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SAN
AUGUSTINE, TEXAS"The
Cradle of Texas"
San Augustine County Seat, East
Texas
US 96 & Hwys 21, 147
19 miles S of Center
28 miles NW of Hemphill
32 miles E of Nacogdoches
Population:
2,475 (2000) 2,337 (1990) |
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History
in a Pecan Shell
San Augustine's history predates the revolution. As early as the 1540s, European
visitors were getting lost in the pines around San Augustine. In 1691 the Old
San Antonio Road (as it was later called) was cut by Domingo Teran de los Rios.
The Mission
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores de los Ais was established in 1717, has
been restored and is one of San Augustine's major attractions today. You might
find "Mission
Dolores" easier to remember.
As Anglo migration to Texas increased
in the early 1800s, San Augustine was the site of the customhouse and a stopover
for everyone entering Texas. It soon became the most civilized place around, and
its early history shows it to be the birthplace of several colleges and the first
churches (in Texas) of several denominations were opened here. Sam
Houston was a frequent visitor and Texas' first governor now sits (as a statue)
on the courthouse lawn of his former residence. His name was James
Pinckney Henderson,
but you already knew that.
See San
Augustine by Archie P. McDonald |
A
20th Century History
The Feud
San Augustine was also the scene of one of the more
interesting feuds in Texas history. It's roots were in the 1890s, but things didn't
really get going until the Spring of 1900 when Lycurgus (Curg) Border stirred
things up in the Wall-Broocks-Border feud. Curg, who was a handsome man
and a good dancer until he was partially crippled in a shooting, shot Sheriff
George W. Wall, who died a few days later. Curg Border was elected sheriff in
1902 and served until he was suspended in 1904 by the district judge. W.S. (Sneed)
Noble took over the sheriff's duties and found himself caught up in the
feud. Sheriff Noble shot and killed Curg Border in May of 1904. (This information
is from Texas County Sheriffs by Sammy Tise). |
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A detailed account of this feud can be found in C.F. Eckhardt's Tales of Badmen,
Bad Women and Bad Places: Four centuries of Texas Outlawry 1999
Texas Tech University Press |
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| Excitement
flared up again in San Augustine just before Christmas in 1934. Four men were
shot in a hardware store and not too much was done about it. Texas Ranger Leo
Bishop was sent in and he found the town to be under the control of a lawless
element. After few months, Leo and partner Dan Hines had banished the main villain
and made the rest behave. The people of San Augustine presented both Rangers with
fancy pistols as token of their appreciation in 1935. |
| This
incident is covered in detail and fine story-telling form under the chapter Leo
Bishop and the San Augustine Crime Wave in Just one riot: Texas Rangers in
the 20th Century by Ben Proctor, Eakin Press 1991 |
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Here's
the place that saw it all, the San Augustine County Jail.
Photo
courtesy Barclay
Gibson, December 2010 |
Sundial
on Texas Bank & Trust
Photo
courtesy Barclay
Gibson, December 2010 |
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Columbus-Cartwright House
Recorded
Texas Historic Landmark
Craft
St. off SH 21
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, December 2010 |
San
Augustine has one of the rare traffic stop button
Photo
courtesy Barclay
Gibson, December 2010 |
San
Augustine Historical Marker
On
US 96 and Hwy 21
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, December 2010 |
Historical
Marker TextSan Augustine
An early eastern
gate to Texas, in area claimed in 1600s by both
France and Spain. To back her claim, Spain in 1691 chartered from Mexico past
this site El Camino
Real (The King's Highway) and established nearby in 1717 Mission
Dolores de los Aies.
Inhabited by Ayish Indians and Spaniards until
the late 1790s, when Richard Sims came and was soon followed by John Quinalty,
Edmond Quirk and families of Broocks, Cullens, Cartwrights, Hortons, Hustons,
Prathers and others. By 1824 the settlement had a water mill to grind corn meal;
in 1826, a cotton gin.
In the 1827 Battle of Ayish Bayou, Col. Prather
and 69 men put down Fredonian uprising over land titles.
The town was
laid off in 1833 by Thomas McFarland. In 1836 it sent as delegates to sign Declaration
of Independence S. W. Blount and E. O. LeGrand; fielded 3 companies to fight in
the war for independence. Its Republic of Texas statesmen included vice-president
K. L. Anderson; J. A. Greer, Secretary of the Treasury; Wm. Holman, congressman;
J. Pinckney Henderson, minister to England and France, and later the first governor
of the state. Oran M. Roberts was 16th governor.
Home of the 1965 United
States Ambassador to Australia Edward Clark. Many historic sites are marked.
(1966)
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San
Augustine Chronicles
McMahan
Chapel by Bob Bowman
The news that San Augustine businessman Jack
Maund has contributed $100,000 for a museum and events center at McMahan Chapel
Methodist Church has focused new attention on one of East Texas’ most historic
churches... McMahan's
Chapel by Archie P. McDonaldMr.
Ambassador by Archie P. McDonald
Edward Aubrey Clark of San Augustine
Man
with a Method by Archie P. McDonald
"Long before winning fame
and martyrdom at the Alamo, William Barret Travis wrote to tell Methodist leaders
in the United States how badly Texas needed their attention. Samuel Doak McMahon
held the first meeting of Methodists in Texas in his home, located ten or so miles
east of San Augustine, in 1832, but the arrival of Littleton Fowler in 1837 was
the first authorized Methodist activity there..."Ben
Ramsey by Bob BowmanScrolling
Through History by Bob Bowman
The search system -- which has brought
unbridled joy to genealogists and historians -- is believed to be the most comprehensive
county archive system in Texas. A
Soldier's Story by Bob Bowman
Milton Irish's letter, printed in the
Lincoln Patriot at Waldoboro, Maine, on February 10,1837, has become a classic
story of a simple soldier involved in the momentous events that gave birth to
Texas the year before. In a few months, Milton -- an ancestor of Jack Irish of
Lufkin -- found himself involved in the Siege of Bexar, the battle that preceded
the fall of the Alamo, and barely escaped with his life during the massacre of
Texas prisoners at Goliad.Outlaw
with two faces by Bob Bowman
In July of 1888, Rupert P. Wright, dressed
in rags and one eye blinded by his own hand, pleaded for mercy on a charge of
bigamy before an Arkansas judge. To those who knew Wright, his appearance and
demeanor were far removed from the days when he was a prominent newspaper editor,
attorney, and aspiring legislator in Little Rock. But they would soon learn that
he was also an escaped murderer, forger, arsonist and jail breaker named Pete
Loggins from East Texas.Webster's
Buck by by Bob Bowman
The San Augustine Tribune, publisher Webster
Hays and hist buck.Drug
Store Centennial by Bob Bowman
A fountain drink known as "The
Grapefruit Highball."
The San Augustine Drug Store will in May (2004)
celebrate a hundred years of doing business at the same location in downtown San
Augustine.The
Church Lights by Bob Bowman
Each time I visit Christ Church Episcopal
in San Augustine, I am reminded of Murphey's story and the electric light chandeliers
former U.S. ambassador Ed Clark bought and installed in the church in 1991
to honor his wife Anne Metcalfe Clark.The
First Governor of Texas by Archie P. McDonaldThe
Circuit Rider by Bob Bowman
Beneath the pulpit of an East Texas country
church, far from the saddle-sloped mountains of his beloved Kentucky, Littleton
Fowler lies at rest... Fowler was a circuit rider, missionary, marksman, chaplain
of the Texas Senate and a brilliant pulpiteer who rode and walked thousands of
miles between the Sabine River and San Antonio to found many of Texas’ Methodist
churches.
Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores de los Ais Mission by Archie P. McDonald
San
Augustine Texas ForumShooting
of Rangers in San Augustine County
In July 1918, a squad of Texas Rangers
was sent to San Augustine county to round up deserters from the army. Two Rangers
went to the farm house of Samuel Williams to recover his son Sam Williams and
Daniel Evans. In a gun fight early in the morning, Ranger White was killed and
the other Ranger wounded. A massive manhunt pursued... more
- John D Carrell, Mesquite, Texas, October 25, 2006
Book
Hotels
San
Augustine Hotels |
Nearby
Attractions
Toledo
Bend lakeSam
Rayburn LakeAngelina
National Forest - 11 miles south on Texas 147 to entrance.
Sabine
National Forest - 5 miles east on FM 353 to entrance.
San
Augustine Tourist Information
San
Augustine County Chamber of Commerce 611 West Columbia St. San Augustine, Texas
75972 Phone: 936-275-3610 Website: www.sanaugustinetx.com
Book
Hotels
San
Augustine Hotels |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories, and vintage/historic
photos of their town, please contact
us. |
Three-term
San Augustine
Sheriff Nathan Tindall is
frequently mentioned in
THE TEXAS SHERIFF:
LORD OF THE COUNTY LINE
by Thad Sitton
University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 2000 |
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