Texas Tidbits: Hobos, Me and the Hobo Festival in San Angelo

Boxcar Willie?

I have for many years, had a fascination with hobos. Why? Well, it's certainly not the extravagant, stable lifestyle they lead. It's the sense of adventure and the desire to, as the Hobo Motto says, "do what you want to do." Freedom is what I call it, like riding a Harley. At this point in my life, I have neither the time nor desire to be a hobo. I am happy living out my life with my wife and young children.

Back in the 60's when I was a little boy, I remember hearing the song Mama Tried by Merle Haggard. The first line in the song has stuck with me and fueled my imagination for almost fifty years...

"The first thing I remember knowin'
Is a lonesome whistle blowin'
And a youngun's dream to ride,
On a freight train leavin' town not knowin' where it's bound,
No one could change my mind but Mama tried..."

That is pure poetic fuel for the active imagination belonging to a little boy whose dream to explore "parts unknown" was as strong in him as the need to eat and sleep. Just think about it, traveling, by fright train having no idea where each leg of your journey will lead you and what challenges await you when you get to the destination. Pure dee, old time, freedom dependent on your ability to think on your feet and sheer  determination and ability to adapt to the situations laid at your lap.

It just so happens that a Hobo Festival will be taking place on the 21st of May in San Angelo. Accord to the folks putting together the Hobo Festival, here are the details:

The Railway Museum of San Angelo, 703 S. Chadbourne
FMI: 325-656-2067
Join us for a flea market, food, live music, a hobo costume contest, and more.

There's the information that'll get you to the Hobo Festival, so make good use of that info and join several thousand other folks being a Hobo for a Day. I am loving this event!

"The first thing I remember knowin'
Is a lonesome whistle blowin'
And a youngun's dream to ride,
On a freight train leavin' town not knowin' where it's bound,
No one could change my mind but Mama tried..."

I couldn't have said it better myself. And that lonesome whistle is a siren song to me...


                            

Texas Tidbits: An Almost Clean Getaway!

Ted?

We've made it to another Humpday and that can mean only one thing! I have no idea what that "one thing" is, but Humpday always means "one thing". Or so I am told. You figure it out and let me know, will ya? I would like to dedicate this post to my friends in Tyler. It sounds just like something one of you would do, especially Ted. Ted is a madman. But he is our madman. I immediately thought of my buddy Ted when I saw this article about a guy practicing his God-given right to break into someone else's home while they are away. An alert neighbor called the heat when he witnessed a man, let's call him "Ted", kick in the front door to his neighbor's house. It couldn't have been the neighbor kicking in his own door while on his weekly tequila-a-thon, the neighbor was having his weekly tequila-a-thon somewhere else and wasn't at home. Besides, it was 3:30AM when this took place so the tequila-a-thon guy would have been passed out by now. Therefore, the alert neighbor knew something was rotten in Denmark. A few minutes later the fuzz arrived, cautiously entered the residence in question, Clint Eastwood cop guns at the ready and quickly spotted the intruder....in the bathtub! I now know that the bad guy isn't my friend Ted because Ted doesn't bathe. But I digress. Let's see, where was I...oh,yeah, the cops enter the house and find the burglar in the bath tub. I've heard of making a clean get away, but gee-moe-netti! The bad guy has to be from Oklahoma or something. Texas burglars are way too smart to get caught because they wanted to take a bath, passed out dead ass drunk maybe, but never to take a damn bath. Needless to say, the suspect was arrested and is now a guest of the Smith County Sheriff's Department, where he gets only one bath per week and is very careful to maintain a tight grip on the soap.

Texas Tidbits; Germans Throw a Helluva Party

A while back I enrolled for a few weeks trial of Ancestry.com and was blown away by some of the information I discovered. I am a distant relative to some of the most famous people in history. I am sure that many people can say that too, but it's still kind of neat to find out who's in the ole Family Tree. My ancestors on both sides of my family were nearly all of German extraction, with a little Dutch on my maternal grandfather's side thrown in for good measure. I bring this up at the time because spring is nigh and family vacations are not far behind that. I thought throwing out ideas for your vacation or just a weekend jaunt might steer you in a different direction, a direction you might have considered before. This is where my point about my German heritage comes in.

One of the biggest and best German heritage festivals in Texas takes place in Tomball, about 40 miles north of Houston on I-45, March 25-27. Tomball German Heritage Festival was started eleven years a go with an oompah band on a low-boy trailer hauled by a pickup truck. Each year thousands of people gather in Tomball to celebrate the area's strong German Heritage, which began with the  first German settlers in 1840. looking over the festival's website, I found out "It is a Music/Street festival celebrating German and ethnic heritage with 4 stages of live music entertainment "happy music for happy people", ethnic and festival food, beer, wine, 150 street vendors, all kinds of German souvenirs and clothing, arts crafts, antiques, Heritage Center, German church service, fireworks, carnival, pony ride, petting zoo, strolling music makers, street performers, and much more. Like Oktoberfest in March! Huge fun for the whole family! You do not have to be German to enjoy this festival. It is fun for everyone, and there is no admission or parking fees." <------see that? No admission or parking fees! No doubt the price is right. The Tomball German Heritage Festival is a "Sister City" celebration bringing the local flaovor of Tomball's Sister City, Telgte, Germany. This thing sounds like a hoot!

