Category Archives: Thoughts and Ramblings

Thoughts and Ramblings: Blanche Morgan, Mrs. Bruce Reid, Eunice Stevens Stephens, and the GPR Survey

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Ground Penetrating Radar Credit: Fort Bend Archeological Society

Last week, I spoke of Blanche Morgan’s journey, and I’m enthused that some of you clicked on her story’s link because most of you don’t click on links. As I stated, she wasn’t famous; she was just trying to survive with three children and another on the way after her husband died in 1917. She succeeded with some help from her family. Still, a single/widowed woman would not be looked on positively at that time, especially because she had to endure working around refinery workers in 1917. She took it for 35 years and then got the education she wanted after she retired.

Blanche’s story triggers me because it is genuine, and she wasn’t a celebrity, so no one is trying to take advantage of her story, unlike so many in our past. She was a grandma who went to college after retiring from a hellhole after 35 years. I believe she worked hard for her education, and it’s inspiring that even back then, she prevailed. Good for her, and there are many similar stories in our area if you look in the right places. On the Magnolia Cemetery tour, we champion people like this because their stories are ones of inspiration and the hope that, no matter how bad things get, you can climb above your situation. Although Blanche rests in Oak Bluff Cemetery in Port Neches, I’ll continue to sing her praises on my blog along with others who are inspiring to us.

Bessie Reid

Another woman I’ll always sing the praises of is Mrs. Bruce Reid. Bessie Reid was from Port Arthur, and literally created the textbook on the Native American history of Texas back in the 1930s with the help of journalist Florence Stratton. I say help because both of their names are on the book’s cover, along with that of Berniece Burrough, who illustrated it. But the stories were collected by Bessie Reid. Most likely, they were written by Florence, but the research was all Bessie’s. The book was called When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends, and it was used as a textbook for more than 40 years in Beaumont schools. Also, if you’ve ever heard of the legend of Kisselpoo, then you might be happy to know that Bessie first published it on July 1, 1923. You might not be happy to hear that it was a work of fiction concocted from her research on Texas Indian tribes, but all the same, it was an interesting story.

Eunice Stevens Stephens was someone that I probably wouldn’t have gotten along with, for the simple reason that we would have disagreed about our common interest. We both sang the praises of the same person, her aunt, Florence Stratton, but in the end, some discrepancies in her newspaper interviews in the early 1980s threw off many historians. I don’t blame Eunice for this because, when it came to age and other personal information, Florence lied about most of it, maybe because that’s what you did as a single woman in the 1930s. I have no idea. Also, when Eunice answered reporters’ questions, she may not have been of sound mind in the 1980s. Most of her interviews were conducted near the end of her life. But there were some interesting nuggets that Eunice shared from Florence’s time that I’m grateful for. One thing both Eunice and I would agree on is that Florence’s story needs to be told. I can only hope Eunice would appreciate my determination to bring the facts to light and keep Florence’s history alive. Whatever the case, we will see!

I spent Saturday in Sabine Pass, helping with a GPR (Ground-Penetrating Radar) survey of the Sabine Pass Cemetery. The survey was done by a few members of the Fort Bend Archeological Society and volunteers from the Jefferson County Historical Commission. The reason for the survey is to find the whereabouts of the mass grave of yellow fever victims who died in 1862. For those who haven’t been to Sabine Pass Cemetery, it’s a cluster of cemeteries with a low-lying field in the middle. I believe that besides the mass grave, there are four actual cemeteries: Pace Cemetery, Sabine Pass Cemetery, Wildwave Cemetery, and an unnamed Black cemetery. Some believe the mass grave is in the middle, while others think it may be in a marshy area to the north of Wildwave. This GPR survey may answer some questions in the search for the grave.

GPR surveys are an interesting process. A surveyor grids out two 40-meter x 40-meter blocks, and then one person pushes the GPR every half meter until all the 40-meter rows have been scanned. It’s kind of like mowing your lawn, or to be more accurate, like fertilizing your lawn with a drop spreader, because anyone who’s ever used a drop spreader knows your lines must be straight or you’ll see the spots you missed once the fertilizer takes hold.

After the area is scanned, the data are brought back to the office and put in a computer for analysis. It should take a few days to know if there’s a possibility that the graves are there. So, hopefully, we’ll know soon.

Well, that’s it for this week. I’m going to thaw out now, because my feet and fingers are still a bit frozen from the damp Sabine Pass wind.

Thoughts and Ramblings: U.S.S. Texas, Magnolia Sealy, Catherina Jeanette Stengele, and Florence Stratton

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I thought I would start by throwing some shade on certain Galveston family elites while singing the praises of Magnolia Sealy and her part in helping Galvestonians after the great storm of 1900. However, before I get to that, it seems that the Texas Battleship Foundation has decided to take two of the three cities off the list without committing to the third. Baytown and Beaumont now have no chance of hosting the ship. I sort of understand why they made this decision, but I don’t know why the Foundation hasn’t figured out where she is going. Is there an actual plan? I assume there is, but when you throw out legal/political wording in your statement, to me, that means you have no clue what you’re doing.

Let’s get into the facts of this situation, and if someone at the foundation, or dare I say, someone in Austin, calls me out on this, I would love an accurate reply to what the hell is going on. So let’s go.

The Texas Legislature approved $35 million to fix the ship. In my opinion, it wasn’t out of the goodness of their hearts because politicians have no hearts or souls. This was a “Here is $35 million, so go away” moment. Some ask why the U.S.S. Texas wouldn’t go back to San Jacinto. I’ll tell you why: It’s because Texas Parks and Wildlife, which funded the ship, no longer cares where it’s moored, as long as the state of Texas doesn’t have to pay for it. So where are we now?

The U.S.S. Texas will find a new home, but it may not be Galveston. Will Corpus Christi get involved because they seem to know how to care for a ship? I have not heard anything about the U.S.S. Lexington being in disrepair. I also believe that the Texas Battleship Foundation has run out of options. Mooring it in saltwater will probably be their only option. Additionally, in a video made before the U.S.S. Texas was dry docked, someone stated that they receive 80,000–90,000 paid visitors per year at their old mooring in LaPorte, but to be self-sufficient, they would need about 250,000 paid visitors a year. That is a lot of required traffic, to say the least.

