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Creative Texans

• The first Elvis impersonator by Bob Bowman 3-10-08
  Former radio personality Norman Johnson of Nacogdoches holds a unique place in East Texas history: He was the first known Elvis impersonator.
• The Printer Fires Both Barrels by Archie P. McDonald 2-18-08
  Archer Fullingim
• The Killer and Me by Clay Coppedge 2-3-08
  Jerry Lee Lewis once offered me a drink of whiskey but I turned him down because I was sixteen years old and conducting my first ever interview with anyone but myself. It happened in 1969 at the Bigger ‘N Dallas nightclub...
• Kathy Dell: A Cowboy's Sweetheart; the life of a famous unknown by Mel Brown 2-18-08
  "Dell’s true importance to the state’s music history is found in the pioneering spirit and unconventional accomplishments of her career... in two male dominated professions, first as a rodeo star and then as a country musician and band leader."
• "Always Late" by Archie P. McDonald 2-3-08
  Lefty Frizzell
• Buffalo Bill by Mike Cox 1-24-08
  Granddad worked for Buffalo Bill Cody. No, he didn’t travel the nation with the old scout’s famous Wild West Show...
• Remembering Claire Perry by Robert Cowser 1-15-08
  I first contacted Claire Perry, the widow of the Texas writer George Sessions Perry, when she was living in Guilford, CT in 1963...
• J. Frank Dobie and Colonel Jack Jenkins by Mel Brown 1-1-08
  Two Texans become friends in War-torn England
  
• Urban Landscapes of Jacinto Guevara by Johnny Stucco 10-11-07
  “If this all seems mystical, trust me, it is for me too.”
• Good Night Irene by Archie P. McDonald 10-1-07
  Since Shreveport and Caddo Parish were once members of the old East Texas Chamber of Commerce, it is appropriate for the East Texas Historical Association to consider Huddie Leadbetter, better known as Leadbelly, as part of our past—especially since at least one of his prison sentences was served in this region...
• Thomas Lovell 1852 - 1911 10-1-07
  Builder
• George Roy Clough Invents Call-in Radio by Bill Cherry 8-15-07
  By the time the Federal Communications Act was established in 1938, radio broadcasting was already a big business in Galveston. The Moody family was broadcasting over its station in the Buccaneer hotel, and George Roy Clough was operating his first station, KFLX out of make shift studios in the living room of his home...
• John Henry Faulk by Archie P. McDonald 7-30-07
  Johnny Faulk had once been atop the show business ladder in New York City, only to tumble when falsely accused during the era of McCarthyism of being a communist...
• Robert Leroy Ripley by Mike Cox 7-31-07
  Believe it or not, Robert Leroy Ripley did not hail from Texas, but the Lone Star State proved to be a rich source of material for the syndicated newspaper cartoon that made him famous...
• The Magnificent Montague by Bill Cherry 7-15-07
  The Magnificent Montague I want to talk about isn’t fictional, and he’s not white, he’s black, and he’s probably one of the most important contributors to American black culture that has ever lived. Someone you should know about...
• Charles W. Pressler by Mike Cox 6-27-07
  Chief draftman of the 1879 Texas-sized Texas map.
• Korley’s Kolumns by Bob Bowman 6-25-07
  Some seventy years ago, a self-educated farmer and justice of the peace in Henderson County starting writing letters to the Athens Daily Review. In a few months, Cicero Witt Corley...
• Powers of Texas by Maggie Van Ostrand 6-17-07
  Surely there are more powers in the great republic of Texas than can be listed in any single article, or even in any single book. This is about one of them: Powers Boothe...
• What Stanley Walker Saw by Clay Coppedge
  Stanley Walker, the legendary journalist and editor from Lampasas, was a man ahead of his time. Though he lived and worked in a time far removed from ours, his perceptions and comments hold merit more than 40 years after his death...
• Bring 'Em Back Alive: Frank Buck Archie P. McDonald
  Before the late Steve Ervin wrestled his first crocodile, before Jane Goodall learned to communicate with chimps, before swimming champion Johnny Weissmuller personified Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan and Jungle Jim in movies and serials, and before John Wayne performed in a film titled "Hatari!" about a professional trapper of animals for zoos, Frank Buck captured American and international audiences with tales of his adventures doing just those kinds of things everywhere on the planet...
• Texas' Most Civilized Soul by Clay Coppedge
  Roy Bedichek has been called the most civilized soul Texas ever produced. If that's so - and it has never been seriously disputed - the seeds of Bedichek's civilized nature and his love of the natural world were sown in Falls County, where he grew up...
• Enrico Filiberto Cerracchio
  Italian born Texas sculptor and his Equestrian Statue of General Sam Houston
• Photographer Louis de Planque by Mike Cox
  Like many creative types, Louis de Planque had his eccentricities. He expressed his artistry on the glass plate photographic negative; he indulged his penchant for the mildly outlandish in his dress.
• Raoul Josset (1899-1957)
  "They Might be Giants - then again, they might be the work of Raoul Josset. The Franco-American sculptor who made larger-than-life Texas Statues..."
• "My Blue Heaven: Gene Austin" by Archie P. McDonald
  Gainesville, in Cooke County, gained a native son named Eugene Lucas on June 24,1900. Lucas became one of the nation's most popular entertainers during the 1930s, but by then he used his stepfather's name-Austin...
• O. Henry and the Shoal Creek Treasure by C. F. Eckhardt
  Before he became known as O. Henry, a former consumptive from South Carolina-William Sidney Porter, everybody who knew him called him Bill-lived and worked in Austin. One of his first jobs there was with the state's General Land Office...
• The Babe by Archie P. McDonald
  Mildred Ella Didrikson, the greatest woman athlete of the twentieth century, was the sixth child born to Norwegian immigrants Ole Nickolene and Hannah Marie Olson Didriksen, in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1911...
• Kim Stanley: Daughter of Texas by Maggie Van Ostrand
  Kim Stanley made very few films, and was nominated for the Oscar for nearly every one, even that of Pancho Barnes in "The Right Stuff" though she was onscreen fewer than ten minutes. She preferred stage acting, and electrified audiences with performances as Cherie in "Bus Stop"...
• Conan in Texas: The Robert E. Howard Story by C. F. Eckhardt
  "Though Howard is best remembered as the creator of Conan the Cimmerian, mostly today called 'Conan the Barbarian,' he also created King Kull of Atlantis, Solomon Kane, ... Bran Mak Morn, 'El Borak,' sailor Steve Costigan, and dozens of others. He wrote in virtually every genre with the possible exception of romance, under at least 100 different pseudonyms..."
• Steven Fromholz Bio
• Victor T. Hamlin & Alley Oop by C. F. Eckhardt
  Victor Hamlin was not a newspaper man at the time he created Alley Oop. He was a cartographer for an oil company, making site maps. He was also a cartoonist who had a mildly-successful science-fiction strip featuring the 'mad scientist' Dr. Wonmug and his sidekick Oscar Boom...
• The Height of Celebrity by Maggie Van Ostrand
  "Since the media harps on the public's right to know, be it the names of secret agents, who's dating whom, or who's gender bending, why not ease our minds and let us know who's walking tall and who's walking small? Like former-planet Pluto, some stars need to be downsized. To that end, help is on the way from the Height Detective."
• Bob Wills: The Greatest Fiddle-Player of Them All by C. F. Eckhardt
  "...He was a shirt-tail kid from Turkey, where they put both city limits signs on the same post. He had a fiddle and a Model T, and he pushed that Tin Lizzie to anywhere anybody would pay $3 or $4 to hear him fiddle all night and sometimes well into the dawn while they danced to old songs. Sixty years after that beginning ..."
• Kris Kristofferson and Mickey Newbury: A Texas Connection by Dorothy Hamm
  "...We knew nothing about Kristofferson then. We would come to learn that his life was far more interesting than any song he could ever write. Perhaps that's why he had to write them. His story is well known, born in Brownsville, Texas..."
• Tennessee Williams' Texas Director by Bob Bowman
  Without the interest of an East Texas woman, American theater icon Tennessee Williams might still be writing high school plays in a small town.
• Honky Tonk Man by Archie P. McDonald
  Johnny Horton
• Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez by John Troesser
  A Guy So Nice - They Named Him Twice
  During his career he performed alongside such actors as Glenn Ford, Lee Marvin, Karl Malden, James Garner and James Arness.
• Freddy Fender by Ken Rudine
  "Freddy Fender is probably the greatest singer, writer and musician of Mexican-American heritage."
• "Lady Godiva": Adah Isaccs Menken by Archie P. McDonald
  The lady on the horse
  
