This Day In Texas History - May 19
Posted: Sun May 19, 2019 10:00 am
1829 - George B. McKinstry took the oath of Mexican citizenship, required of all settlers in Texas at that time. McKinstry, born in Ireland in 1801, had arrived in Texas about a month before, probably by way of Georgia. In Stephen F. Austin's Register of Families McKinstry is listed as a trader, and in 1830 he was appointed the first postmaster of Brazoria. In 1833 Austin, deploring McKinstry's central role in the Anahuac Disturbances and the battle of Velasco, wrote that McKinstry had "done as much harm to Texas as any man in it." Ironically, Austin died at McKinstry's home in Columbia in December 1836. McKinstry himself died less than a year later, on December 10, 1837.
1836 - A large force of Comanche warriors, accompanied by Kiowa and Kichai allies, attacked Fort Parker, located on the headwaters of the Navasota River in what is now Limestone County. During the raid the Comanches seized five captives, including Cynthia Ann Parker. The other four were eventually released, but Cynthia remained with the Indians for almost twenty-five years, forgot white ways, and became thoroughly Comanche. She was perhaps the most famous Indian captive in Texas history. Her son Quanah became a celebrated Comanche chief.
[ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpa18 ]
1880 - The Texas Press Association is a statewide professional organization of weekly, semi-weekly and daily newspapers published in the state of Texas. It was founded by a group of seventy-seven journalists who met on May 19, 1880, at the Hutchins House in Houston.
1881 - The Southern Pacific Railroad reached El Paso from the West Coast. Originally, the line was to have met the Texas and Pacific at Yuma, Arizona, but the T&P got bogged down in Fort Worth. Southern Pacific had no charter to extend into Texas from El Paso, so they made an agreement with the Galveston Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad to utilize their charter to continue eastward, using the same surveyors and crews as came with them from the West. By December, Southern Pacific (as the GH&SA) met the Texas Pacific at Sierra Blanca in Hudspeth County to complete the nations second Trans-continental Railroad. The T&P extended to Dallas and eastward. It would be another another year before San Antonio is connected to the Southern Pacific at Langtry near the Pecos River.
1891 – Rice Institute, later known as Rice University, was chartered in Houston on this day.
1906 - Fergus Kyle, politician and founder of Kyle, Texas, the son of early settlers of Hays, died. He was, in his third term, the oldest member of the legislature when he died. Kyle's, family moved to Texas in 1844 and settled in Hays County about 1850. He served in the Eighth Texas Cavalry (Terry's Texas Rangers). After the battle of Shiloh he was promoted to captain, and his four brothers, William, Polk, Curran, and Andrew Jackson, were under his command. After the war he returned to Hays County and began farming and raising stock. He was elected to the House of Representatives for the Twelfth Texas Legislature (1870–71) and was one of the few Democrats to serve during Reconstruction. He cosponsored the Alamo purchase bill of 1905, which saved the Texas shrine.
[for more info on a truly fascinating Texan: https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fky03 ]
1910 - A 500-pound meteorite fell to earth outside the northeast Texas community of Charleston during the passage of Halley's Comet. Delta County's most publicized event of the decade was not without precedent, however, as more than 230 meteorites have been catalogued in Texas. The earliest written record dates from 1772, when Athanase de Mézières learned of the Texas Iron from Tawakoni Indians near the Brazos River. Considered the largest preserved find from Texas, this 1,635-pound meteorite was venerated by several Indian cultures for its supposed healing powers and is currently housed at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University.
1946 - On this date in 1946, Ben Hogan won the first ever Colonial National Invitational Golf Tournament in Fort Worth. On the final day, Hogan shot a course record 65. His prize for winning? $3,000.
1949 - Dusty Hill was born in Dallas. In 1969, Hill along with Billy F Gibbons, Frank Beard and Bill Mack Ham would form ZZ Top.
1836 - A large force of Comanche warriors, accompanied by Kiowa and Kichai allies, attacked Fort Parker, located on the headwaters of the Navasota River in what is now Limestone County. During the raid the Comanches seized five captives, including Cynthia Ann Parker. The other four were eventually released, but Cynthia remained with the Indians for almost twenty-five years, forgot white ways, and became thoroughly Comanche. She was perhaps the most famous Indian captive in Texas history. Her son Quanah became a celebrated Comanche chief.
[ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpa18 ]
1880 - The Texas Press Association is a statewide professional organization of weekly, semi-weekly and daily newspapers published in the state of Texas. It was founded by a group of seventy-seven journalists who met on May 19, 1880, at the Hutchins House in Houston.
1881 - The Southern Pacific Railroad reached El Paso from the West Coast. Originally, the line was to have met the Texas and Pacific at Yuma, Arizona, but the T&P got bogged down in Fort Worth. Southern Pacific had no charter to extend into Texas from El Paso, so they made an agreement with the Galveston Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad to utilize their charter to continue eastward, using the same surveyors and crews as came with them from the West. By December, Southern Pacific (as the GH&SA) met the Texas Pacific at Sierra Blanca in Hudspeth County to complete the nations second Trans-continental Railroad. The T&P extended to Dallas and eastward. It would be another another year before San Antonio is connected to the Southern Pacific at Langtry near the Pecos River.
1891 – Rice Institute, later known as Rice University, was chartered in Houston on this day.
1906 - Fergus Kyle, politician and founder of Kyle, Texas, the son of early settlers of Hays, died. He was, in his third term, the oldest member of the legislature when he died. Kyle's, family moved to Texas in 1844 and settled in Hays County about 1850. He served in the Eighth Texas Cavalry (Terry's Texas Rangers). After the battle of Shiloh he was promoted to captain, and his four brothers, William, Polk, Curran, and Andrew Jackson, were under his command. After the war he returned to Hays County and began farming and raising stock. He was elected to the House of Representatives for the Twelfth Texas Legislature (1870–71) and was one of the few Democrats to serve during Reconstruction. He cosponsored the Alamo purchase bill of 1905, which saved the Texas shrine.
[for more info on a truly fascinating Texan: https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fky03 ]
1910 - A 500-pound meteorite fell to earth outside the northeast Texas community of Charleston during the passage of Halley's Comet. Delta County's most publicized event of the decade was not without precedent, however, as more than 230 meteorites have been catalogued in Texas. The earliest written record dates from 1772, when Athanase de Mézières learned of the Texas Iron from Tawakoni Indians near the Brazos River. Considered the largest preserved find from Texas, this 1,635-pound meteorite was venerated by several Indian cultures for its supposed healing powers and is currently housed at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University.
1946 - On this date in 1946, Ben Hogan won the first ever Colonial National Invitational Golf Tournament in Fort Worth. On the final day, Hogan shot a course record 65. His prize for winning? $3,000.
1949 - Dusty Hill was born in Dallas. In 1969, Hill along with Billy F Gibbons, Frank Beard and Bill Mack Ham would form ZZ Top.