Wherever they move her, I’m still ready to help out, just as long as they have competent leadership and a plan. I’ve certainly burned a few bridges with organizations, both local and afar, two of which I’ve heard good things about, but we will see.

Speaking of the Galveston Historical Foundation, I toured the Sealy Mansion in 2013 and learned much about Magnolia Sealy. Although there is much history to the Sealy’s, I want to add that during the Great Storm of 1900, Magnolia opened her doors to 200 people. She gave them food and shelter when others whose houses were still standing did not. And she let them stay there for a couple of months, while other well-to-do individuals turned their backs on Galvestonians. I’m not going to bring up Mattress Mack and a certain megachurch in Houston during Hurricane Harvey, but I’m pro-Magnolia and Mack. I have no opinion on Galveston and mega-church elites.

There are many women in SETX worthy of praise, and I would like to add a few more here. Some are featured on our annual Historic Magnolia Cemetery Tour, such as Catherina Jeanette Stengele. I’ve talked about her many times and told of her journey from Holland to Baltimore, Maryland, and then to Beaumont in the 1890s. She was a milliner and also financed at eight percent; this is where she made her money. She was successful in life and made a good living in the 1890s without a husband, and since she was a female and an immigrant, she could not vote during her time. Yet she prospered.

Of course, I must bring up Florence Stratton, whom I spent ten years researching. I am glad to donate what I uncovered to whomever is interested. Florence was an influential and beloved character in Beaumont’s history who contributed much to this city. She documented the “who’s who” of SETX in her weekly letter to the public, which ran from 1926 to 1938, and she started both the Milk and Ice Fund and the Empty Stocking Fund to aid low-income families. She was a charitable person behind the scenes as well, helping out regular people in need. I’m very happy about the increased interest in her life because she deserves it.

Well, this week is done, and I’m tired, so hopefully, we won’t have any more boat talk until they make a clear decision. Until next week. Ahoy!

Thoughts and Ramblings: USS Texas

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Last week was an experience, to say the least. I left my house at five thirty in the morning, and I thought that would give me enough time to make it to the shipyard in Galveston by around seven thirty, but boy, was I wrong. Everything was on time until I was about five minutes away from the ferry, then Wanda happened. And it happened at five miles below the speed limit. I didn’t pass on her because I’ve had great luck with the ferry lately, but this will never happen again. We finally boarded the ferry at around 7:38 a.m., but my tour was at eight, so I was still simmering from the delay—at least we were moving. While on the ferry, I noticed that my weekly Sunday morning post hadn’t appeared on Facebook. Everything was business as usual on WordPress, but Facebook does its own thing. After arriving home, I discovered that the post was scheduled for seven in the evening instead of in the morning. I had scheduled it the night before, and I always have issues with Facebook, so this is the last time I’ll schedule a post on Facebook when I’m sober, but I digress.

I made it to the shipyard by around 8:05 a.m., although it was off to the races on Broadway Avenue and Pelican Island Causeway to make it there. To be honest, that black Ford F-150 in front of me was going at least 70 mph. Not sure what he was late for, but it was most likely dropping someone off at the cruise ship.

The tour was excellent, and the docent nicely explained the historical background of the last dreadnought. Also, it’s always a good thing when you have someone who knows the work being done and points out the process of how it’s actually done. These tours are held every Sunday from eight in the morning to three in the afternoon. You must sign up for them through the Texas Batteship Foundation’s website, but please don’t do what I did and think that there is only one tour at eight in the morning, because if you do, you may find that Wanda is lurking out there to make you late.

Okay, now let us delve into the history of Old Hoodoo, and my propaganda about why it should come to Beaumont.

The USS Texas is a New York-class battleship that was approved by Congress in 1910, laid down in 1911, launched in 1912, and commissioned in 1914. It was the first ship to have ten 14-inch guns. While it was the most potent weapon in the world at the time, as they say, today’s powerful weapon is tomorrow’s outdated pea shooter. The USS Texas served in World War I and World War II, during which it escorted war convoys across the Atlantic. It shelled the enemy in Normandy on D-day and provided naval gunfire support during the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Serving in two world wars, the ship suffered only one casualty in the line of duty—Christen Christensen, the helmsman on duty on June 25, 1944, in Cherbourg, France. The Texas was firing on German positions in the port when an enemy 24-cm shell skidded over the top of the conning tower and exploded. Eleven seamen were injured in the blast, but Christensen succumbed to his wounds.

The USS Texas was decommissioned in 1948 and was the first permanent battleship memorial museum in the United States. The museum operated under the direction of the Battleship Texas Commission, which the Texas Legislature established to care for the ship’s safe upkeep. In 1983, the ship was turned over to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department due to mismanagement and neglect by the leadership of the Battleship Texas Commission. The Texas was moved to a dry dock for repairs in 1988.

This brings us to the past few years. Over time, the Texas has taken in water. This has been bad—about 1,500 gallons per minute bad. However, two years ago, the foundation that now runs the Texas agreed to put foam in the hull to reduce the leakage. The water intake went from 1,500 to 50 gallons per minute. This is good news for a stationary ship, but if you’ve seen the video of the vessel being moved, you’ll know that there were a lot of nervous people on that day. The Texas could have sunk. Fortunately, the ship made it to dry dock, where it is today.

As far as I know, they are only considering three places to relocate the USS Texas: Beaumont, Baytown, and Galveston. All three have good and bad points. Ultimately, though, the most important thing is what is best for the ship. First and foremost, it will be out of dry dock no later than June 1, 2023. After that, we will not know where the Battleship Texas Foundation plans to dock the vessel until the chosen city can begin construction on its part of the agreement. I am certain that they have a plan, but I find it odd that they hadn’t already made a decision.

