History

Matagorda County TXGenWeb 

Matagorda County TXGenWeb

From the Matagorda County History & Genealogy page

From the Matagorda County History & Genealogy page

Matagorda County History Website
usgenwebsites.org/TXMatagorda/

   Educational opportunities during the days of the Republic of Texas were few. 
   Children were often taught at home by their mothers, or families in some communities joined together to hire a teacher for their children. 
   The local minister, usually the most educated person in the community, supplemented his religious duties with educational duties.
   The settlement of the town of Matagorda began in the late 1820s after the arrival of the Little Zoe with new residents to join the few already living there.
   The schooling of Matagorda children during the late 1830s through the Civil War was carried out by private academies.
   In May, 1838, Henry M. Shaw posted a notice in the Matagorda Bulletin stating his intention of opening the Matagorda Academy in a building belonging to Colonel J.W.E. Wallace on Cedar Street. 
   Tuition for reading, spelling, and writing $15; higher branches of English $20; Latin and Greek $25.

From the Matagorda County History & Genealogy page, Handbook of Texas Online

   Shanghai was a mile from Wharton on the west side of the Colorado River in central Wharton County.  
   It was established on a rail spur from the Southern Pacific Railroad, formerly the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway, in 1899. 
   Abel H. “Shanghai” Pierce decided to farm his land on the west bank of the Colorado River and built a convict settlement. 
   Pierce contracted in 1897 with the state of Texas for convicts to cut off the timber and burn the canebrake.  
   The spur was built to bring in supplies and men and later as a shipping route for the gin that was built. 
   After the fashion set for naming stops along the rail line between Richmond and Victoria, Pierce named this one after himself, by giving it his colorful nickname.  
   The spur was retired in September 1940. 
   All that remains is the quarters that housed the convicts, now used as a barn by the Pierce Ranch.    
   The windows are still barred.

Matagorda County History Website
http://www.usgenwebsites.org/TXMatagorda/

   EDITOR’S NOTE: In our March 28 History Page on Matagorda Peninsula Bar Pilot George Morgan, the story told how Morgan was among the rescuers of the steamship Independence that broke apart attempting to enter Matagorda Bay at Pass Cavallo March 20, 1852. 
   In preparing that article, we came across the story of a young Virginia bride and her husband, a U.S. Army officer bound for West Texas, who were aboard the Independence when it founded in the waves at Pass Cavallo.
   She perished in the shipwreck, but he lived and never remarried.
   The following comes from:
RamblingRoots.com
Pioneer Families of Washington County, Virginia
   Eliza Margaret "Pink" Dunn was born on 3 May 1834 in Washington County, Virginia.
Childhood