I hope you can make it to the TGHF this year, even if you aren't of German heritage. I'll tell you what. If I was within driving range of Tomball, I'd be there so fast , it would make my head spin. All the contact info can be found on the TGHF website. if you think you might attend, it would be a good idea to make a hotel reservation ahead of time. If you go, drop me a line at threestatesplusone AT gmail DOT com.

Texas Declaration of Independence - March 2, 1836

A Republic is Born

Today is such an important day to all Texans, that I am going to forego my usual brilliant insight and Nobel-worthy prose, to take a back seat to those who are far more qualified than I to inform you on this 175th Birthday of the Texas Constitution. On March 2, 1836, forty-one men gathered in a shack in Washington-On-The-Brazos and hammered out a document. A document that changed history. It was the Texas Declaration of Independence


"In October 1835, settlers in Mexican Texas launched the Texas Revolution. However, within Texas, many struggled with understanding what was the ultimate goal of the Revolution. Some believed that the goal should be total independence from Mexico, while others sought the reimplementation of the Mexican Constitution of 1824 (which offered greater freedoms than the centralist government declared in Mexico the prior year).^[1] To settle the issue, a convention was called for March 1836. This convention differed from the previous Texas councils of 1832, 1833, and the 1835 Consultation. Many of the delegates to the 1836 convention were young men who had only recently arrived in Texas, although many of them had participated in one of the battles in 1835. Most of the delegates were members of the War Party and were adamant that Texas must declare its independence from Mexico.^[2] Forty-one delegates arrived in Washington-on-the-Brazos on February 28" says Wikipedia.

If you want to learn as much Texas History as you can in one stop, there are few places, if any, more informative that the archives at Texas A & M University. The Aggies do Texas Independence with the pride and enthusiasm you'd expect from them. From the Aggie Archives we find this on the convention that brought us a Declaration of Independence for Texas.

The Handbook of Texas Online has several interesting links to the Texas Declaration of Independence, so it that would be great place as well.

I know you'll enjoy the Texas History lesson you'll get at any of the links in this post. I'll have more to say later today, so until then...God bless Texas!

Adios,
Toby

Best Of Texas Tidbits: The Father of Texas

This story was originally posted on November 4, 2010. I thought this would be a good time to rerun this post on Stephen F. Austin since we have been studying the History of Texas leading up to the Texas Revolution.  If you've already read it, it might be worth a re-read to freshen up your memory and make a connection between the man Sam Houston himself called "The Father of Texas", and his role in the Texas Revolution.

 Four and a half months ago when I first started this blog, I wrote a Plus One post about Virginia. I saluted Virginia for some of the great Americans that were born there who went on to do great things for our country. On that day, I left out a man who was a native son of Virginia, and today I could slap a knot on my own head so tall I'd have to tiptoe to scratch it. The man's name? Stephen Fuller Austin. The Father of Texas. I am a dumbass.

I was going to post this yesterday because it was the anniversary of SFA's birth. But the Republican Tsunami was a pretty big deal so I wrote about that instead.

Stephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia on November 3, 1793. By age twenty one, Austin was a lawyer and a member of the First Circuit Court. During this time, Austin's father, Moses, received an empresarial grant that allowed him to take 300 Americans into Texas. Moses then was traveling back to Missouri when he was attacked and soon contracted pneumonia and died in June, 1821. Upon his death, Moses Austin left his empresarial grant to Stephen. I was a bit surprised to learn that Stephen was, at first, reluctant to carry out his father's dream of colonizing Texas. However, a letter from Ma Austin changed Stephen's mind about it. And thus began the journey of the man who would be the Father of Texas.

The Father of Texas

During his attempt to bring Americans to Texas, Austin wore a path out to Mexico while dealing with the new Mexican government (Mexico had just won its independence from Spain). The rules regarding his land grant seemed to change by the minute. Undeterred, Austin finally got that mess settled and in late 1825, he brought  300 Americans to Texas. This was the first step in Stephen F. Austin being recognized as The Father of Texas. There's some detailed information on the trials and tribulations Austin had to overcome to colonize Texas with American settlers here.