So, what are the pros and cons of each proposed site? Certainly, Galveston is the most popular tourist attraction, but it is hard to get to. If the ship was moored along Interstate 10, it would be much easier to reach. That is a plus for Baytown and Beaumont. Another problem is keeping the vessel in salt water. Recently, I was told that this would not be a problem if the maintenance was kept up, but if history repeats itself, I am concerned. Based on my little knowledge of Galveston politics, I do know that they would want a piece of the pie, so to speak. I assume that the money raised by the Battleship Texas Foundation is for the upkeep and maintenance of the ship, and it should stay that way. I do not know if Baytown or Beaumont will be seeking a cut of the profits other than what the tourists would bring in. Finally, I am biased and will state that, in Beaumont, the water, although not pure, is not salty. There is a lot of potential to make this a great place to visit.

In the end, it probably will come down to politics. Still, I hope the powers that be will consider making sure that a Texas treasure is preserved. The ship is the last of its kind, and it needs to be protected.

Until next week

The Texas Battleship Foundation

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Thoughts and Ramblings: Pipkin School, Martha Mack Cemetery, Reverend Pipkin, Martha Mack, and John Q. Public

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Last year, on the second Annual Historic Magnolia Cemetery Tour, we added the history of Pipkin School and what we know of Martha Mack Cemetery, which is located on the south end of Magnolia, near the mausoleum. From now on, both will be permanent fixtures of our annual tour because much of their history needs to be told. It’s part of the cemetery. Magnolia’s new addition is on the grounds where the brick building of the Pipkin School once stood.

Here is its history.

For much of the twentieth century, many African American Beaumonters began their education at Pipkin Elementary School on Pine Street. In 1911, when Millard Elementary School for Whites received a new brick structure, its old two-story wooden building was moved to the Pipkin School location on Pine Street. This building was replaced with a brick structure in the 1920s. In 1974, the City of Beaumont acquired the school and the land, eventually demolishing the building in 1981. The property was sold to Magnolia Cemetery in 1999.

Pipkin School was named after Woodson Pipkin, who, along with Charles Pole Charlton, founded the first locally operated Black school in Beaumont. Pipkin was a formerly enslaved person who had received an education and realized the importance of literacy for emancipated African Americans. A Methodist minister, he co-founded an African Methodist Episcopal church, which also served as an education center. Pipkin also made his living as a teamster, clearing roads and hauling goods with his horse and mule teams. He lived in a two-story home on Main Street, near where the Beaumont Police Station is today. Woodson Pipkin died in 1918 and was buried in Martha Mack Cemetery.

An ongoing mystery is whether Reverend Pipkin was moved to Evergreen Cemetery, along with the rest of the residents of Martha Mack. The history is unclear, and further research is needed. The original site of the Martha Mack Cemetery either is (if the graves are still there) or was the first Black cemetery in Beaumont. Again, we can’t go forward until we find out if all the graves were moved. There was also another family cemetery north of Martha Mack. It was called the Happ graveyard. Happ is the name of the family that used to own the property in the past. The Happ site was a cemetery, not a graveyard, because graveyards are only on church grounds. (I don’t make the rules.) There was a church on the corner of Pine and Bayou called Maple Grove Baptist Church, but this was way after the Happs owned this land.

The history of Martha Mack the person is also a work in progress. I will say that there are many researchers on her trail. I will explain this as it kind of looks complicated, but if you’re a spiritualist, you may think that there is guidance in a group of people unknowingly researching the same subject.

In the beginning, I heard there was a Black cemetery adjacent to Magnolia named Martha Mack Cemetery. I wanted to learn more about it and who Martha was, but little was known about her except that she worked for the McFaddins as a laundress. Then, documents and census records were found, but these added more questions rather than providing answers. Meanwhile, unknown to me and a few others who had also begun looking into her history, a couple of descendants were also researching Martha. It all came to a climax a few weeks before the cemetery tour when many more court records were found and we started seeing the paper trail of the land as well as Martha’s history. The information we now have is in the hands of her descendants. Following their research, the story of her life will be told through their words. There is much more to uncover, but at least now everyone will benefit because we know each other and can share our findings.

Based on what I know, Martha experienced many hardships during her life, but she was a fighter and took no crap. A few Beaumonters gave her the shaft legally because—I guess—she was romantically involved with a widower, the Englishman H. E. Simpson, and had two daughters, Roxie and Barsheba. We will definitely get into this story when all the facts are in because it needs to be told. It is uncertain who will tell it, but I’m sure Martha will make it clear because sometimes this is how things work.

I once wrote a blog post on the notable women of SETX. Basically, I wrote it because the Houston Chronicle’sarticle on the same topic had too many Playboy centerfolds and musicians. Many local women did great things, and some of those things benefited the area as a whole. There are truly many stories to tell, and I would be happy to tell them in person, but I’ll leave the link at the bottom of this blog. I won’t leave the link to the original Houston Chronicle article because they changed thelist! At the time, my friend Ginny said that I was mad because they didn’t mention Florence Stratton, and she was right. Ginny liked my list and is an advocate of giving women their due. If I ever do another post on this topic, Martha will get the top spot along with her daughters.

I think I need to do an article on what actually went on at this time because I left out John Q. Public. To keep it simple, a person wrote a paper on the Patillo family. He left it at a couple of places, including the Theodore R. Johns Sr. Library. Someone remembered this paper, and this is how a lot of our historical research flourished. The article was excellent, yet the author didn’t add their name. If you read the article, it is by John Q. Public. This is odd, but I will respect the author’s decision. The next odd thing in this story was a researcher who was out and about taking photos of the Patillo house on Avenue F. when someone approached him asking why he was taking pictures. He explained that he was documenting the house with photos for the Jefferson County Historical Commission and then began giving details of the Patillos. It turns out this person was John Q. Public.

There are many twists and turns when you do research, and I’m still trying to figure this one out.

