Texoso

Michel Branamour Menard

Michel Branamour Menard was the founder of Galveston, Texas and wa a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. He was born on December 5, 1805 in La Prairie, Canada to Michel B. Menard and Marguerite de Noyer Menard. His parents were of French heritage.

Short Line Railroads – I

Railroads in Texas began to be organized in the mid to late 1800s. For many years they were without federal regulation. In addition, the federal government promoted and helped to finance the first transcontinental railway system that was completed in 1869. The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a federal agency created in 1887 to oversee the national rail system and to act against alleged abuses and monopolistic practices. The ICC was allowed to have more broad powers generally extending to national infrastructure and regulation of commerce involving national transportation systems. The ICC was dissolved in the 1990s and railroad regulation was passed on to the Surface Transportation Board, an independent federal agency, in 1992.

Angelina

The El Paso Herald in its issue of March 11, 1907 reported on the tenth annual meeting of the State Historical Association, held in Austin. During the meeting, the article noted, a paper entitled “The Hasinai Indians of East Texas at the Coming of the Spaniards” was presented by Dr. Herbert Eugene Bolton. Dr. Bolton (1870 – 1953) was originally from Wisconsin and had earned his Ph.D. in American history from University of Pennsylvania. He served as an professor of history at University of Texas in Austin from 1901 to 1909. Though he taught medieval and European history there, he became known for his research into the native tribes north of Mexico and was the author of many articles on the subject. Dr. Bolton later moved to the west coast where he spent the rest of his career as a college professor.

Iron Mountain Ranch

In 1881, a retired sea captain by the name of Albion Shepard came to the Big Bend area while working as a surveyor for the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway. In newspaper and other articles, his last name might be spelled Shepard, Shepherd, Shepperd or some other variation. In this article we will use the spelling Shepard.

Ron Ely, Actor

Ronald Pierce Ely was born in Hereford, Texas on June 21, 1938 to Vernon Howard Ely and Sybil Ely. His father Vernon died at the age of 38 the following year, after which his mother raised Ron and his sister. A 1966 newspaper article in the Clay County Reader out of Henrietta, Texas noted that Ron was born and raised in Texas and that he had worked in the summers shoveling grain and working in the oilfield near Amarillo.