Conrad Meuly – 1812-1865
Swiss born merchant, Conrad Meuly, came to the Republic of Texas from New York with silk hose, scarves, and bolts of expensive fabrics....
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David A. Bowles
david921866
- Feb 9
- 2 min
Austin Lyceum
The Austin Lyceum was granted a charter on February 5, 1841. The first charter issued for a learned society in the Republic of Texas. E....
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david921866
- Dec 29, 2023
- 1 min
Celebrate Austin
I’m the author of the Westward Sagas, a series of award-winning novels about my great-great grandmother Elnora Van Cleve-Browns family...
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david921866
- Dec 27, 2023
- 2 min
A Town is Born
One hundred eighty-four years ago, hundreds of men converged at a place on the Colorado River that would become the first permanent...
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david921866
- Dec 14, 2023
- 1 min
Grandmother's Stories
It was on the lawn of our Austin home that I first heard the story I was destined to write! The tale of a family member being captured by...
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david921866
- Dec 12, 2023
- 2 min
Derinda Elizabeth Kelso
Betty, as she was called, was born September 30, 1857, in Lavaca County, Texas. She had a twin brother who died before the age of five....
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david921866
- Dec 5, 2023
- 1 min
Leroy Tillman Kelso
Leroy T. Kelso was born in Mississippi in 1847 and his family arrived in Texas in 1850. In 1873, the Comanches were raiding in the Hill...
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david921866
- Nov 27, 2023
- 1 min
Alfred Givens Kelso, Sr.
Alfred Givens Kelso, Sr. came to Texas in 1829. He joined the Texas Army as First Corporal under the command of Captain William K....
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david921866
- Nov 22, 2023
- 2 min
Never in the Dark
I was fortunate to have grown up in the forties under one of Austin’s famous moonlight towers. Austin originally purchased thirty-one...
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david921866
- Oct 31, 2023
- 1 min
Alsey Silvanus Miller-1820-1885
Sixteen-year-old Alsey Silvanus Miller traveled alone to Texas in the fall of 1836. After a short stay in Washington County, he made Oak...
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david921866
- Oct 17, 2023
- 1 min
President Lamar Arrives in Austin
On October 17, 1839, President Mirabeau B. Lamar arrived in Austin with his cabinet and the records from Houston of the Republic of...
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david921866
- Oct 6, 2023
- 1 min
Thomas W. Ward – 1807-1872
Captain Thomas Ward was a hero of the Texas Revolution before it began. The Irish-born member of the New Orlean’s Greys lost a leg at the...
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David A Bowles
- Oct 5, 2023
- 1 min
Austin’s First Settler – Jacob M. Harrell – 1804-1853
Jacob M. Harrell, an early settler, was born in Tennessee in 1804. He married Mary McCutcheon, and they had four kids. Harrell came to...
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David A Bowles
- Sep 27, 2023
- 1 min
Michael Ziller
First Footer of the Republic of Texas, Michael Ziller was a German immigrant and ex-soldier under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte. He...
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David A Bowles
- Sep 25, 2023
- 1 min
Austin’s First Capitol Building – 1839-1856
In the spring of 1839, lumber for the first permanent Capitol of Texas had been cut and hauled from Bastrop to the building site at West...
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David A Bowles
- Sep 14, 2023
- 1 min
Joseph Lee – 1810-1891
Attorney Joseph Lee arrived in 1840 in Austin as the three centers of government; city, county and Republic of Texas were being...
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David A Bowles
- Sep 10, 2023
- 1 min
The Grandmother I Never Knew
The Spanish Flu killed my grandmother Gladys Whitt-Puryear (pictured above). She was born 1895 in Travis County, Texas. She married my...
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David A Bowles
- Aug 22, 2023
- 2 min
Granddad’s Sheep
During the great depression, my grandfather John Bowles had accumulated more sheep than his Pedernales ranch could handle. The ewe’s...
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David A Bowles
- Aug 14, 2023
- 1 min
William Barton
Nearly a million people visit Austin’s Barton Springs swimming pool each year. Most aren’t aware that the cool springs of Zilker Park...
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David A Bowles
- Aug 12, 2023
- 1 min
Battle of Plum Creek
On August 12, 1840, the largest Indian battle ever fought on Texas soil took place on Plum Creek in Caldwell County. The battle between...
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