• Willie by Dorothy Hamm
  Native Texan Willie Nelson
• Norm Cash
  "Cash, a left-handed hitting first baseman, had a distinguished career in major league baseball, with the Chicago White Sox (1958-1959) and Detroit Tigers (1960-1974)."
• Millard Lewis Cope by Archie P. McDonald
  "Tip O’Neil reminded us that 'all politics is local.' Millard Cope taught us that the best journalism is local, too."
• The Quebe Sisters by Bob Bowman
  "If Bob Wills were around today, the chances are good that he would be delighted with three teenage sisters from Burleson."
• Dana X. Bible and the Twelfth Man by Archie P. McDonald
  A story about the life and contributions to Texas football by Dana Xenophon Bible
• Hallettsville Photographer Left a Legacy of Memories by Murray Montgomery
  Henry Jacob Braunig
• John Trlica by Clay Coppedge
  "Every picture tells a story only as long as people know the story.
  A visit with Dan Martinets is in order if you want the story on the photographs collected in the book "Equal before the Lens: Jno. Trlica's Photographs of Granger, Texas" by Barbara McCandless..."
• The Light Crust Doughboys are on the air! by Archie P. McDonald
  "Truett Kinsey’s voice came out of Philcos and Zeniths and other radios all over East Texas, and eventually much of the South, each day at noon to announce the beginning of a performance of the most popular fiddle band ever assembled..."
• Jackass in Heaven by Mike Cox
  Clay McGonagill may have been the ropingest cowboy Texas ever produced. He’s for sure one of the Lone Star State’s least-known characters, though cowboys still tell stories about him around the campfire or over a cool beverage after a hard day in the saddle.
• The Other Babe by Archie P. McDonald
  "Babe" Didrikson, the outstanding woman athlete of the twentieth century.
• Johnnie High: People Told Him It Would Not Work by Dorothy Hamm
• Boxcar Willie by Dorothy Hamm
  Lecil Travis Martin, known around the world as Boxcar Willie.
• Joe Tex by Clay Coppedge
  The singer that critic John Morthland of Texas Monthly called "by far Texas' greatest contributor to soul music."
• Casablanca’s East Texan by Bob Bowman
  Dooley Wilson, the piano player who sang "As Time Goes By" in Casablanca
• My Friend Morris by Bob Bowman
  "Morris Frank, who gained fame for his newspaper columns in the Houston Chronicle and his speeches throughout America..."
• James Brown, Desdemona's Celebrity Actor by Linda Ruhl
  Lt. Rip Masters of "Rin Tin Tin"
• George Sessions Perry by Clay Coppedge
  Traces of the town that George Sessions Perry knew and wrote about in the first half of the Twentieth Century can still be found in Rockdale.
• O. Henry by Mike Cox
  "The mustachioed young man from North Carolina hardly seemed the martial type, but as a citizen soldier in the Austin Grays he demonstrated the qualities of a leader – even if it was to keep from spending the night in the guardhouse."
• The Eerie Demise of Johnny Horton by Clay Coppedge
  "Despite Johnny Horton's wild-at-heart looks and voice, he was a man haunted for years by ominous premonitions of his own death."
• Etta Moten Barnett by John Troesser
  November 5th, 1901 - January - 2004
  "Life does not owe me one thing."
  "While her birth in Weimar, Texas may have just been chance, it's her accomplishments after she left Weimar that deserve a closer look. When she died last year of cancer (in Chicago) at the age of 102, Etta Moten Barnett had had a rich and full life.. She is now remembered as an actress, singer, and philanthropist ..."
  
