biography – Texas History Notebook

Peter Aloysius Molyneaux

Peter Molyneaux was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on April 18, 1882 to James Molyneaux and Rosana Lawler Molyneaux and was the oldest child of the couple. There is not a lot of biographical information available regarding his parents but his father James was listed as a day laborer in the 1900 census. Peter was one of two sons and five daughters in the family.

Peter is not known to have had a great deal of formal education early on, but began to work in the newspaper business while he was still in his upper teens. By 1898, he was working for the New Orleans Daily News and soon became a reporter for that publication. Molyneaux later worked for other local publications including the New Orleans Item and Daily States.

In the 1900 federal census, Peter was living with his parents and five siblings. In April, 1906 he was married to Etna Esther Ellzey, formerly of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Their only daughter, Lillian Steen Molyneaux was born in Louisiana in 1907.

The September 25, 1908 issue of the Meadville, Pennsylvania Evening Republican, under a headline “From Press To Pulpit” noted that Molyneaux had come to study at Meadville Theological School, a Uniterian institution. He was 26 years old and had been in newspaper work for six years, the article added. There is no documentation regarding him being ordained as a minister, but he appears to have preached in Texas churches on several occasions. He worked for a short time in Pennsylvania for the Philadelphia Record before relocating permanently to Texas.

For some time, he worked for the Houston Post, but his first recorded mention in the Post was a letter to the editor, published on December 11, 1911. His letter was in support of the work and efforts of “club women” in Texas life, a subject that would later factor into his career. Peter and their daughter Lillian possibly suffered from respiratory ailments. Some mention is made of the family living in Tom Green County around that time, possibly to benefit from the dry climate. Their daughter Lillian died at the age of four years and nine months on March 29, 1912 in San Angelo from complications of a pulmonary ailment.

Molyneaux is mentioned as a correspondent of the San Antonio Express in 1913. In one newspaper article, he is reported to be on assignment in Mexico City. This would have been during the period of the Mexican Revolution. Molyneaux filed at least two long analyses from Mexico City. He had returned to the Houston Post by 1914 and was filing articles in his capacity as staff correspondent. Many articles from that period seem to be related to political matters out of the state capitol.

Also during this period Molyneaux began a periodical called “Texas Club Woman” which was described as a weekly publication “devoted to a furtherance of the purposes and ideals of the federated mothers’ and other women’s clubs of the state.” It had sections including music, art, drama and literature. Molyneaux was listed as president and editor, Charles G. Norton as vice president, Leo R. Sack as secretary and treasurer. It was said to support issues of particular importance to women including compulsory education and women’s suffrage (their right to vote). One newspaper article noted the significance of the organizers being male. Its first issue came out in 1914 and it ceased publication some months later. Molyneaux continued to work as a newspaper correspondent during its existence.

One newspaper column was written in early 1915 profiling the first few months of the term of the recently elected governor James E. “Pa” Ferguson. Molyneaux’s column pointed out Ferguson’s performance on issues of interest, including penitentiary reform, his opposition to prohibition, support for Texas farmers and the like. He continued to report on Ferguson though calls for the governor’s impeachment and resignation in late August, 1917. By then, Molyneaux was staff correspondent for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

At some point, Molyneaux left the Star-Telegram and settled in Dallas, writing columns for the Dallas News. Archived articles by him appear in online news archives until at least 1951.

In 1924, he began to publish another periodical first called Texas Weekly and then later known as Southern Weekly. This was his longest running periodical project. His reputation was widely known and articles he wrote appeared in newspapers and other publications nationwide. Southern Weekly was continuously in service until May, 1952 citing the costs of publication. Though it was probably unknown at the time, Molyneaux was also ill. A North Texas newspaper editorial said of the periodical, “Texans who believed that all wisdom was not necessarily concentrated in Washington will miss The Southern Weekly.” Counting its predecessors not operated by Molyneaux, the life of the publication amounted to 52 years.

In addition to these projects and his log newspaper career, he wrote two books, The Romantic Story of Texas (1936) and The South’s Political Plight (1947). The latter volume dealt with political issues peculiar to the southern United States in the 20th century.

In an interview, Molyneaux had this to say about the project just as The Romantic Story of Texas was about to be released. “Many years ago I resolved to put the romantic story of Texas into a book which would appeal to the general reader – a book that would make pleasant and entertaining reading and yet one that would be complete and accurate in every respect. The place to begin this, it seems to me, is in Texas and among Texans. And there could be no better time to begin than the Centennial year of Texas independence.” Released in time for the Centennial, it included the years of Spanish colonialism, Mexico and the Texas Revolution, annexation as a state, the discovery of oil and other key events.

