History

By Dexter Hodge 
Matagorda County TXGenWeb

   Recognition for the Matagorda County Historic Commission’s Distinguished Service Award and praise for the county’s accounting system topped the commissioners court regular meeting Monday, July 1.
      In addition, the court appointed members to a revived Matagorda County Rail Transportation District and approved Aleigha Galvan as a grant-funded Victim Assistance Coordinator in the District Attorney’s office.
   Underlining the significance of the historic commission’s 2018 Distinguished Service Award from the state, County Judge Nate McDonald pointed out that less than a fifth of Texas’ 254 counties receive this honor.
   He credited the commission’s “exemplary work year in and year out.”
   Commission President Ona Lea Pierce said the honor should go to Carol Gibbs, who manages the online Matagorda County history and genealogy website, and serves as a communications liaison for the group.

   Pheasant, or Pheasant Switch, was a “neighborhood” settlement about six miles north of Palacios.    
   The area, informally platted as far as can be determined, was situated immediately east of the Southern Pacific Railway and just north of a country road in the N. Reed Survey.    
   The railroad was completed to Palacios in 1903.  
   The name “Pheasant” probably came from the northerners who settled the area.    
   They thought the prairie chickens in the area were pheasants.    
   The other part of the name, “Switch,” is a railroad term used for siding, setting cars into a siding or “switching” cars in the train.    
   The train would leave a boxcar at the Pheasant siding so farmers could fill it with sacked or barreled rice, and the boxcar would then be picked up by another train at a later date.    

Matagorda County TXGenWeb

   Joseph Ralph Wagner, born on May 16, 1870, in Newman, Illinois, was the son of Dr. John Marquand (Marquin) and Sarah Ellen Wagner He attended public school in Newman, and was graduated from Rush Medical College in Chicago. 
      He began his practice in 1895 in Newman. About 1902 he moved his family to Crowley, La., and farmed rice for a couple of years. 
   In 1906, they moved to Palacios and bought a farm, intending to raise rice. 
   He soon found that Palacios needed a doctor, so in June, 1907, he took the Texas Medical Examination and opened practice. 
   In the early days Doc had an ad each week in the Palacios Beacon, "DR. WAGNER'S PHONE IS #13," and, of course, his phone number was very important to a lot of people! 
   Doc was a typical "country doctor" of the era, beginning his practice with a horse and buggy, but advancing to an automobile in 1909.  

Matagorda County History Website
usgenwebsites.org/TXMatagorda/
Handbook of Texas Online

Matagorda County History Website
usgenwebsites.org/TXMatagorda/ 

   MATAGORDA – The Matagorda Historical Society is making its own history on July 11, in Bay City, when they bring to Schulman’s Movie Theater, the Academy Award nominated movie, The Tree of Life.
   What makes this historic is that the movie is the first major movie every filmed in Matagorda and also it will be the first time this movie has been shown in Matagorda County on the big screen! 
   The Historical Society wanted to spotlight this movie due to its historical significance by being filmed in Matagorda, but also features many Matagorda County residents in the movie, including the late Joe Faye Deshotels, who was a member of the Historical Society. 
   Her appearance is unique in this movie and you won’t want to miss it. 
   Familiar faces from Matagorda County can be seen in different parts of the movie also. 

   EDITOR’S NOTE: A grave marker at Palacios Cemetery boasts both Confederate and Union flags that tell a story about a man’s journey in the Civil War and from Missouri to Palacios.
   Wilson Silas York was born on December 21, 1843 near Waynesville, Pulaski County, Missouri to Andrew York, a farmer who was born in Tennessee, and Ellen “Nelly” Evans York, who hailed from Missouri.
   As best as can be ascertained, he had nine brothers and sisters: Henry J. (1836); Louisa J. (1838); William E. (1839); Lucinda E. (1841); Christopher C. (1846); Sarah “Sally” Ann (1849); John (1851); Harriet (1853); and Ann Elizabeth “Eliza”(1856).
   In the 1850 Pulaski County, MO Federal census his name is entered as Wilson  S. York.