• Linda Darnell by Archie P. McDonald
  The brief but brilliant life of actress Linda Darnell began in Dallas on October 16, 1923...
• Pardner Jones by Mike Cox
  "Jones was the go-to guy for shooting hats off actor’s heads or cigars out of their mouths. A la William Tell, he also could make instant apple sauce, albeit with a bullet instead of an arrow."
• Mollie Bailey by John Troesser
  "Circus Queen of the Southwest"
• Never another like Bill Pickett by Clay Coppedge
  Bill Pickett invented the practice of what we know as bulldogging, or steer wrestling....
• Katherine Anne Porter in East Texas by Bob Bowman
  "Porter apparently never forgot her life in East Texas. Many of her short stories reflect the geography, rural traditions and language of the pineywoods."
• Texas Guinan by Luke Warm
  She may have been Waco's Answer to Mae West - but no one remembers the question...
• Jules Bledsoe
  Ten Thing you should know about Jules Bledsoe by John Troesser, Photos courtesy The Texas Collection, Baylor University
  His role as "Joe" in Jerome Kern's Showboat made "Ol' Man River" an American classic.
  
• "The Light Crust Doughboys are on the air!" by Archie P. McDonald
  The most famous, and most successful, western swing group in Texas in the 1930s
• Hondo by Mike Cox
  Hondo, a word made famous by Louis L'Amour.
• Gene Autry
  Cowboy Gene by Mike Cox ("Texas Tales")
  Gene Autry the Singing Cowboy
• Roger Miller by Maggie Van Ostrand
  Country Music Hall of Famer
  Anecdotes of Roger and friends, quotes and stories.
  
• Nuggets of History Bob Bowman
  Ginger Rogers, La Salle, Custer and his men...
• Jack Teagarden from Vernon, Texas
• The Big Bopper by Archie P. McDonald
• Lightnin' Hopkins by Bob Bowman
• Our Celebrities by Bob Bowman ("All Things Historical")
  "... I continue to be amazed how many famous people are from the Piney Woods..."
  
• Robert Howard
  Barbarians At The City Limits - Arnold is from Austria - Conan is from Cross Plains, Texas by Brewster Hudspeth
  Robert had the build and look of a fighter but the melancholy loneliness of a poet. No one knows how this tiny town so far from exotic places (unless you count Abilene) inspired young Robert to write such vivid fantasy.
• Dan Blocker
  The Mighty Hoss by Archie P. McDonald
  Dan Blocker's story begins and ends in DeKalb, in Bowie County, located in uppermost Northeastern Texas, though most of it played out in West Texas and in Hollywood.
  
• Dan Blocker
  Ten Things You Never Knew About "Hoss" Cartwright. by John Troesser
• Adah Isaccs Menken: The lady on the Horse by Archie P. McDonald 12/8/02
• Sissy Spacek and Rip Torn by John Troesser
• Roy Orbison
  Wink, Roy Orbison's Boyhood Home
• Hank Thompson - 1999 Texas Country Music Hall of Fame
• Ol' Rip, The Entombed Horned Toad of Eastland County
  The story of Ol' Rip, the horned toad entombed in the Eastland County Courthouse for 31 years.
• Bob Wills, the King of Western Swing
• Baseball Players - Shelby Edwin Cropper & Elzie Wheat 1910 photo
• Jim Reeves
• Tex Ritter
  
  