In 1836, when Texas had won its independence from Mexico, Austin threw his name into the hat to be a candidate for the Presidency of the new Republic of Texas. He was the odds on favorite to win the election, but someone else had eyes on that prize. His name was Sam Houston. After his victory at San Jacinto establishing Texas' new status as a sovereign country, Houston won the election in a landslide. Upon taking on his role as President of Texas, Houston named Austin as his Secretary of State, a post he held for only two months. Stephen F. Austin contracted what he thought was a bad cold, but it was actually pneumonia. He died on December 27, 1836. Austin's last words were, "The Independence of Texas is recognized! Don't you see it in the papers!". After learning of Austin's death, President Sam Houston issued this statement, "The Father of Texas is no more. The first pioneer of the wilderness has departed." Austin is gone, Mr. President, but he will for eternity be known as The Father of Texas and his name will be revered by Texans forevermore.

**Image from sonofthesouth.net

Texas Tidbits: Hill Country Immigrants, A to Zink

I love the Hill Country of Texas. That comes as no surprise to regular readers of this blog. Take a trip through the blog archives and you'll see what I mean. Today, I return to the Hill Country by way of the written word. This time I actually have a specific reason for doing so other than fishing. I return to learn about my people - German immigrants to whom I may be related. Seriously.

A man whose name I'd never heard until a few minutes ago, had as much to do with settling Central Texas as anyone in the state's history. His name is Nicholas Zink. It was in 1844 that Herr Zink, a Bavarian native, was selected to head an effort to colonize the area around Austin with immigrants from Germany. In late 1844 when Zink and the new colonists arrived at the land grant designated for them, he quickly learned that the grant was smack dab in the middle of Comanche territory. He persuaded Prince Carl, who was the main man behind the grant, to relocate the new Texans to another place. The Prince agreed and Zink settled the area which became New Braunfels. Soon thereafter, Zink was put in charge of more than half the German immigrants headed for New Braunfels. After 1847, he built houses throughout the area and would in 1868 acquire the land they were built on, donating much of it to the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad. Nicholas Zink married three times, but sadly fathered no children. Thus, his legacy to Texas are the German American communities in the Hill Country. While few people, myself included, have ever heard of Nicholas Zink, he left a giant footprint on Texas and its German immigrants. I am cautiously optimistic that Herr Zink brought some my ancestors to Texas during his lifetime. At the very least, I have a clue as to where I can begin looking for some of my forebears. And that starting point begins with Nicholas Zink.

Excuse me while I head over to Ancestry.com. Herr Zink beckons.

Texas Tidbits: The Battleship Texas

You know me and my interest in all things Texas. If it's about Texas, I wanna know about it. I want to spend some time today writing about San Jacinto. No, not the Battle of San Jacinto, the place San Jacinto. There is another history-making icon that is right at home on the Houston Ship Channel at San Jacinto. It stands as a monument to the emerging power of the United States Navy as we entered the 20th Century. I am, of course, talking about the Battleship Texas.

One Helluva Lady

Once the most powerful weapon in the world, the Texas served her country with unparalleled distinction. She was launched from Newport News, Virginia on May 18, 1912 and was commissioned on March 12, 1914. Texas Parks and Wildlife is the caretaker for the Texas and I found this on their website dedicated to the Battleship Texas. From the site: "In 1916, TEXAS became the first U.S. battleship to mount antiaircraft guns and the first to control gunfire with directors and range-keepers, analog forerunners of today's computers. In 1919, TEXAS became the first U.S. battleship to launch an aircraft. The TEXAS received the first commercial radar in the US Navy in 1939. New antiaircraft batteries, fire control and communication equipment allowed the ship to remain an aging but powerful unit in the US naval fleet. In 1940, Texas was designated flagship of US Atlantic Fleet. The First Marine Division was founded aboard the TEXAS early in 1941. April 21, 1948 the Texas was decommissioned. The TEXAS holds the distinguished designation of a National Historic Landmark and a National Mechanical Engineering Landmark." (NOTE: April 21 is the anniversary of Sam Houston's victory over Santa Ana in the Battle of San Jacinto, the battle which gave Texas her independence from Mexico.)

I was very young, maybe 10 years old the last time I saw and explored the Texas and I still remember the feeling the history as if she were speaking to me. I went down to the hold (I guess that's what they call it on a battleship) and came upon the brig. The cells were small, cold, damp and isolated and I wonder what a sailor would have to do to be sent to the brig. I also thought of the POWs that might have occupied the cells during the Texas' service in WWI and WWII. It was an eerie feeling. I could almost hear the crew of the ship as they went about their daily duties of fighting a war. Even at 10 years old (or so), I knew a little about the Texas and during my journey all over the ship, I was filled with pride that she was named after my state. Battleship Texas. It had a nice ring to it. Still does. In her prime, the Texas was a helluva lady. And if I do say so myself, she has aged beautifully.