History

From Texas Handbook of History

EDITOR’S NOTE: D.E.E. Braman came to Texas in 1836 to fight in the Texas Revolution and became one of the state’s early great writers and chronicler of the Times - William Prissick was an important topic to him.
   We’ll be running Braman’s biography of Prissick over the next three or four editions.
    On the unpicturesque eastern shore of Tres Palacios bay, where the wire grass flats and the gradually ascending land toward the bay each commingle, and where mosquitoes and other insect and animal pests of low degree abound in summer and winter alike, stands a small, windowless ranch-house, that was once used by Allen and Poole for their herders, when they shipped cattle from Palacios. 

From Carol Sue Gibbs
Matagorda County TXGenWeb

From Carol Sue Gibbs
Matagorda County TXGenWeb

   Ruth Washam (born c1795 - died October 30, 1862) was thought to be from Virginia and the daughter of William Washam.  
   She married William Mackey (died August 11, 1831) on August 25, 1816 in Blountville, Tennessee.  
   William was born in Ireland and he and his parents, John and Mary McIlwaine Mackey, emigrated to the United States, settling in Blountville, Tennessee. 
   Children of William and Ruth Washam Mackey were:  
   1. Mary Mackey born June 12, 1817 – died October 14, 1862 married Albert Wadsworth 
   2. Martha Mackey born November 28, 1819 – died June 4, 1831 
   3. John Mackey born January 15, 1821 – died November 12, 1893 Luling, Caldwell County, TX 
   4. Andrew C. Mackey born March 2, 1922 – died October 18, 1841 
   5. Sarah Mackey born October 8, 1923 – died August 15, 1824 
   6. Catherine Mackey born January 27, 1825 –died November 4, 1839 married Albert Wadsworth 

From Carol Sue Gibbs
Matagorda County TXGenWeb 

Bonehead Club of Collegeport Has Regular Meeting
   Collegeport, May 6 - (Spl) - At the regular monthly meeting of the Bonehead Club last night at the Mo-Pac Community Center several matters of general interest were presented.
   The community is considerably disturbed by the rumor that school officials plan to discontinue our school here at the close of the present term. 
   A committee was appointed to draft a petition to be circulated here and presented to the school board as soon as possible expressing the deep concern of the entire community in this matter. 
   The point was emphasized that the closing of the school would necessitate a long bus ride for seven and eight year-old pupils each morning, starting at an early hour each morning. 
   The following committee has this matter in hand: Billy Halfen, chairman, R.L. Corporon, C.J. Williams and Rev. A.G. Fitzgerald.

   I was sitting at a lunch counter of a café one night refreshing myself with some—ah, iced tea, when an old-timer came in and sat down on the stool next to mine.
   “Yo’re the feller who’se gittin’ out this hyar special edition, aitcha?” It was more a statement than a question. I pleaded guilty.
   “Didja ever hear of the ‘Horse Marines”?” was the next query as the waitress brought him some of the “iced tea.”“Sure,” I said, “and I’ve heard of the ‘Mounted Balloon Corps,’ too.” 
   I had, too, but I thought it was a gag. I found out differently.“No foolin’ son. 
   There was some ‘Horse Marines’ and they got their name right in these parts.” I smelled a story and decided to hang around. 

   The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is a coastal canal from Brownsville, Texas, to the Okeechobee waterway at Fort Myers, Florida 
   The Texas portion of the canal system extends 426 miles, from Sabine Pass to the mouth of the Brownsville Ship Channel at Port Isabel 
   The grand concept of a canal system that would eventually connect Boston harbor with Brownsville harbor was introduced by Albert Gallatin, United States secretary of the treasury, in a report on Public Roads and Canals submitted to the United States Senate in 1808 
   By 1819 Secretary of War John C 
   Calhoun had published his Report on Roads and Canals, which posits an urgent need for an improved internal transportation system including waterways 
   In that report Calhoun proposed that the Army Corps of Engineers be used to develop and, if necessary, supervise construction of the internal improvements 

rranging for Celebration Of Completion of Intercoastal Canal―Will Be a Great Event―Commodores Meet