• Brando by Maggie Van Ostrand
  "April 3 is Marlon Brando's birthday and, if you ask any actor, it should be declared a national holiday..."
• Hoyt Axton: Artist Unclassified by Dorothy Hamm
  "He could never be pinned down to one genre; he made his mark wherever he happened to land. Record companies were unsure how to categorize his music. One catalogue listed his music as "Unclassified." Hoyt's friends thought it was a totally appropriate label for the music and the man."
• The Most Distinguished Tramp by Murray Montgomery
  "...The Feb. 25, 1910, issue of the Herald had an interesting story about old "A-No. 1" - the headline read, "The most distinguished tramp in the world paid this city a visit Monday. Traveled 468,450 miles at a cost of $7.61". The paper told its readers to look for the tramp's work during their travels. The article said that "A No. 1" would always carve that name under his work, along with the date and an arrow to show what direction he was heading when he left..."
• Hank Williams and Patsy Cline Still Mean A Lot by Dorothy Hamm
  Although tragedies ten years apart ended the young lives of Hank Williams in 1953 at age 29 and Patsy Cline in 1963 at age 30, they continue today as two of country music's best loved and most enduring stars...
• Super Comic, Super Star, Super Man by Maggie Van Ostrand
  Mario Mareno Reyes was the sixth son of 15 children, who became a world-wide cinema super star, was married to the same woman for over 30 years, and made enormous financial contributions to the Mexican poor. You may not think you know of him, but you do. He was known as Cantinflas...
• East Texas and the Black Sox by Bob Bowman
  The 1919 World Series is best remembered as the most famous scandal in baseball history, but lost in that history is an East Texas connection to the scandal.
• Mexican Beauty: Dolores del Rio by Maggie Van Ostrand
  "Sinuous and sensual, she was widely regarded as the female Rudolph Valentino. ... Precious few other actresses have retained both beauty and stardom for over fifty professional years."
• Donna Reed - Perfect Worlds by Dwight Young
  "... I distinctly remember more than one afternoon when I thought, sitting there in the plushly upholstered splendor of the Granada, “I wish the whole world was like this.” A decade later, Donna Reed brought that sentiment into our living rooms..."
• Maurice Barrymore in Marshall
  "Marshall was indirectly responsible for launching the Barrymore Dynasty..."

