History

Contributed by Mickey Crenshaw
Matagorda County TXGenWeb

Contributed by Mickey Crenshaw
Matagorda County TXGenWeb

   A good example of a family history created with the use of the sites suggested above is the story of the Drott Brothers of Collegeport.   
   With only a few mentions of them in Collegeport history, the following information was found on the internet.  
   Not all searches are this successful, but with some perseverance, amazing treasures can be uncovered.  
   Albin Drott (1880-1965), a building contractor, advertised his services in the Collegeport Chronicle in 1911 and 1912.   
   He was the oldest of three brothers to emigrate from Sweden to the U.S.   
   He left his two parents and six siblings in Sweden on March 14, 1902 and traveled to Essex, Iowa.   
   He apparently worked until he had enough money to send to his brother, Gustaf (1885-1948), for his passage on March 18, 1904.   
   A third brother, Axel (1891-1911), left Sweden on April 7, 1911.   
   No doubt, his brothers provided the funds for his passage.  

   Kate Seaman Moore was born on May 9, 1853, in Clinton, Louisiana.  
   Her father had come from New York and her mother from Mississippi. Kate married Spencer Cone Moore on May 24, 1871.  
   He was a brother of William Erastus Moore, Kate's second husband. Spencer and Kate were married eight years before he died on Jan. 18, 1879, of yellow fever. they had four children, Selkirk Seaman, Oce Anna, David Lewis and Addie May.  
   William E. was born on October 26, 1838, in New Jersey. He had married Mary C. Swift who had died in 1878. He also had four children by this marriage; they were Margaret "Maggie" and Inez and two who died in infancy.  
   On June 15, 1881, William E. and Kate married in Indianola. Their children were Hamilton Cecil, Vera, William Ashby, Winifred and Gladys. 
   Captain William E. and Kate Moore lived in Ashby, Texas, Matagorda County, where the entire family was quite active in the Ashby Methodist Church.  

   William E. More was born in Rahway, N. J., Oct. 26, 1837, but came with his parents to Texas immediately after its annexation in 1845, and lived several years at Indianola.  
   William E. Moore died at his home at Ashby, in Matagorda County - where he lived for more than 30 years and became a prominent businessman - June 5, 1902. 
   He was a Confederate veteran, having left his home at Indianola, August, 1861, in company with James and Joseph Collins, Hays P. Yarrington, John Collins, and Daniel Hoffman, expecting to go to the front in Virginia.  
   At Houston, however, he and his friends enlisted in the Eighth Texas Cavalry, better known as Terry’s Texas Rangers, and were sent to Bowling Green, Ky., where the regiment was fully organized.  
   A braver set of men never lived.  
   When Gen. Zollicoffer was killed, at Fishing Creek. W.E. Moore was one of the party sent under flag of truce to recover his body.  

   EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second installment of a multi-part series on the impact of the 1918 Pandemic on Matagorda County.
   As you will read, the disease affected lots of residents.

   EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a multi-part series on the impact of the 1918 Pandemic on Matagorda County.
   As you will read, the disease affected lots of residents.

    EDITOR’S NOTE: I came across this history by chance and was impressed by its perspective - from the beginning of the 20th Century.
      Historical Review of South-East Texas illustrated, Volume 1,
Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago  1910
Transcribed by FoFG mj
   Matagorda municipality was created by the Coahuila- Texas legislature, March 6,1834. 
   It’s jurisdiction was over the country between the Lavaca and Caney creek, this being the southwest portion of the Austin colonies. 
   The provisional Texas government in December, 1835, created the municipality of Jackson from the west side of Matagorda.  
   The east and west boundaries were thus fixed as they still remain, and when Wharton county was formed in 1846 the north boundary was made. 
   The municipality was organized as a county under the act of congress, December 20, 1836. 
   The town of Matagorda was incorporated by the act of December 14, 1837.