Until next week

Pipkin School / Reverend Woodson Pipkin: 

https://www.sfasu.edu/heritagecenter/9619.asp

Notable Women of SETX:

Notable Women of SETX History

Thoughts and Ramblings: Florence Stratton, New Headers, Derrick Riggs, the Big O, the Grey Ghost, and Fold3

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Last week was the eighty-fifth anniversary of Florence Stratton’s death, and I gave a brief account of her life on Saturday. Unfortunately, I could never tell an accurate story like those around her would have been able to. So, on Sunday’s Thoughts and Ramblings, I published a tribute to the Beaumont Journal/ Beaumont Enterprise journalist. I added no content because I wanted to use actual sources who knew her and worked with her. One thing that was mentioned in a few accounts was that her coworkers used the 30 as a tribute to their fallen comrade. As far as I can tell, the 30 was used to indicate the end of the story or say goodbye. However, as a researcher, I could never use the 30 because in 2012 I began my journey to learn more about Florence and keep her story alive.

After eleven years of research, I am still learning. Yes, Florence’s life ended in January of 1938, but her legacy should be treasured and live on as an inspiration to those who may want to follow in her footsteps. Whether it’s journalism, charity, or just caring about people and trying to make a difference, we need this. Florence cared about everyone and did her best to make things right.

Here at RediscoveringSETX, we have some new headers, and I for one am ecstatic about it. To me, it’s almost like looking at one of those Iron Maiden album covers minus the little devils with pitchforks. You can find all kinds of SETX things in them. Sorry if you don’t know who Derrick Riggs and Iron Maiden are. Actually, I’m sure Steve Harris, the founder of Iron Maiden, probably forgot who Derrick was because he went with someone else, but the fans didn’t forget—I digress. Up the Irons, Eddie! And no, I’m not a West Ham fan. Queen’s Park Rangers all the way!

Speaking of Iron Maiden, a few months ago, I was digging through my box of old Kodak moments for some pictures of airshows from the 1990s and found a few photos from their 1983 visit to Beaumont, with the Scorpions. I had no idea who the Scorpions were, but at the time, they played their hit “Blackout” on the radio every hour. Unlike most people, I hear lyrics differently, and all I heard Klaus Meine singing about was that he had a really big nose, or that’s how I understood the lyrics. I’ve seen the photos, and I agree. I also witnessed him swinging the mic and tossing it into the air, nearly hitting the rafters of the Beaumont Civic Center, or was it the Montagne Center? I’m going to have to ask Mikey Mayhem, a fellow connoisseur of local history who was also there. If you subscribe to any of Facebook’s local history pages, you may know him. I’m going to say that he’s into all sorts of shenanigans. Mikey is researching some forgotten family histories that should probably be turned into a movie. Stay tuned!

In the same box, I found some photos of an aircraft carrier being towed through the intercoastal canal in 2006. To give a bit of background, back then I was working on Lakeshore Drive and had no idea that there was a small carrier in the mothball fleet at McFaddin Bend in the Neches River. The USS Oriskany, or the “Big O” as some called it, was put there to be scrapped. The ship was a veteran of both the Korean and Vietnam wars. It was decommissioned in 1976, sold for scrap in 1995, and then repossessed in 1997. Its fate was finally sealed when, in 2006, the 880-foot carrier was sunk off the Florida coast to create an artificial reef. To my knowledge, it was the largest vessel ever sunk to make a reef, but if you had seen it, you might have wondered how anyone could land a plane on it. Knowing nothing of what I know now, I looked up and saw an aircraft carrier being towed down the intercoastal canal! Yes, this was a wow moment.

The USS Oriskany had a rich history, and its burial at sea was a fitting tribute. I wish they’d done something similar to the Grey Ghost. The USS Enterprise was scrapped with no regard for its history. It’s disgusting that a ship with so much importance was thrown away. A watery grave would have been better, if not a museum! I won’t get into a Yukari Akiyama 秋山 優花里-type rant about ships instead of tanks, but I know that she would back me up on this. I would have loved to see the Grey Ghost docked anywhere instead of becoming a pile of garbage. It was the only carrier that lasted the war, and after the Battle of Midway, it was even, at one time, the only carrier in the Pacific. Admiral Nimitz knew this; fortunately, the Imperial Japanese Navy didn’t. Yes, the Battle of Midway was a great victory, but you can lose your advantage when you’re in the Pacific theater and your commander in chief is not thinking about you and is too busy sending everything to the European theater. Yes, that was a thing.

My Yukari rant is finished for now. Changing the subject a bit, we all know that the USS Texas should be in Beaumont, so if you’re in the know, let’s bring her here. She’s self-sufficient.

A friend of mine has been looking into his father’s history. I’ve known this for a few years. Recently, he asked me if Fold3, a military history website owned by Ancestry.com, would be worth the money. I told him that it was worth it for me because I do significant research on multiple people but that if he just wanted to look at his family history, I could do it for him. Fold3 is a great site for researchers interested in finding someone’s military background. It’s also a great place to find war diaries from WWII, which I use. In 2012, a lot of information was released by the government from this time, which is why I found it on Fold3.

Well, that’s about it for now. Until next week, we don’t #uptheirons or support #WestHam. #WeRQPR #ForeverRs

Scorpions Blackout:

Derrick Riggs: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Riggs

U.S.S. Oriskany:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Oriskany_(CV-34)

U.S.S. Enterprise: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(CV-6)

Fold3: 

https://www.fold3.com/

U.S.S. Texas: 

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“Thoughts and Ramblings: Florence, Willie, and William; Queen of the Elks; Elks Love Nest; JPOTS; World War I Monument.”

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Last week, I mentioned that Florence and Willie Cooper were best friends. Their story goes possibly back to childhood. Florence’s father, Asa E. Stratton, served as a Texas legislator from January 1883 to May 1884. I have no idea why it wasn’t a full term because I haven’t researched this, but it’s another subject that I’d like to pursue. Willie’s father, Sam Bronson Cooper, also served as a Texas legislator at the time (1880–1884). Let’s add William Hobby from Moscow, Texas, into the mix, and we have a threesome of influential SETX individuals from both local and Texas history.

