2 posts tagged “center point”
Really, Dad, I’m Ok.
146 years ago a young man, George A. Staples wrote a series of letters to his father in Virginia from a tiny settlement called Zanzenburg, Texas. We call that community Center Point today. George Staples was employed as a school teacher, but from his letters it seems his classroom was small – the children of one family plus one other student.
I came across copies of these letters thanks to my good friend Jane Ragsdale of Heart o’ the Hills Camp for Girls in Hunt. An acquaintance of hers, Les Staples, gave her the copies, and she forwarded them on to me.
I have tried for the past 4 weeks to summarize each of the letters because they have some historical significance for our community. They were written during the heady days when our state chose to secede from the Union, and they were written from a community which was in the center of the debate; one of the citizens of Zanzenburg, Dr. Charles Ganahl, was actually a delegate to the secession convention, and from what I can gather, was also the largest slaveholder in the county.
I relate stories from this part of our history not because it’s a proud moment in the history of our county. As Lincoln said, whenever he heard someone make an argument for slavery, he wanted to try it out on them personally. I relate these stories because they reflect the prevalent thought in our county during the Civil War era. It shows a picture of our history, warts and all.
Though these letters were written almost 150 years ago, it’s evident that some things do not change. The last letter in the series is a letter of reassurance. George A. Staples is trying to soothe his family back in Virginia, to assure them that he’s safe out here in the wilds of Texas.
“There is no personal danger to be apprehended from the Indians down the low – all the danger is on the stock – they will steal horses, mules, and &c but will not attack a man if they find he is armed – there is no danger in my going in bathing as I always go in in the daytime and the Indians never come out except in the night, that is in the sight of houses – and the river is within 50 yards of the House – it is not swift at all – but very deep in places – but I can swim like a duck – so there is no danger.”
He also writes that he misses his family:
“If I succeed in as I hope to do in business I expect and hope it will not be over two years from this time when I will see you [again. I have never missed] you so badly in my life. I never yet was so long from home but the longer I am away the more I learn to depend on myself – and I think that is something gained.”
He writes about his career:
“The country is so thinly settled that school teaching unless it be in a city or in a college is not so profitable as living in a [state] where a person can become more widely known and stands a chance of improving his situation after his character is established.”
He writes of young women:
“The Girls do not occupy my thoughts any longer than when I am in their company and that is very seldom. I have only been visiting twice since being up here and that was to see a Mr. Lane who lives about a half mile from here and keeps a bachelors’ Hall. I went up and spent the evening with him.”
He writes of secession politics:
“I am sorry indeed that Virginia has so far forgotten herself as to think ever of remaining in the Union – with the North. I heard it though rather vaguely before I got your letter of the 24th February – but that confirmed it – I am almost ashamed to claim her as my native state if she does not secede. It will build up Texas – as the persons – or a majority at least that will leave her will emigrate to the place where there are the greatest inducements and I think Texas is the first in that respect. I hear that since Virginia has determined to remain in the Union that Louisiana intends to petition for readmission – if she does she ought to be rejected by both confederacies. And if my individual feelings were to be consulted before Texas should so dishonor herself as to sue for readmission, if we were compelled to owe allegiance to any government, Texas should be made over to Queen Victoria – rather than remain in Union with those she has just left.”
He writes like many young men, saying “I will start my journal to you when I get it done – this place is so dull that it is very seldom that I can find an incident to jot down in it.” Perhaps he was again trying to persuade his Virginia family that there was no danger here, or perhaps he was lonely in a thinly settled place where he felt he could never ‘establish his character.’
I contacted Les and George Staples, brothers and descendents of the young letter writer of 1861, to find out what happened to young George. Did he study law? Did he become a cattle baron? Did he succeed in business? What was ‘the rest of the story?’
Les Staples wrote “George Staples, my great-grandfather, wound up in Texana, Texas. He fathered 4 boys and 2 girls there. Texana no longer exists. It was a river port and when the river silted up and the railroad went west of the town, the whole town packed up and moved to Edna. Edna is the county seat of Jackson County.”
George Staples adds some interesting details: “I have the original letters and probably know as much as anyone else. He settled in Jackson County, probably at Red Bluff which no longer exists. He had a number of children and named all his sons, including my grandfather, after men he served under while fighting for the Confederacy. My grandfather’s name was Archer McAmy Staples and his brothers included Oliver Hardeman Staples and Henry King Staples. Henry King Staples became editor, owner and publisher of the Edna Herald for 48 years and his brother Hardeman ran the linotype machine. Edna was or became the county seat of Jackson County after the railroad was put through. My understanding is that it was originally known as Macaroni Junction because it was a supply depot for the Italian railroad workers brought in by Count Telferner who got the contract to build the railroad. After Edna became established, most of the inhabitants of Red Bluff moved to Edna. One of my great Aunts was Maggie Staples who lived in the family house which was moved to Edna. She died an old maid many years ago. My father was named George Archer Staples and I am a Junior. My son is George III, known as Rex as is befitting royalty.
“I believe from the letters that the first George’s father’s name was Charles, as I have a letter or two from him as well. I do not know for certain, but suspect that George’s middle name was Anthony as Uncle Hardeman’s son was named George Anthony and the Archer I received was the last name of one of the confederate officers George served under.
“From desultory research I have concluded that the journey started near Lynchburg Virginia somewhere near the Pedlar River, which is the water supply for the city.
“My increasingly dim memory seems to recall that George married a woman named White and I know that there are relatives of that name. Texas was a hard place to make a living after the civil war and all indications are that George never accumulated any significant wealth, either in land or cattle.
“Family legend indicates that the Staples men were all good looking and had a weakness for fast horses. I personally attribute their success and good fortune to hybrid vigor.”
So the young correspondent fought in the Civil War, stayed in Texas, and became a father. Given the names he gave his sons, a gifted researcher could determine George Staples’ role in the Civil War.
Thanks, Jane, for sharing these letters with me.
Until next week, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native.
Last week I reported that my good friend Jane Ragsdale of Camp Heart o’ the Hills in Hunt had shared some letters with me – letters written during the history-laden weeks when Texas chose to secede from the Union. One of her acquaintances, Les Staples, sent her copies of letters written by his grandfather, George Staples. The letters are dated 1861 and addressed from Zanzenburg, Kerr County, Texas. Zanzenburg was an early name for the community we now call Center Point.
Center Point is a quiet community today, but in 1861 one of the leaders of the secessionist movement, Dr. Charles Ganahl, resided there, making Center Point one of the hot spots in the effort to break Texas away from the US. Dr. Ganahl was a fervent secessionist, having served in the Secession Convention in Austin, and was one of the signers of the “Ordinance of Secession” that, once approved by the voters, officially separated Texas from the Union; that document was passed, 166-8, on February 2, 1861.
These letters, written in the fever of the era, convey what people were thinking in our part of the world during those months.
It’s through source documents like these letters that I learn more about the history of an era than from a shelf of books. The raw, unfiltered, unedited words of eyewitnesses is always preferable (at least to me) than tomes written in an ivory tower and tossed out of the window to readers waiting below.
Last week I shared the highlights of Staples’ first letter home – and now I share some of his second letter, dated January 27, 1861, less than a week before the “Ordinance of Secession” was adopted in Austin.
“I will now give you as good a description of Texas as I possibly can,” young George Staples wrote to his father. After copying a surveyor’s report about the coastal areas of Texas, Staples begins to describe the land around Zanzenburg:
“It would impress you to see the Guadalupe Mountains,” he wrote, describing the hills around here, not the Guadalupe Mountains in deepest West Texas. “They are as large and high as either old Banks Mountain or the Big Piney; just as round as a potatoe [sic] Hill and the most of them entirely destitute of any kind of growth, while all of them are encircled with collateral ridges as if it had formerly been laid off into immense Corn Rows, but the land produces well. Corn yields about the same as Virginia. Also, there is no tobacco at all raised here, but all vegetables produced abundantly, with two crops per year. I have not seen an apple or pear tree, … neither a Walnut or a Hickory nut. All the fruit … are figs, plums, a few peaches, raspberries, water & musk melons, and etc.
“The timber we have is Live Oak, Post Oak…
“The cattle raising business is the most profitable one can engage in, that is when a man has sufficient capital to commence with. Cattle cost from $5 to $9 per head, and increase fast enough to make a nice profit of 30 to 75 per cent per annum. It requires a strong able bodied man to attend to them besides the horses. A herd of 2000 head requires an overseer and about 5 or six extra hands.
“Sheep raising also pays very well. They cost from $1.50 to $2.50 per head and foal twice a year though it requires a shepherd to be with them constantly. We do not have to sow our seed to reap here, but go out in the prairie and cut any where.
“I have gotten to be quite a good rider since being here and also a tolerably good hand at roping or lassoing cattle. It is very exciting to work roping and branding cattle. The manner of doing it is this: the hands scatter out and collect all of the cattle in the prairie for miles around in a large strong pen. Frequently there are more than 2000 to gather and in the center of the pen is a post firmly fixed in the ground. The hands go in with ropes of from 30 to 50 feet in length. In one end they have a noose which they swing around their heads two or three times and then throw it at the animal they want to [brand. The noose] settles over its head. It is then thrown down and branded with a hot iron brand. Cousin Milams’ brand is the [Diamond SS]. The cattle frequently show fight and in such cases hands enclosed in a pen it requires all a person’s bravery, skill and coolness to escape being gored. And between the hollering of men and the bellowing of the cattle and the sizzle of burning flesh, [it] provides a most exciting noise.
“I am going to invest all the money I can make in Cattle and Land. I am practicing economy now and to show you that I am I’ll tell you what I bought this winter. Viz – 1 pair of boots, 1 pair of shoes and 2 pair socks. These are all I have bought with the exception of paper, pens and ink, envelopes and stamps. I am now wearing a black vest you bought for me in… Richmond.”
“I will not need any money as I have some now…”
Until next week, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who made it to work in downtown Kerrville each day during the snow and ice, and wondered where the rest of you were hiding.
