From Carol Sue Gibbs
From Matagorda County History & Genealogy page
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.
The hotels were often the first buildings erected in the town and were built by the land company.
Most important to the hotel was the hotelkeeper and the keeper’s management skills.
Lillian Belle Parkins was a well-known hotelkeeper in Matagorda and Jackson counties.
She was born May 30, 1858, in Keokuk, Lee County, Iowa, and was one of eight children born to A.M. and Louisa Wright.
Family history records her first marriage to Charles R. Phillips as 1876 in Kansas. They were living in Montrose, Lee County, Iowa on June 1, 1880.
They had two children, Maude, who died at the age of three years, and Raymond T. Phillips who was born September 19, 1880.
On Oct. 15, 1889, Lillian married Cyrus Christian Parkins. (April 30, 1850 - March 17, 1933) in Omaha, Neb.
When the 1900 census was taken, Cyrus, Lillian and Raymond were living in Swan, Smith County, Kansas, where Cyrus was farming.
The 1910 Census records Blessing as the home of Mrs. Parkins on April 15. She was apparently the hotelkeeper at the Hotel Blessing. [There was another hotel/boarding house in Blessing operated by Pearl Shurtz at the same time.]
Martha Wright, sister of Mrs. Parkins, a dressmaker, was living with her. There were five employees living at the hotel - a cook, assistant cook, porter, waitress and chambermaid.
Her long-term boarders included a trained nurse, private secretary, lumber yard bookkeeper, waterworks engineer and a laborer.
By December 1910, Mrs. Parkins had moved to Francitas and was the manager of the Nebraska Inn in the newly-founded Jackson County, town just 7.5 miles west of Blessing.
It was opening month for Francitas and perhaps the promoters persuaded her to take over the hotel to impress the Nebraska visitors who attended the celebration.
CHRISTMAS
AT FRANCITAS
Nebraska Colony Enjoys Wild Turkey Dinner, Home Grown Vegetables and June Weather
The climax of the day was the Christmas dinner served at the Nebraska Inn.
Mrs. L.B. Parkins, the popular and very efficient manager of this most delightful hostelry, had with her assistants tastefully decorated the dining room and the office with loads of mistletoe and holly gathered from the farms of Francitas lands.
The meal served could not have been excelled by any served in the best homes in Nebraska, where wealth grows on trees and trees are scarce.
The main item on a most bountiful bill of fare was wild turkey, which fell to the prowess of Hon. Will Clark, the mighty hunter of Francitas, who presented the colony with the birds which others had so long hunted unsuccessfully.
And with the turkey, there are served all the trimming, too delicate and delicious to mention by just an ordinary newspaper reporter.
Among the surprises to the people of the north who were guests at the feast, were young onions gathered in the garden which is the delight of the country side around; radishes and lettuce taken from the same garden; turnips that grew alongside the onions and the lettuce and the radishes.
Then, of course, there was oyster soup full of oysters taken from Matagorda bay , which adjoins Francitas lands; then there were cranberries and plum pudding and mince pies and giblet gravy and many another dishes that pleased and was most satisfying.
—Francitas Bee,
December 29, 1910
Mrs. Parkins left the Nebraska Inn at the beginning of 1911 and took over management of Hotel Palacios.
Moore Takes Hotel
Man From Angleton Takes Over Nebraska Inn. Mrs. Parkins Goes to Palacios
Mrs. L.B. Parkins who has been in charge of the Nebraska Inn since its establishment turned over the management of the hotel to George Moore of Angleton the first of the month and has gone to Palacios where she will have charge of the large hotel there.
Mrs. Parkins assumed the management of the Nebraska Inn in the frontier days here and she can recall the time when wild turkey was not an unusual dish for the table.
Mrs. Parkins has won the hearts of the people of Francitas and especially those whose good fortune it has been to board at the Inn.
Her reputation as a “good feeder” extended all along the gulf coast and many parties from other towns spent their Sundays here to sit at her table.
When it was announced that she was to leave the Nebraska Inn many other towns made her offers, but at this time she has decided to go to Palacios.
—Francitas Bee, February 2, 1911
The history of the Hotel Palacios indicates an unknown individual leased the hotel on Jan. 1, 1911, for two years at $50 per month.
At the end of the two years, the company was dissatisfied with the operation and C.M. Rebou took charge as manager on Jan. 6, 1913.
It appears Mrs. Parkins was the unknown individual or the manager for that person.
This unusual item appeared in the Houston Post on April 10, 1911.
It is unknown as to whether Mrs. Parkins actually owned the hotel or just managed it. The Hotel Blessing opened Dec. 1, 1907. Mrs. Parkins was the fourth manager of the hotel.
Mrs. L.B. Parkins has purchased from the Blessing Townsite Company the Hotel Blessing, taking possession of same April 1.
—Houston Post, April 10, 1911
No information on Mrs. Parkins was located between 1911 and 1920, but on Jan. 1, 1920, she was living in Blessing.
She returned to Palacios to work and live in 1922, but apparently moved back to Blessing at some point.
Mrs. Parkins, of Blessing, moved to Palacios Thursday, and is living at the Iuka.
—Palacios Beacon,
June 9, 1922
By March 1928, Miss Martha Wright, sister of Mrs. Parkins, had charge of the Iuka House and Mrs. Parkins joined her in May.
The Iuka House was across the street from the entrance to the Baptist Young Peoples Union encampment in Palacios.
The Iuka was often used to house overflow visitors to the encampment. In its later years it was a boarding house and is still standing in Palacios.
Mrs. Parkins, of Blessing, was here the first of the week visiting her sister, Miss Martha Wright, at the Iuka House.
Mrs. Parkins informed us that she had given up her house in Blessing and was moving to Palacios to make her future home. She will be with her sister at the Iuka House.
-Palacios Beacon, May 31, 1928
Blessing people are very sorry indeed to lose Mrs. L.B. Parkins. Mother Parkins has been a mother indeed to the teachers for so long. We feel that Blessing’s loss is Palacios’ gain.
-Palacios Beacon,
June 14, 1928
On January 20, 1934, Mrs. Parkins suffered a stroke and she died on Jan. 28 at age 75. She was buried in Palacios Cemetery beside her sister, Martha M. Wright (January 24, 1851 – April 18. 1932).
This tribute to Mrs. Parkins appeared in the Palacios Beacon on February 1, 1934
As a friend she was kind, sympathetic and reliable. Those who knew her found her dependable and trustworthy to the last degree.
She was broadminded and mentally alert, and her systematic manner and business ability proved her a person of rare qualities.
Her high ideals and firm stand for principle always found her on the side for right and justice.
She was motherly to all and won for herself the involuntary name of “Mother Parkins” in the small town she lived for many years before moving to Palacios.
The young and the old reverenced and respected her. Every one valued highly her opinions and advice. Many sought her counsel in matters of worth.
Truly it can be said of her, “To know her was to love her.” And the more one knew her, the more he was made to recognize and appreciate her many sterling qualities, for surely she was an extraordinary friend and mother.
She leaves to mourn her loss one son, Raymond T. Philips and wife, one granddaughter, Lillian Schoonover and husband Charles Schoonover Jr. and one great-grandchild, to whom she was devoted. Also many nieces and nephews.
If rest is sweet at close of day
For tired hands and tired feet,
How sweet at last to rest for aye
If rest is sweet.
For more information on Lillian Parkins visit http://www.usgenwebsites.org/TXMatagorda/family_parkins_lillian_belle.htm