Also completed and released in connection with the Texas Centennial, Molyneaux wrote an article as part of an 80 page soft cover booklet called A Century of Texas Cattle Brands. The article was entitled “Brief Outline of Texas History.” The booklet included a forward by Amon G. Carter and an article by the editor, Frank Reeves, followed by a listing of cattle brands and the owners’ names by county. It sold for 50 cents at the time. It also included illustrations by Texas artist Harold Dow Bugbee.

From his home in Highland Park, Molyneaux continued to do a lot of public speaking. He died of metastatic cancer at the age of 70 in Dallas’ Medical City Hospital on January 9, 1953, and was buried in the Molyneaux family plot at Saint Patrick Cemetery No. 1 in New Orleans on upper Canal Street. His widow, Etna Esther Molyneaux survived him about 9 years and is buried in Greenwood Memorial Park in Fort Worth along with a number of her Ellzey family members.

Texas Becomes a State

In an 1892 newspaper interview, historian John Henry Brown recounted certain key dates and steps which occurred in the months leading up to Texas annexation by the United States as the 28th state in the union.

Frances Cooke Lipscomb Van Zandt and Isaac Van Zandt

Although her husband Isaac Van Zandt is probably better known, Frances Cooke Lipscomb Van Zandt’s pioneer story is interesting. She was born March 4, 1816 to William Lipscomb and Ann Day Cooke Lipscomb. Isaac was born July 10, 1813 in Franklin, Tennessee to Mary Margaret Isaacs Van Zandt and Jacob Van Zandt. Isaac’s ancestry was Dutch, but both his grandfathers had participated in the Revolutionary War.

Acknowledging Frances’ 90th birthday, she and her daughter Ida gave a newspaper interview in which they provided more details about Frances’ life in the early days on the frontier of Texas. Frances was married to Isaac Van Zandt in Franklin County, Tennessee on December 18, 1833 when she was 17 and he was 20 years old and working as a merchant in the family store. Around two years later, the couple decided to make their home in Coffeeville, Mississippi along with their daughter Louisa and son Khleber. Life was good, but only for a short time until 1837 when there was a widespread economic depression, leading Isaac to close his business. Isaac studied law and was admitted to the Mississippi bar. Then in 1838, the family decided to move to the Republic of Texas and set out to make the journey by wagon. They got as far as the Louisiana-Texas border before running low on funds. Isaac and the family stopped at an abandoned garrison known as Camp Sabine, formerly a post of the United States Army, located east of the Sabine River. There they remained for the rest of that year before moving on to northeast Texas.

Lonnie “Bo” Pilgrim

Lonnie Alford “Bo” Pilgrim was born May 8, 1928 six miles south of Pittsburg, Camp County, Texas to Alonzo Monroe Pilgrim and Nettie Gertrude Gunn Pilgrim. Lonnie was the fourth of seven children born to the couple. The nickname of “Bo” was given to him when he was a boy and he went by it for the rest of his life.

He grew up near Pittsburg where his father was a merchant, operating one of the only two stores in Pine, the small community where they lived. Alonzo died in 1939 and for a time, his mother ran the store. In 1946 Bo’s brother Aubrey along with a partner named Pat Johns bought a small feed mill from W. W. Weems in Pittsburg for $3,500 and invited Bo to join them. Aubrey was in his early twenties and Bo was about eighteen years old at the time. Bo began his long career by driving the feed store truck. His rate of pay was 50 cents an hour. Mr. Johns is likely a reference to a somewhat older Thomas Jeffie “Pat” Johns also of Pine, who is believed to have sold his interest in the business early on. As the company grew, its headquarters remained in Pittsburg for a long time. The grain elevator/feed store facility is still there and has operated from time to time as part of the Pilgrim enterprises.

Dr. Charles W. Graham

Charles Wesley Graham was born on July 13, 1932 in Thorndale, Milam County, Texas to John Wesley Graham and Iva Lee Clark Graham. He was the oldest of three children born to the couple. Dr. Graham was among the fourth generation in the Graham family to have been born in Texas. As a youth, he showed livestock though FFA and 4-H. He attended Wharton Jr. College and later earned his undergraduate degrees in animal husbandry and animal science from Texas A&M (Class of 1953). After serving in the United States Army and working at a summer job for a veterinarian in Elgin, he returned to Texas A&M where he earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree in May, 1961, graduating with honors.