Gottlieb Heinrich/Henry Schoellkopf was born in Germany on September 23, 1849. He came to the United States when he was a youth of 14. A newspaper article in the Amarillo Daily News of June 18. 1940 recounted his early days. Not long after the Civil War, G. H. Schoellkopf had come to Texas in the late 1860s, looking to acquire bison hides for a company of tanners and robe makers (possibly a company run by an uncle or some other relative) out of New York. He set up his first location at a former trading post in Indianola on the Gulf Coast. From there he began to travel around the state and into Mexico looking for hides. The article says Schoellkopf was impressed by the potential of the area and felt like there was an opportunity for him to operate his own business. He was motivated to stay in Texas after a storm hit the area and the waters, either a tidal wave or storm surge, destroyed his business. It would only be a few years later when the first of two monster storms would essentially wipe out Indianola, but this storm was large enough. Schoellkopf took the opportunity to relocate to Dallas, then a small trading village, in 1869.
Continue reading G. H. SchoellkopfAuthor: Texoso
Marlboro Men
We do not advocate smoking. The health risks of smoking have been widely communicated to the American public for decades. Despite significant declines over the last 60 years, tobacco use continues and smoking is still considered the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.
For many years, there were no governmental restrictions on advertising nicotine products. Print, audio and video advertisements used images and slogans such as these to promote their products.
- “Come to where the flavor is, come to Marlboro Country”
- “Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should”
- “I’d walk a mile for a Camel”
- “Come up to Kool”
- “Lucky Strike means fine tobacco”
- “Call for Phillip Morris”
Major Nicholas Nolan
Nicholas Merritt Nolan was born around 1835 in County Kilkenny, Ireland to James Nowlan and Bridget Maher Nowlan. Nolan emigrated to the United States as a youth. In 1852, he enlisted in New York in the United States Army as a private. He was promoted through the ranks and was a first sergeant at the outbreak of the Civil War. During the war, he was commissioned as an officer and served with the 6th United States Cavalry Regiment.
Continue reading Major Nicholas NolanReynolds Cattle Co.
The parents of the Reynolds family were Barber Watkins Reynolds (1819 – 1882) and Anne Marie Campbell (1816 – 1909). A daughter, Sallie Reynolds Matthews, has written that her father’s heritage was English and Welsh, and that he was born in Oglethorpe County, Georgia. His family had resided in the United States for several generations and at least one of his ancestors had fought for Virginia in the Revolutionary War. The name Barber was his mother’s maiden name.
Continue reading Reynolds Cattle Co.Colonel Ranald Slidell Mackenzie
Ranald Slidell Mackenzie was born on July 27, 1840 in Westchester, New York to Alexander Slidell Mackenzie (1803 – 1848) and Catherine Alexander Robinson Mackenzie (1814 – 1883). He was the oldest of their five children. His father was the son of John Slidell and Mary Mackenzie but his father had adopted the name of Mackenzie (his mother’s maiden name) in 1837. The explanation for the name change was that it was a condition set out in order for him to claim an inheritance from an uncle, his mother’s late brother. Alexander Mackenzie had served for many years in the United States Navy after entering as a midshipman in 1815. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1825 and commander in 1841.
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