Texoso

Green DeWitt and the DeWitt Colony

Green C. DeWitt was born to Walter John DeWitt and Sarah Ann Holliday DeWitt on February 12, 1787 in Lincoln County, Kentucky. Walter John DeWitt is referred to as a Revolutionary War veteran. Not a great deal is known about the Walter John DeWitt family but they are presumed to have made their living as farmers. Green’s paternal grandfather DeWitt was born in New York, was of Dutch heritage, and his wife, Catherine Pierette Depuy de Brissac, appears to have been of French heritage.

Frances Rosenthal Kallison

Frances Rosenthal was born November 29, 1908 in Fort Worth, Texas to Mosco “Mose” Aaron Rosenthal (1877 – 1936) and Mary Neumegen Rosenthal (1878 – 1971) who were married in 1903. Frances’ father was a native Texan. He was the owner and operator of Rosenthal Furniture Company in Fort Worth for most of his adult life until he retired due to the illness which took him at the age of fifty-six. Frances was the couple’s only child.

Texas Woman’s University

The concept for Texas Woman’s University dates back more than one hundred twenty years. An article from March 24, 1897 in the Bryan Eagle, Bryan, Texas referenced a Dr. Ellen Lawson Dabbs (there shown as “Dobbs”) who advocated for the creation of a Girl’s Industrial College to be located in Bryan with the only stated opposition coming from a Mrs. Stoddard of Waco who favored that the location of the proposed school would be in Waco. Proponents of the Bryan site favored the location there in association with “A. and M. College” (now Texas A&M University) which was already in operation there, and served only male students. The female school was to be an annex to the existing college. Dr. Dabbs was quoted as saying, “The bill we wish is the only one having the ghost of a chance. This legislature is pledged to retrenchment and cannot afford to appropriate hundreds of thousands of dollars, even if Mrs. Stoddard does permit it to go to Waco. That same bait was offered to me that it might come to Ft. Worth if the Woman’s Council would work for it, but I am not out on this as a local matter. I do not regard public funds as a private snap or even a town snap. I am working for Texas girls and the best interests of all concerned, and through you I beg all our people, men and women, to write their representatives at Austin and urge their support of this measure to open the Agricultural and Mechanical College to girls.”

Tom Ryan, Western Artist

Thomas Richard “Tom” Ryan was a well known cowboy artist. He was born on January 12, 1922 in Springfield, Illinois to William Martin Ryan and Sarah Ellen Bernds Ryan and was one of eight children. In the 1930 federal census, his father and one of several older brothers worked in Springfield’s coal mine industry. His father’s family had originally come from Ireland and the census listed his grandfather’s place of birth as the “Irish free state.” His mother’s family had been in the United States a bit longer. Their records indicate that Sarah’s father, John Robert Bernds, was born in Germany in 1858 while her mother’s family had been in the United States since at least around the time of the Revolutionary War. The Ryans were a closely knit, working class family. They had possibly not always lived in the eastern United States. There are some indications that they may have briefly lived in Colorado before Tom was born, although the 1900 and 1910 federal census both show William or William and family residing in Illinois. William and Sarah were married in 1902 and of all their children were born in Illinois.

Bob Causey

Robert Lincoln “Bob” Causey was born in Illinois on February 12, 1868 to George Washington Causey and Mary Adeline Crowder Causey. February 12, 1809 was the birth date of the late United States President, Abraham Lincoln. This was likely the source of Robert’s middle name. Concerning his place of birth, articles usually say that he was born in Missouri, but both the 1870 and 1880 census pages list his place of birth as Illinois. He was one of ten children born to the couple, many of whom were also born in Illinois. George W. (the father) had been born in Tennessee and in the 1870 census, his occupation was listed as farmer. He was still shown as being a farmer in the 1900 census before his death in 1907 at around 80 years of age. He died in Guthrie, Logan County, Oklahoma Territory. Mary Adeline had predeceased him, also in Oklahoma, in 1895.