
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Nothing is known of the Englishmen except that they were residents of London.
Of the Americans, nothing is known of Scott or Bansamen. Cragg made pianos in
Louisville, Johnson was also of Louisville. Browning, a son-in-law of W.S. Peters,
represented the company in Texas.
William Smalling Peters, an Englishman by birth, was father of the other Peters
members. He appears to have been the organizing force behind the petition to Congress.
His name headed the list and the colony was known as Peters' Colony from the first. He
came to America in 1820, and is known to have made at least one trip back to England.
He probably enlisted the English company members through his contacts in England.
His son, W.C. Peters was fifteen when he came to America with his parents. He
taught music in Pittsburg before moving to Louisville, Kentucky and opening a music
store in 1829. He soon went back to Pittsburg where he sold pianos, sheet music, played
concerts and gave music lessons. One of his students was Stephen Collins Foster.
Peters moved again to Louisville where he opened a music store, then in 1839, he
opened a branch store in Cincinnati. When he became associated with the Texas
colonization venture he was still relatively unknown; he later gained fame as a composer
and music publisher. Peters published several of his former student, Stephen Foster's
songs. One of them "0, Susana" is said to have made $10,000 for Peters and started the
young songwriter to fame. Peters was known for composing a Mass and other religious
works as well as several piano method books.
John Peters, a shoemaker in Louisville, later began publishing music in New
York. Henry J. Peters, also a musician, manufactured pianos with Thomas P. Cragg in
Louisville before moving to Young County, Texas to land that was his share of the
colonization venture.
This was an odd assortment of individuals to have the responsibility for
colonizing our area of Texas. Yet, in response to their advertising campaign, families
came from Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and other states and settled here.
Free land attracted many colonists to Texas in 1840s 3-29-92
"No quitting sense" we claim is typically Texas. From the Alamo, Washington-on-the-
Brazos and San Jacinto, we have promoted a mythical Texas that is brasher, larger than
life, with free-wheeling self-reliance; ready to gamble all on an oil well or a cause;
without enough quitting sense to know when to cry "calf-rope ". In truth, a Texan is a
product of environment, heritage and personal ambition.
Early leaders of the impoverished Republic of Texas realized land was their most
valuable asset. With it they could bargain for schools, railroads and even a capitol
building. Land would bring in settlers who would make the small republic stronger,
settlers who would be a buffer between the older settlements and the Indians.
Even after they had given land to those in Texas on the day of independence, and
as bounty to the soldiers of the revolution, settlement had not moved much beyond the
early settlements. Several offers of free land were made for special situations, but Texas
fully intended to sell its land to settlers. However, by 1840 the republic realized more
land would have to be given away to increase immigration.
Congress adopted a plan in 1841, presented a group headed by W.S. Peters of
Louisville, Ky., to settle colonists on specific land. Colonists who were heads of
households, including widows with children, received one section---640 acres of land.8
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[Name Index to Gwen Pettit Articles] (Text)
Spreadsheet index of personal and family names found in the compiled transcriptions of newspaper articles written by Gwen Pettit about the local history of Allen, Texas.
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Pettit, Gwen. "Between the Creeks", book, July 2006; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth752794/m1/13/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .