Powell an early county pioneer

    Peter Powell, one of Stephen F. Austin’s Old Three Hundred colonists, was an Englishman who moved to Texas from Baltimore, Maryland, possibly as early as 1819, when he and Aylett C.

Royall played active role in revolution

   Richard Royster Royall, legislator, soldier, and plantation owner, was born on June 1, 1798, in Halifax County, Virginia, the youngest son of William and Elizabeth (Bedford) Royall.     His mother died when he was four, and he was reared by his stepmother, Polly (Glasscock) Royall.

"Caney grew where several early roads crossed" By Mary Belle Ingram

   Situated in the shadows of the Bay City Regional Airport, near the crossroads of FM 457 and FM 2540, is a small cemetery which was a part of the Caney community, and is now only a memory, except for the historical marker placed on the side during the Texas Centennial in 1936.

Waterville also on road from Matagorda to San Felipe

   Waterville was on Water Hole Creek (Will's Water Hole) near the site of earlier Preston in southeast Wharton County.     Before 1846 it was in Matagorda County.     The community was served by the main road from Matagorda to San Felipe.

Children’s letters to Santa show wishes in 1916

   EDITOR’S NOTE: The following children’s letters to Santa are taken from the Palacios Beacon in its Dec. 22, 1916 edition.

Various legends surround naming of El Maton

   El Maton, dating back to 1905, is situated twelve miles west of Bay City on FM 1095. El Maton is a Spanish name meaning “the killer,” which was bestowed on the community by the Missouri-Pacific Railroad Company.     The town haw several legendary versions telling why it is so named.

Settlers on Matagorda Peninsula endured hardships

   Matagorda Peninsula, a fifty-one mile stretch of land not more than two miles in width, extends from the mouth of Caney Creek in eastern Matagorda County to Decros Point (Pass Cavallo) on the west.

Lillian Parkins: Legendary innkeeper in Francitas, Blessing, Palacios

   Hotels were essential to the founding of many small towns in the Matagorda County area.     Land developers built a hotel to provide housing for the many homeseekers they lured to the newly founded towns.

Blessing’s origins date to Hawley, on Tres Palacios

   HAWLEY, TEXAS     (Matagorda County). Hawley, known earlier as Deming’s Bridge, was on the Tres Palacios River a mile east of what is now Texas 71 and three miles northeast of Blessing in western Matagorda County.

Matagorda County names of places, villages, people

Riceville    Riceville was in south central Matagorda County, probably at a site west of Lake Austin and south of Farm Road 521 about thirteen miles southeast of Bay City.     It was settled in the early 1900s by families from Kansas and Oklahoma who came because of a land promotion.