Willie Cooper

It is important to note that all three had ties to Beaumont in the 1900s; slowly, all three would end up here. Florence would take a teaching job in 1903; William Hobby would acquire the Beaumont Enterprise in 1907, and Willie would be elected Queen of the Elks in November 1901, beating Miss Eddie Ogden by 2,216 to 643 votes. However, there may have been shenanigans in the vote count, or at least that’s how the Beaumont Enterprise article tells the story. I don’t really know when the Cooper family first came to Beaumont, but they were a positive force for the city.

Speaking of a positive force and the Elks, I discovered an exciting raffle in the pages of the Beaumont Enterprise of 1926. It was a fantastic giveaway of a newly built home with all the amenities. It even came with a brand-new Chevrolet Coach worth $645. All this could be yours for a one-dollar raffle ticket, and oh, by the way, you needed to be newlyweds because the property was promoted as the “Elks Love Nest.” I remind you of this because it was 1926, and there was no shacking up in the Oaks Addition.

The response was amazing, and many purchased tickets. The Elks even kept the raffle going after the deadline to ensure that some folks who were sailors would be here for the draw. It’s kind of hilarious that they kept putting off the draw because they kept selling more tickets. I don’t know where the money went eventually, but the Elks were masters of promotion. The Elks are still a thing, and if you know one, I wonder if they keep track of their history. P. F. Armstrong ended up winning the love nest in December of 1926, and the house is still there. However, I don’t know the whereabouts of the Chevrolet Coach.

photo credit: Portal of Texas

As I drove to HEB yesterday in an impending rain storm, I could only wish that Howard’s Food Store in Port Arthur was still open. Not because of Just Part of the Store (JPOTS) and their great prepared food, but because Howard Hatfield had a covered parking lot that was a treasure. I have no idea what you Beaumonteers had (probably Piggly Wiggly), but we all went to Howard’s back in the day. And, of course, we would also grab a greasy burger at Judice’s on Seventh Street. I will say that Monceaux’s was the best; Judice’s came in second because I don’t remember them having greasy onion rings. Otherwise, it would have been a tie! Yes, my blood pressure is high, but I do take statins!

I’ve talked before about the World War I monument in Triangle Park, in front of the old Beaumont Enterprise building. There is a movement that wants to relocate it to Magnolia Cemetery. Currently, they are talking to the city authorities and finding the right people to speak to because let’s face it, this monument was forgotten long ago. At the last Magnolia Cemetery tour, we asked those who came out if they knew of the monument, and probably 95 percent didn’t. So, I ask you now: Have you ever heard of it? This is why it needs to be moved somewhere other than an easement on Main Street right across the giant fire hydrant where it stands today. I do not hate Disney’s giant fire hydrant; I want this monument to be in a better place.

Until next week, Tschüss!

“Thoughts and Ramblings: Susie Spindletop’s Weekly Letter; Magnolia Cemetery Tour; Ellwood, California; Was Mothra at the Battle of Los Angeles? Ancient Astronaut Theorists, It’s Your Call!”

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It’s a new year and time to set my goals for my research and this blog. One of my main goals this year is to digitize all the Susie Spindletop’s Weekly Letters. I have most of them, and I should be able to obtain the others with the help of a newspaper archive and the Sam Houston Regional Library & Research Center. I will add that all my research is stored at the Jefferson County Historical Commission.

The second goal is the Historic Magnolia Cemetery Tour—I want to talk about the origins of where we came from and where we are. In 2013 and 2014, the Liberty County Historical Commission (LCHC) created a superb program to raise funds for its work. They went all out on history and even dressed in period clothing. To me, this was spectacular, so I wanted to bring a history-based tour like that one here. I got my chance to bring history alive in 2015 with the help of Judy Linsley and the McFaddin-Ward House. We did a cemetery tour for the docents of the McFaddin-Ward House. It wasn’t like the LCHC  program, but it was a start. It was me and Judy, who knew a lot more than I did, taking a tour of the cemetery and telling stories of interest to the residents. Afterward, Judy and I did a couple more cemetery tours for the Beaumont Heritage Society.

At first, the Beaumont Heritage Society didn’t want to do a “happy hour” in a cemetery, but after not finding any other place to hold it (I assume), they changed their minds and went ahead with it. I guess it was a success for them because about thirty-five people signed up for membership of the society. It’s amazing how money changes your perspective. We did the second tour in 2016, and it went well, but after Hurricane Harvey happened, we stopped the event. At the time, Magnolia Cemetery was not in a good state. There were many problems, and management is correcting many issues that shouldn’t have happened in the first place. It is getting better.

In 2021, Kelli Maness, Magnolia Cemetery Board President, reached out to me to bring back the tour. I saw they had a new board and were making a significant effort to turn things around, so I agreed. We planned the event and it went great. For those who have taken the tour, we did a Thursday evening from five to seven, and a Saturday morning from ten to two. Our attendance was excellent on Thursday, to the surprise of a friend who thought no one would come out. Saturday was also good, and we achieved our goal of promoting Beaumont and SETX history.

In 2022 things were no different, except for the love the Beaumont Enterprise andKBMT showed us when promoting the tour. I’ll also give kudos to the folks at KFDM, who promoted the Magnolia Cemetery lecture at the McFaddin-Ward House Museum. The tour went well and we are planning the third Historic Magnolia Cemetery Tour for October. This will not be an October ghost tour but a history one. We have grown from two people presenting SETX history on a walking tour to ten to eleven presenters stationed throughout the cemetery. The great thing about this is that the presenters are either researchers who have studied the people they talk about or relatives who are proud to tell their families’ stories. We don’t give 3 x 5 index cards and tell someone to speak for four hours. (Sorry Galveston Historical Foundation—I know you changed your evil ways but I only volunteer with the Candy Lady.) We want the history of our area to be known through past residents, and so many good people volunteer their time and research to help out. I am grateful to everyone who helps out because no money is collected from the printed program, tour, water, or snacks during the event. This is education for the public, and you’re welcome because it’s free. I want to thank everyone who gives their time and knowledge to make the tour possible.

I also want to thank Kelli Maness for caring enough to provide the guys with the proper equipment to tend to the cemetery grounds. She is also the one who is trying to save Magnolia Cemetery, which is a not-for-profit organization. Her work will not go unnoticed.

This week I did a bad thing. I changed the channel from DISH scapes to the History Channel. And boy, they were on a marathon to throw in all kinds of ancient astronaut theories. Some of the Sumerian gobbledygook—I can see the point. But then they mentioned the Battle of Los Angeles (1942), and that’s when the expletives came out. I know a bit about this time, and I want to use the good people of the Port Arthur News as references because the Los Angeles Times from 1942 is not digitized, as far as I can tell. Hmm. Aliens? I think not, but I will reference a John Belushi movie later.

On the night of February 24 and the morning of the 25, 1942, all hell broke loose in the sky over Los Angeles, California. Antiaircraft positions opened fire, and they hit nothing. No, I’m not going to pin the gunners as storm troopers from a galaxy far, far away, but when you shoot at ghosts, the bullets fall to the ground, and it rains metal over a panicked civilian population. The total number of deaths was five; three car crashes and two heart attacks. So, what the hell happened that night must be explained by what happened the evening before. I knew nothing about this story until I heard it mentioned on Dan Carlin’s podcast. Dan Carlin is not a historian; he is a diehard history researcher who gives his opinions on certain subjects with added factual content. He grew up around Ellwood, California, and this is where the story begins.

On February 23, President Roosevelt prepared to make one of his fireside chats that all the US would listen to at the time. In the meantime, the Japanese ordered their submarine I-17 to fire upon a refinery in Ellwood, California. Its mission was to attack the facility, but there was not much damage. The main issue was that a foreign power attacked US soil. Something that hadn’t happened since the War of 1812 and the Battle of Baltimore. The submarine was huge. Some accounts compared it to a cruiser or a destroyer, but since it had only one 14 cm/40 11th Year Type naval gun firing at the shoreline, people quickly figured out that there was no mass invasion of the Western United States. Actually, the whole point of the action was to mentally screw with the civilians along the California coast. And it worked. They were scared, and then February 24 happened.

The Battle of Los Angeles was covered across the nation; I added a few headlines and articles from the Port Arthur News. I’ll also add that in one of the articles, L. E. MacDonald, a clerk at the West Los Angeles police station, was quoted as saying,

“As I watched the searchlights, anti-aircraft fire broke out. I saw a plane that seemed to be up at least 20,000 feet. It looked like a butterfly.”

A butterfly? Could it be that L. E. MacDonald mistook a plane for something even more ominous from Japanese lore? Could that “butterfly” actually have been a 怪獣 kaijū awakened from its sleep in the 1950s by nuclear testing? Could it be the creature that goes by the name of モスラ Mothra? If so, how did it time travel to 1942? I have no idea, but since I brought it up, maybe the ancient astronaut theorists will run with this new possible finding. Hell, it’s at least worth an episode.

No more History Channel for a while. All this talk of Ellwood, California, makes me want to rewatch that classic 1941 movie, which is loosely based on the events above. John Belushi was an ace in this movie, but Slim Pickens was the best.

Until next time, Aliens or モスラ Mothra?

“Thoughts and Ramblings: Digging into the Bee’s Knees of the 1920s; Back to Researching Susie Spindletop’s Weekly Letter; Beaumont’s Daredevil; Did I See Yanni at Renfest? The Cowboys Game on Thanksgiving Day in 1976; Kim Hendrix Ate at Monceaux’s Too; The Weather Gods Don’t Care about Your Alma Mater”

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Beaumont Enterprise January 17, 1926

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas and had no broken pipe issues (this is another reason why you shouldn’t wish for a white Christmas). Here it was quiet. We did the thing on Monday because everyone except me had to work. I spent my time flipping through the digital copies of the Beaumont Enterprise archives. One reason I’m spending my research time in the 1920s is that I CAN!

For my research on Florence Stratton, I spent many hours and a good amount of money on a microfilm machine at the Tyrrell Historical Library because Lamar didn’t want to take my money since I wasn’t an alumnus. Their loss. I don’t use Lamar for anything except maybe Gladys City, as they are an undiscovered jewel for the university. I have almost all the copies of “Susie Spindletop’s Weekly Letter,” which ran from 1926 to 1938, but some of those from the microfilm are illegible. So, I am going through the papers again because I can access the Beaumont Enterprise digitally and by date. My first search was for 1926, when “Susie Spindletop’s Weekly Letter” began, as far as I can tell, on February 28. I’ll look into 1925 again later, but this is the date. I aim to find all the letters and obtain a good digital copy of them. Of course, all my research is stored at the Jefferson County Historical Commission office, in case I eat too many Zummo sausages and expire. Florence will live on!

Going through these Sunday newspapers gives me time to look at things other than the weekly letters. There are a few nuggets of our history that I’ll be throwing out. One example is Mr. Louis A. Sacker, a daredevil who would “feast on horseshoes.” Sacker was a 27-year-old Beaumont strong man who would have probably made a killing on the wrestling circuit in the 1990s, but this was 1926. Still, he seemed to be doing good in the first two months of 1926. I added the photo of his article because “Gr-r-r,” “Gr-r-h,” and “Gr-r-R-RRRR!!.” These are actual quotes. I hope I see more of him in the later issues—iron, I assume, is good for your diet. Notice the ad in his article? 6 6 6 was a cold medicine that was advertised throughout the 1920s. I’ll throw out another one: the ads for Dr. Caldwell’s constipation medicine always targeted women. These ads are everywhere. I don’t think he was the bee’s knees when it came to women’s health. Snake oil comes to mind. Based on his photo in the ads, he looked like a disgruntled captain of a non-profitable fishing boat.

I’ve never really met someone famous, but there was that one time at the Texas Renaissance Festival in 2014 when I was at the back of the Magic Garden standing in awe of the bejeweled relic of St. Felix in a glass coffin. I began taking photos of this inspiring event when, lo and behold, I believe I saw Yanni in one of my photos. I have no idea if it was actually Yanni because I’m not Wanda and won’t start awkward conversations of which I would be the only beneficiary. If it was Yanni, he would have probably smiled and thrown in a hand gesture (I usually do this when Wanda and I converse). He looked like he was enjoying a nice day out, and I wasn’t going to mess that up.

Bob Lilly

Back in 1976, I met Bob Lilly in a hallway at a hotel in Dallas before the Thanksgiving game in which the Cowboys played the Cardinals. I have only a few memories of this time. One is the crap seats. The second is the Hare Krishna peeps asking for money as we were leaving, and the third is the briefcase full of alcohol guy on the bus back to the hotel. He was a little giddy about Dallas winning. It’s all a good memory, but when I see the video of the game where some Cardinal player put his cleats on the back of Preston Pearson and no flag was called, I realize that today’s American football sucks in 2022. I’ll leave a link to the video of the only professional American football game I ever attended.

Kim Hendrix

One thing that I always bring up is Monceaux’s Drive-In. I spent many dollars on that cheeseburger deluxe white box with fries and onion rings. At this time, I watched KJAC and always enjoyed Kim Hendrix’s newscast. There was this one time when I was waiting in line for my order, and some gofer came in and said that he was there to pick up “Kim’s” call-in order. My brain went to “Oh, Kim eats the same heavenly food as I do! I must be blessed.” I must have been around eighteen or nineteen because after I left, I went to a convenience store and a conversation on the weather came up with a woman. I answered her question, and she was impressed that I knew about radar. I guess she thought I worked at the station because she was unaware that a primitive radar was available on cable TV. I told her this, but she praised me all the same for knowing about the technology.

Speaking of radars, one July Fourth I watched Bob Becker’s forecast on KBMT, which informed me that we had great weather for the firework presentation in downtown Beaumont. “So go enjoy all the festivities.” Twenty minutes later, an ominous blip on the radar showed up. Apparently, a thunderstorm had formed over downtown Beaumont, and a gully washer ensued. Of course, there was no way I was going to miss the ten o’clock forecast! Poor guy. The weather gods always leave them holding the bag. I saw this again after Tropical Storm Imelda. One weather person clearly stated that this hurricane was not Harvey. I watched their next newscast from their new location because the station had flooded during the storm. Mother Nature hates to be fooled, and the weather gods don’t care about your degree from Texas A&M or Mississippi State.

I want to say that although I rant about millennials and Generation Z people, some of them did an amazing job during Hurricane Harvey. While on the air, they answered questions from people on the phone who didn’t know what to do in the flood and needed guidance. Kudos to y’all for knowing that people needed help in a dire situation.

Well, I’m done for this week, but I hope to be hanging with Susie this month, and we may even see what Beaumont’s daredevil Louis’s next gig is. “Gr-r-r” for now, because I don’t want to scare anyone with the full “Gr-r-R-RRRR!!.”

Rest in Peace Bob Becker:

6 6 6 cold medicine:

https://www.si.edu/object/666-cold-preparation%3Anmah_209858

Dr. Caldwell:

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/object/nmah_71544

2014 Texas Renaissance Festival photos:

9.04.14

1976-11-25 St. Louis Cardinals vs Dallas Cowboys:

Thoughts and Ramblings Evening Edition: Mari Lywd, Ol’ No. 503, and Bryan Park

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Christmas is a week away, and it’s time to guard your food and alcohol. The Mari Lywd is on the prowl and here to challenge you. Actually, you’ve probably never heard of them because it’s a folktale from Wales. I believe it began around 1800, but I’ve not gone in depth into this history. Tradition holds that the Mari Lwyd was a group of men with a hobby horse made from a horse’s skull mounted on a pole. One man dressed in a sackcloth and held the pole, and the entourage would accompany him to local houses and request entry by way of songs or poetry. Of course, many homeowners would deny access by the same means. The group would thus continue until one side or the other relented. If the Mari Lywd were permitted into the house, they would be given food and drink, but if the homeowners were victorious, then the Mari Lywd would have to go to the next house. To me, this is akin to trick-or-treating, and I love the Welsh for this.

Here in SETX, we’ve never had to rap battle some drunkards with a horse’s head on a stick, but if anyone else has, I want to know about it. #YmaOhid #Cymru

To be honest, I was aware of a movement that wanted to move Ol’ No. 503, but I wasn’t paying attention. The City of Port Arthur wanted to scrap it, as they always want to focus on historical things; that’s how Port Arthur operates. In the day, you could ask Sydalise Fredeman, savior of the Pompeiian Villa on Lakeshore Drive, for help. This treasure would have been torn down if it wasn’t for her, but Sydalise took no crap from local politicians, and she also had friends with deep pockets. A docent who conducted tours of the Villa in 2012 stated that if Mrs. Fredeman had run for president, she would have made a great one, and I tend to agree.

Again, I haven’t delved into the research on why the 503 was moved from the corner of Gulfway Drive and Augusta Avenue 100 feet away to look centralized at Bryan Park. I know there was talk of asbestos, and I would assume they remedied that with the donated money from a GoFundMe page. I assume this because the 503 is still there. The city of Port Arthur hasn’t thrown it into the scrapyard.

The best thing I saw today on my visit to Bryan Park on Gulfway Drive, where the 503 is located, was a family there doing park-like things: Having fun while other kids were also having fun in this well-groomed part of Port Arthur. The engine might not be up to speed, but this park is. I’m glad to see that the kids are taken care of, but if possible, work on the history.

Donate to the Empty Stocking Fund

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“Thoughts and Ramblings: Praise the Lard and Pass the Tamales; Mi Ranchito; Selena; Toodlum; Ol’ 503”

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Ol’ No. 503

It may be because I’m hungry, but all I’m thinking about right now is early eateries, which I enjoyed. I’ve already rehashed this, so I won’t go into my love for Pie Face, Fish Net, Guadalajara, or Monceaux’s Drive-In. However, I will state that you can put a cheeseburger and three greasy onion rings in a white box, but it’s not the same as the original. So, there’s your Gulfway Drive memory for today; you can share it with your Facebook friends. And I will add that those three greasy onion rings were divine. Only the Lard knows how they were prepared.

Speaking of the Lard, it’s tamale season, and I’m happy about that. Growing up, Christmas dinner was never a thing. We went to parties, and that’s where I got my love for olives, but a proper tea cup-sipping meal was never on the menu. However, as you evolve as a human being and marry into a Hispanic family, you quickly figure out that Mexican food is not the Patio TV dinner on which I grew up. You know those aluminum trays with the three tacos, beans, and rice? Tamales are divine but a lot of work. Because of this experience, I know what real Mexican food is, yet I always have a can of Hormel tamales in the cupboard. They are part of my hurricane rations and go with no other type of food, except maybe Wolf Brand chili, but my stepchildren rightfully judge me on this.

Thinking back, I remember that my friend Adam Troy Rodriguez, the owner/operator of Mi Ranchito in Groves back in the 1990s, made an immaculate fajita potato, which I indulged in. Still, I want to tell a couple of truths. The first one has to do with when Selena Quintanilla Pérez died on March 31, 1995. I went to his restaurant expecting a fajita potato, but I discovered that Yolanda Saldívar had murdered la Reyna de Tejano. We both were distraught. I remember the weather that evening was dark and thunderous, almost like it was here in SETX when Jack Kennedy was terminated near a grassy knoll, back in the ‘60s. The second one is I was and am a fan of Tejano. Eventually, I hope that Yolanda rots in hell for what she did, and if hell doesn’t exist, I’m hopeful that she ends up serving eternity inside the ghost of St. James School in Port Arthur. Shout-out to Sister Mary Perpetua—I digress.

I will admit that Mr. Rodriguez makes the best dirty rice. Haters can line up and shill their granny’s stuff, but Adam Troy Rodriguez is the best dirty rice chef and a fajita potato extraordinaire. My condolences to the chefs of other eateries that think they bring the baked potato to new heights. And I’m not the only one to rave about him. Toodlum, a.k.a. Martha Ferguson, rambled on about him in one of her articles in the Port Arthur News back in the ‘90s.

Speaking of Toodlum, I want to dive deeply into her articles this winter to uncover any nuggets of history that she graced us with. For those who didn’t know Martha Ferguson, she was famous in Port Arthur for being Martha. She was the ultimate cheerleader of sorts for the city, and she dearly loved the Ol’ No. 503 Kansas City Southern Engine, which is located in Bryan Park on Gulfway Drive. She wanted very much to have this engine restored and was chair of the Save Ol’ No. 503 Committee back in 1985. Today, the 503 hasn’t been restored. A few years ago, there was a movement to relocate it because the city wanted to scrap it. As I really don’t have all the facts, I’ll just say that the engine wasn’t scrapped and was indeed moved—about one hundred feet. I’ll leave a link at the bottom of this blog to a video the company made while moving it. Years from now, when alien archaeologists come across this video, I’m sure they’ll have the same reaction I had. (This sentence has been left out because it contained nothing but profanity.) One hundred feet?

Well, in case you missed it, here’s my “Food for Thought in Port Arthur” post from 2013.

Bon appétit for now!

Growing up in Port Arthur in the 1970s did have its finer points to some degree. As a kid I had no idea what Bernis Sadler (then the mayor) was up to nor did I care. My main concern was whether or not Monceaux Drive In had those delectable and greasy onion rings with my cheeseburger deluxe served in a cardboard pie box. Truth be told, there is nothing that comes close. Similarly, onion rings are unbeatable one ! (Baby Boomers will remember Monceaux’s for the root-beer among other things.)

Over the course of two decades, I have discovered many eateries in my hometown, and there were many. One that comes to mind is a little takeout place called Hartman’s, which was located on Bluebonnet Avenue. If you loved home-style cooking, then this was a gem. I can remember walking in and feeling as if I was in someone’s house, except for the screen door attached to the kitchen from which an elderly man emerged with your plate lunch after you had ordered it from a very nice elderly lady.

These two people were delightful. As far as I could tell, these were the Hartman’s, and one could believe this except for their heavy Cajun accents. One thing that sticks out in my mind is that, when I would call ahead, the lady would ask what I wanted. My answer, of course, was the Étouffée, but there were many things besides the main course. “So what are the sides?”

“Well, we got lima beans, string beans, pinto beans, red beans, white beans, and (it always ended with) black-eyed peas.”

Whatever the sides, this was something to treasure. Speaking of treasure, I also remember a place next to Roy’s Food Center on Lewis Drive called the Brisket Room. The chip beef sandwiches were the best barbeque—or at least they were until I found Billy Joe’s in Port Neches.

Port Arthur seemed to always promote itself as the friendliest city by the sea. Well, Port Arthur is not by the sea, it’s by a lake, but I will give credit to the seafood. There were three restaurants that I enjoyed. The first and foremost was Leo and Willie’s. There was no place better in the 80s—except on Thursdays. On Thursdays I would order a seafood platter from the Texas Fish Net Restaurant. There was no one who had better catfish than the Fish Net!

And let us not forget about the Farm Royale on Memorial. Back in the day, most knew this place to be an upper-class eatery, and they weren’t mistaken. Other eateries offering decent seafood (technically I do not know if they are in Port Arthur, but they are worth mentioning) are Domingue’s on the Neches (under the Rainbow Bridge) and of course, Esther’s. Yes, I do know the latter is in Groves, Texas, but it was just a great place to eat back when.

Finally, sometimes we craved Mexican food, and there was no better place at the time to treat ourselves than under the train bridge at Taco Rey, or my favorite, Guadalajara on 9th Avenue. Both had pretty good Tex-Mex food. Nowadays Taco Rey can be found in Nederland, and Guadalajara still has a restaurant in Orange Texas.

Please forgive this minor indulgence because this blog really has no historic value other than me remembering those greasy onion rings, chip beef sandwiches, plate lunches, catfish, and tacos from places and times long since passed.

Food for Thought in Port Arthur Texas (70’s- 80’s)

Selena:  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena

St. James school photos:   

https://flic.kr/s/aHsjHbBt2P

Ol’ No. 503 video: