Settlers on Matagorda Peninsula endured hardships

Matagorda Peninsula, a fifty-one mile stretch of land not more than two miles in width, extends from the mouth of Caney Creek in eastern Matagorda County to Decros Point (Pass Cavallo) on the west.

Lillian Parkins: Legendary innkeeper in Francitas, Blessing, Palacios

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.

Blessing’s origins date to Hawley, on Tres Palacios

HAWLEY, TEXAS     (Matagorda County). Hawley, known earlier as Deming’s Bridge, was on the Tres Palacios River a mile east of what is now Texas 71 and three miles northeast of Blessing in western Matagorda County.

Matagorda County names of places, villages, people

Riceville    Riceville was in south central Matagorda County, probably at a site west of Lake Austin and south of Farm Road 521 about thirteen miles southeast of Bay City.     It was settled in the early 1900s by families from Kansas and Oklahoma who came because of a land promotion.

Plans for Austin on Tres Palacios Bay began in 1836

Moses Austin, the father of Stephen F. Austin, had planned a settlement at the mouth of the Colorado River which he would called Austina.       He died of pneumonia before his town could be established.       By 1836, however a point of the eastside off Tres Palacios Bay was named Austin.

From the Alfred R. Carter family album: 2104 3rd Street

Alfred Ross Carter       Alfred Ross Carter was born in Mobile, Alabama, on November 1, 1853, his parents being W. P. Carter, a wholesale grain merchant of that city; and a Virginian by birth, and of Mary Eliza Bunce.

Esmeralda Salinas: Dining with Gaddis Geeslin

Earlier this summer, Zeinab Ghais and I had the pleasure of hanging some of Gene Smith Geeslin’s paintings on the walls of Fat Grass, and now there are several paintings up by her husband that you can enjoy while having a bite to eat and conversing with friends and family.

"Selkirk marker dedicated at Matagorda" by: Mike Reddell

A historical marker dedication for James Henry Selkirk drew a gathering of people at Matagorda Cemetery Saturday morning, Oct. 21.    Matagorda County Historical Commission (MCHC) Chair Carol Sue Gibbs recognized those attending from MCHC and other historical groups.

William Selkirk helped lay out Matagorda, the county seat of Matagorda County

EDITOR’S NOTE: A historical marker dedication was held Saturday, Oct. 21, for James Henry Selkirk, the son of William Selkirk. This article is in tandem with the front-page dedication story.

James Fisher Martin: Matagorda sheriff, doctor

James Fisher Martin, doctor, sheriff, and rancher, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, in 1808.     He was educated at Edinburgh, Scotland, and then practiced medicine in Liverpool, England.