Historical & Political

• Susannah Dickinson by Linda-Kirkpatrick 5-1-08
  "...Susannah picked up Angelina and followed the officer into the courtyard. It was then that she viewed a site that history books can never describe. The air was still and there was a deafening hush all around. The bodies of the brave dead Texans lay stacked in piles, later to become funeral pyres spreading smoke and history to the sky above..."
• Peter Ellis Bean by Archie P. McDonald 4-28-08
  The American frontier produced many colorful characters, including Peter Ellis Bean...
• George Washington Brackenridge 4-28-08
  The man and the statue
• The Forgotten Hero by C. F. Eckhardt 4-24-08
  Who was the first—and possibly the greatest—hero of the Texas Revolution? He’s a man you may have heard of, but not very often. Try Ben Milam...
• San Jacinto Hero Henry Millard by Mike Cox 4-17-08
  Texas has 254 counties and 1,208 incorporated cities, but none are named for Henry Millard – a virtually forgotten hero of the Texas War for Independence.
• Goodbye, General Bill by Gael Montana 4-17-08
  Eulogy for Brigadier General Bill Bacon, Ret
• Old Bill and Handsome Wolf by Clay Coppedge 4-7-08
  Old Bill Williams and the Comanche chief Ysambanbi
• The Women of 1836 - Part I by Linda Kirkpatrick 4-3-08
  The women who came to Texas were strong beyond means. They faced every hardship and danger that one can imagine and still they survived. The following stories relate the tales of a few of these women. The first is an unnamed woman from Anahuac...
• "Take Care of My Little Boy" by Archie P. McDonald 3-31-08
  Travis wrote this last letter from the Alamo early in March 1836 to David Ayers...
• The adventures of John Himes Livergood by Murray Montgomery 3-20-08
  In the days of early Texas, Lavaca County had its share of adventurous pioneers, and a man from Missouri, John Himes Livergood, can be counted as one of the best among them... Here is a story about him in an expedition against the Indians who had killed a settler’s wife and daughter and kidnapped his 8-year-old boy...
• Goodrich Jones: The best friend Texas trees ever had by Clay Coppedge 3-6-08
  Some people might be tempted to refer to W. Goodrich Jones as the original tree hugger. While there is no record of Jones in an arbor embrace, he was no doubt a pioneering conservation and a profound and lasting impact on forestry in this country, especially Texas. A state forest in East Texas is named in his honor...
• Did Davy survive? by Bob Bowman 2-25-08
  Did Davy Crockett survive the battle of the Alamo, only to be sent to Mexico as a prisoner and forced to work in a mine? The possibility was raised in an edition of Southwestern Historical Quarterly in April of 1940...
• Ann Whitney 2-10-08
  Texas Schoolteacher of the Year 1867
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday by Archie P. McDonald 1-7-08
  Where were you on April 4, 1968, when news of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. reached you? Having dinner, perhaps, as I was, and watching TV...
• Margie Neal Archie P. McDonald 11-26-07
  Margie Elizabeth Neal of Carthage, Texas, really was the first woman to do lots of things and do them well...
• Train travelers owe much to service pioneer by Delbert Trew 11-20-07
  Every traveler today, no matter what mode of travel he prefers, owes a salute to the organizational genius of Fred Harvey...
• Pamelia Mann, Tough Texan Archie P. McDonald 11-12-07
  A lady of my acquaintance, active in the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, once complained to me on the argumentative nature of her sisters in this hereditary Lone Star sorority. My explanation: it's in the blood...
• The General Was A Spy—And So Was The Pirate by C. F. Eckhardt 11-2-07
  James Wilkinson was Commanding General, United States Army—a rank that no longer exists but, at the time, the highest rank in the US Army. The equivalent, today, is Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was also the top spy in the US for the Spanish Empire. He was designated Agent #1... Agents #12 and #13 were the brothers Laffite, Pierre and Jean...
• Eyewitness by Maggie Van Ostrand 10-31-07
  Mr. Epperson... was once a newsboy and lived in Washington DC. This does not sound all that memorable except for one fact: He was selling newspapers at Ford's Theatre on the night of April 14, 1865...
• James Long, Filibuster by Archie P. McDonald 10-29-07
  And Jane Long, Mother of Texas.
• First to Fly by C. F. Eckhardt 9-19-07
  So far as is known, the first man-carrying, heavier-than-air craft—the first airplane—flew not at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903, nor in East Texas the year before. Nor did it fly in California in the 1880s, though apparently a steam-powered monoplane was flown there then. It flew in Gillespie County, Texas—in 1866. Enter Jacob Brodbeck—genius...
• Sally Skull, the Scariest Siren in Texas by Maggie Van Ostrand 8-31-07
  Second only to becoming famous as one of Jack the Ripper's victims would be gaining celebrity as one of Sally Skull's husbands... Some say Sally didn't always wait to get a divorce, and perhaps took the easy way out. She killed them...
• How legends are made by Delbert Trew 8-21-07
  Charles Goodnight
• The Harrowing Life and Times of Elizabeth Ann Bishop by Maggie Van Ostrand 8-15-07
  One of the Texas frontier women who taught the wilderness to quit howling and behave itself was Elizabeth Ann Bishop... What she endured is testament to the strength of frontier women...
• Teresita Woman of the Apache by Linda Kirkpatrick 8-2-07
  Many accounts are told of the April 18, 1881 incident at the McLaurin Ranch in the Frio Canyon of Texas. Many historical accounts are linked to one another and a small glitch in history could have changed many of the outcomes. Just one small change could have altered the lives of many, including one Apache woman.
• Many Places of LaSalle's Murder by Bob Bowman 7-31-07
  The site of La Salle's murder has been a source of unbridled speculation. At least eight communities have made claims as "the place were La Salle was killed."...
• CSA Veterans by Mike Cox 7-12-07
  Doffing his sweat-stained hat, the visitor looked around the family’s living room. His still-clear eyes stopped at the oil painting hanging over the mantle above the Snyder family’s gas-log fireplace. The artwork, done from life, depicted Maj. Gen. Sterling Price in his Confederate uniform. Snapping to attention with a click of his heels, the old-timer presented a crisp salute to the long-dead officer...
• Haden Edwards by Archie P. McDonald 7-9-07
  Haden Edwards helped influence the Anglo settlement of East Texas almost as much as Stephen F. Austin, but the state capitol and a couple of universities are not named for him. Here's why...
• Deaf Smith - Eyes of the Texas Army by Murray Montgomery 7-5-07
  During those dark days of the Texas Revolution many men came forward and represented themselves well in the war with Mexico. When we think of those times, the names Travis, Houston, Austin, Bowie, and Crockett quickly come to mind. There were many others, however, who were just as important to the Texas cause. One of those was Erastus "Deaf" Smith... there was none more dedicated in the Texas fight for freedom than this man.
• Did John Wilkes Booth Live In Texas? by C. F. Eckhardt 7-1-07
  Wherever and whenever John Wilkes Booth, assassin of Abraham Lincoln, died, it’s pretty much a sure bet it wasn’t in a burning barn in Virginia...
• Dr. Edward Arrel Pye, A Texas Medical Hero by W. T. Block Jr. 6-16-07
  Whenever the virulent yellow fever plague came to town, the townsmen who were cautious packed up their families and belongings and fled elsewhere. Sometimes a town’s physician did not leave; they stayed to treat their patients and occasionally died...
• The Republic's First President by Archie P. McDonald 6-3-07
  Usually, the argument about who first served as president of the Republic of Texas involves David G. Burnet and Sam Houston. Maybe Richard Ellis has a claim, too...
• Price Daniel by Archie P. McDonald 5-21-07
  Price Daniel served in more political offices than anyone I know and he did so with distinction and honor.
• Cartwright by Bill Cherry 5-14-07
  Mayor Herbie, His Time in Jail and the Big Downtown Parade that Followed.
• Henry O. Flipper, An Epic Remaining To Be Told by C. F. Eckhardt 5-14-07
  Perhaps the most enigmatic figure in the annals of the American West is not Johnny Ringo of maybe-suicide/maybe-murder or the deliberately enigmatic Mysterious Dave Mather, but 2/LT Henry O. Flipper, 10th United States Cavalry...
• Checkers by Mike Cox 5-9-07
  Even though the game has been popular in America since the 1840s, no one seems to have compiled a list of famous Texas checker players. If anyone ever does, one name that should be included is W.R. (Bill) Chambers.
• Sally Scull: Texas' Pioneer "Bad Girl" by W. T. Block Jr. 5-1-07
  Sally Scull, the pioneer Texas 'bad girl" was a combination Belle Starr, Calamity Jane, and Annie Oakley...
• Alamo Hero by W. T. Block Jr.
  Isaac Ryan
• Sam's Mother-in-Law by Mike Cox
  "Despite the rocky beginning of their relationship, Sam Houston treated Mrs. Nancy Lea, his mother-in-law, with all due respect. He must have learned to accept her eccentricities as well, like the lard incident..."
• Governor Thomas Mitchell Campbell by Archie P. McDonald
• Richard Ellis by Mike Cox
• Jane McManus Storm Cazneau by Archie P. McDonald
• Tallest Rebel by Mike Cox
  The first time the Yankees soldiers saw Henry Clay Thurston charging toward them through the clouds of black powder smoke they must have rubbed their eyes in disbelief. This gray-clad Johnny Reb towered over the other fighting men like a pine tree growing next to a bush...
• Catherine Magill Dorman: Confederate Heroine of Sabine Pass by W.T. Block, Jr
• Temple Lea Houston by C. F. Eckhardt
  Temple Houston was probably the closest of all the sons to the old man in temperament and abilities, but he resented being compared to Sam. He determined at an early age that he would not be remembered as 'Sam's boy,' but as 'Temple Houston.'
• Don Juan de Ońate by Brewster Hudspeth
  (AKA) Juan de Ońate y Salazar
  "Since the name Juan de Ońate y Salazar rolls off the tongue, Juan would probably be on the fast track to household-name-recognition by now, if it wasn't for some pesky historical research and vandalism to another statue in New Mexico that bears Juan's name...."
• The Smith Brothers by Bob Bowman
  Four brothers from Delta County lived with an ordinary name in the mid-1800s, but they were far from ordinary...
• Thomas Deye Owings of Maryland, Kentucky and Texas by W. T. Block Jr.
  "He was a colonel and hero of the War of 1812 [and] was Kentucky's original industrialist and iron master, also holding several political offices. He was also commissioned by Stephen F. Austin in Jan. 1836 to raise 2 regiments of Kentuckians to fight for Texas Independence from Mexico, sacrificing as a result the life of one of his sons during the Goliad Massacre..."
• Bowie by Mike Cox
  James Bowie trafficked in slaves, participated in land fraud and drank too much – but he did not lack for grit...
• William Marsh Rice by Archie P. McDonald
  Everyone loves a murder mystery, especially if the murder happened a long time ago and did not involve someone they know. The story of William Marsh Rice's demise is such a case...
• The Rufus F. Hardin School - Founder George Smith
• The Rufus F. Hardin School - Educator Rufus F. Hardin
• Old Sam Houston Song by Mike Cox
  Here's a good television game show question: Name the only person who ever served as governor of two states...
• The 8-F Crowd by Bob Bowman
  "... Often referred to as the "unofficial capital of Texas," [Lamar Hotel] Suite 8-F ... was the meeting place for Houston's business leaders from the late 1930s to the 1960s...."
• East Texas Savior of the French Wine Industry by Archie P. McDonald
  Those who favor a glass of wine, especially French wine, may not be aware of the debt they and the French owe to Dr. Thomas Volney Munson of Denison, Texas
• Father Margil by Archie P. McDonald
  Father Antonio Margil de Jesus helped introduce Christianity to the wilderness of East Texas, but his story began in Valencia, Spain, where he was born in 1657.
• Fall of the Largest Tree by Bob Bowman
  "The passing of Arthur Temple -- the man some newspapers called the last of the East Texas timber barons -- ended a link with a history reaching back more than a century."
• Marie Cronin and the Bartlett Western Railroad by Clay Coppedge
  What the old Bartlett Western Railroad lacked in revenue, it more than made up for in local color, history and folklore.
• Mrs. Margaret Kinkaid by Archie P. McDonald
  Kincaid School, Houston, Texas
• Three-legged Willie by Bob Bowman
  Robert McAlpin Williamson
  "The Republic of Texas, which existed only a decade, had its share of interesting characters. But few of them were as colorful as Three Legged Willie, who passed away some 146 years ago..."
• Houston Ring by Mike Cox
  "Sam Houston's marriage had a lot going against it..."
• General Hiram B. Granbury by Sam Fenstermacher
• Texas Rangers and the Battle of Plum Creek by Murray Montgomery
  The Comanche attack on the South Texas coast has long been known as the last great raid by the Indians.
  
• Man with a Method by Archie P. McDonald
  Littleton Fowler
• Old Time Judge by Archie McDonald
  Thomas Whitfield Davidson
• FDR and Nine Acres by Bob Bowman
  Tom Potter and FDR
• Sam Houston by Mike Cox
• Marie Hough Borden Vintage photos courtesy Ruben R. Hernandez
• A.M.Aikin, Jr. by Archie P. McDonald
  "In these days of evaluating our schools—exemplary to acceptable to whatever—and multiple special legislative sessions devoted to figuring out how to spend more money on schools while taking in less revenue, Texans might want to remember A.M. Aikin Jr., who helped drag education and Texas into modern times..."
• Norris Cuney by Archie P. McDonald
  "... Cuney technically began life as a slave..."
• Lady Doc by Mike Cox
  Dr. Sofie Herzog, first female surgeon in Texas
  
• George Louis Crocket by Archie P. McDonald
  Religious Leader and early Historian of East Texas
  
• Price Daniel by Archie P. McDonald
  "... he had taken an oath of office pledging loyalty to the Constitution of the United States eight times..."
• Sam Houston's Will by Mike Cox
• Old Three Hundred by Archie P. McDonald
• William Thomas Scott
• William Pinckney Rose
• Rev. Jonas Franklin Dancer by Mike Cox
  The namesake of Dancer Peak in Llano County
• George Campbell Childress by John Troesser
  "Ten Things You Should Know About George Campbell Childress"
  Author of the Texas Declaration of Independence and namesake of Childress County
  
• Chief Executives by Archie P. McDonald
  "East Texas has produced its share of prominent personages in entertainment, business, medicine, and other professions but prominent political figures have tended to call other sections of the state their home, especially in the last half century. It started out differently."
• Davis Bunting, his wife Martha Bowden Bunting, and family by Murray Montgomery
• A.P. and Marie Borden of Mackay, Texas
• Pass the Biscuits, Pappy by Bob Bowman
  His Texas homilies, radio broadcasts, hillbilly music and affinity for rural Texas propelled him into the governor’s office for two terms.
• Doris Miller: Hero by Archie P. McDonald
  African American hero of WWII
• Samuel Arthur Robertson by Mike Cox
• Twin Sisters by Mike Cox
  When 74-year-old Dr. Henry North Graves died that summer morning in Dallas, the solution to one of Texas’ enduring mysteries may have died with him.
  
• James Harper Starr by Archie P. McDonald
• Davy's Widow
  Elizabeth Patton Crockett
• Richard “Dick” Dowling Edward T. Cotham, Jr.
  Richard “Dick” Dowling was one of the most interesting figures in Houston and Texas history
• The Air Ace by Bob Bowman
  Lance C. Wade, Royal Air Force of Britain, World War II
• Bet-A-Million Gates by Archie P. McDonald
  John Warne Gates, a native of Winfield, Illinois, became associated with three of Texas’ most important items: barbed wire, railroads, and oil.
  
• Wiley Post - famous aviator Wiley Post
• William Gerald Tobin & Chili by Mike Cox
  William Gerald Tobin’s career as a Texas Ranger left a lot to be desired. But he had an idea that left Texas, and the Southwest, an enduring gastronomical legacy.
• LBJ and East Texas Politics by Archie P. McDonald
  Lyndon B. Johnson’s victory over Coke Stevenson for a Senate seat by only 87 votes earned this future president the nickname of "Landslide Lyndon." Everyone agrees that Johnson’s aides "stole" that election by "finding" additional votes for their candidate in Box 13 in Jim Wells County. What everyone might not know is that Johnson had been burned by a similar tactic in a special Senate race in 1941, and had vowed never to be caught short again.
• John Henry Kirby by Archie P. McDonald
  An East Texas timber baron
• Nice Politics by Mike Cox
  Wick Blanton and Tom Morris running for county attorney of Wilson County
• "Bigfoot" Wallace. by Luke Warm
  "... Over the years his willingness to recount his adventures insured he would become a genuine Texas legend. He never told a story he couldn't later improve upon. …"
• Big Foot Wallace and the Indian by Mike Cox
  Ambush, strychnine, hanging... A tale of good and evil with a twist.
• Buffalo Man by Mike Cox
  Hollywood has seldom – if ever – portrayed buffalo hunters as civilized, erudite men. Screenwriters and producers of Westerns usually have their buffalo hunters play the role as coarse, scruffy men ready to drink or kill anything. But as the story of one time buffalo hunter John Cloud Jacobs demonstrates, reality is not always that simple. ...
• McDonald Observatory - An Orphan’s Gift by Bob Bowman
  Standing atop Mount Locke in the Big Bend area, McDonald Observatory is far removed from East Texas, but without the interest and generosity of an orphaned Confederate soldier from Clarksville, the world-famous astronomy center might not exist today. William McDonald ...
• Beauford Jester by Archie P. McDonald
  Governor of Texas
  
• General Hiram Bronson Granbury
  
• Albert Thomas by Archie P. McDonald
  One of the most famous photos ever made shows Lyndon B. Johnson taking the oath as president aboard Air Force One shortly after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In the photo, a tall, trim man wearing a bow tie bends in to get a better view of President Johnson and Justice Sarah Hughes, who administered the oath. That man was Albert Thomas...
• Edward Mandell House - The House That House Built by Archie P. McDonald
  Edward Mandell House of Galveston and Houston rose about as high as one can go in Texas or United States politics, yet he never held an elective or appointive office. Instead of wanting to be "king," House was content to be the "king maker."
• Governor by Chance - Edward Clark by Archie P. McDonald
• Miss Rita of Beaumont's Dixie Hotel by John Troesser
  The Philanthropic Madam of Oil City
• “Godfather of Beaumont” by Fred B. McKinley
  Frank Yount and the Yount-Lee Oil Company, “the Godfather and Financial Gibraltar of Beaumont.”
• Painter Harold Osman Kelly - Blanket Texas' Famous Son
• Donna by Mike Cox
  Donna Hooks Fletcher, namesake of Donna, Texas
  
• Three Bean Salad by John Troesser
  Tom Bean, Peter Ellis Bean and Judge Roy Bean
• Ela Hockaday More Than a School Omarm by Archie P. McDonald 8-8-04
  Founder of the Miss Hockaday School for Girls in Dallas
• Pixilated in Port Arthur & Reincarnated in Luling
  Alfred Stillwell and Edgar Davis by Luke Warm
• William Christy
  A forgotten Texas hero
• Mr. Ambassador by Archie P. McDonald
  Edward Aubrey Clark of San Augustine
• Tragedy of Chief Bowles by Bob Bowman
  "Few historical figures are as tragic as Chief Bowles, the 83-year-old Cherokee Indian chief who died on a Neches River battlefield near Tyler 164 years ago..."
• Norris Wright Cuney by Archie P. McDonald
  The most remarkable African American leader in Texas in the nineteenth century.
• Characters by Bob Bowman
  Some people collect antiques. Others collect baseball cards. Personally, I've always been partial to East Texas characters -- the sometimes slightly off-center people who lived lifetimes doing things differently than the rest of us.
• Ten More Things Your Should Know About Judge Roy Bean by John Troesser
  The Jersey Lilly: Where "sidebar" has a very literal meaning
• Kate by Mike Cox
  Catherine "Kate" Magill Dorman -- a little known Texas heroine of the Civil War
• "Rajah of Swat" - Rogers Hornsby by Archie P. McDonald
• Ten Things Your Should Know About Judge Roy Bean by John Troesser
• Richard Kimble and Almaron Dickinson, Heroic hat makers at the Alamo by Murray Montgomery
• The Short but Eventful Life of Adrián J. Vidal 1840-1865 by Brewster Hudspeth
• The Volunteer Fire Departments of Sunray and Dumas - The Shamrock Oil refinery explosion in the late 1950's
• Sarah by Mike Cox
  Few Texas women ever saw any worse than Sarah Creath McSherry Hibbens Stinnett Howard. A woman with true grit, the way she came by her long name is one of Texas' more gripping tales. Born around 1812....
• Air Pioneer by Bob Bowman
  Texas Aviation Hall of Famer. In 1921 she became the only black pilot in the world. A year later she became the first black woman to fly over American soil.
• Philip Nolan by Archie P. McDonald
  We can credit him and men like him with "making news" in the Untied States that quickened the interest of other Americans about building futures in Texas.
  
• The Last Hero - John G. Pickering by Bob Bowman
  The last surviving veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, lies in an almost forgotten cemetery in deep East Texas, his tombstone chipped and broken. It's an ignoble resting place for a proud old soldier, John G. Pickering.
• Robert Thomas Hill, "Dean of Texas Geology" (1858-1941) by Margaret Waring
• Temple Lea Houston: Son of Sam
  Even with his father's fame; he made a hefty name for himself. by John Troesser
• Ten Things you should know about Anson Jones by John Troesser
• An informal history of Pierce, Texas: Containing barely related facts on neighboring towns in Wharton, Jackson and Victoria Counties. by Brewster Hudspeth
• Ten Things you should know about "Shanghai" Pierce. Beef - it's what's for dinner - again. by Brewster Hudspeth
  
• The Niels and Mellie Esperson Buildings - If you live in Houston, you've heard the name; now, meet the people. by John Troesser
• A Man to Count on in Big Spring - "An Earl and his money are soon popular." by Brewster Hudspeth
• Thergood's Pine by Bob Bowman (From All Things Historical) - The story of a slave and the oldest pine tree in East Texas.
• The Starr Family Mansion by Archie McDonald ( From All Things Historical)
  
• A Journalist's Hero by Bob Bowman ( From All Things Historical)
  "Journalists are by nature a cynical lot. And because they've seen humanity at its worst, they have few heroes. One of them died in Tyler last month. ....."
  
• Ira Eaker: From Covered Wagon to Jet-Age Air Power, Four Stars by Bill Bradfield
  "During dark days of World War II when the bitter war was far from won, it was a Texas tenant farmer's son who took command of the U.S. Eighth Air Force in England, playing a key role in making the Normandy invasion possible....."
• Lyne Taliaferro Barret by Archie P. McDonald (All Things Historical)
• The Crusty Old Baptist by Murray Montgomery (Times Past)
• East Texas' Mark Twain by Bob Bowman (All Things Historical)
• Allan Shivers by Archie P. McDonald (All Things Historical)
• Two Pilots, Three Air Forces, One Hometown:
  Lt. Col. Alvin Mueller & Lieutenant Dick Campbell by John Troesser
• Mister Ben by Bob Bowman (All Things Historical)