Saturday, December 29, 1950, there was a funeral in Hico, Texas for O. L. Roberts (some accounts call him William Henry Roberts) who claimed to be Billy the Kid. He had come to Hico in the late 1930s from his previous home in Gladewater, claiming to be Billy the Kid, who was born Henry McCarty and also known as William Bonney. We’ll refer to the outlaw as Bonney.
Continue reading Unsolved Mystery: Billy the KidCategory: biography
C. M. “Dad” Joiner
Columbus Marion “Dad” Joiner was a familiar name to folks in the early days of the oilfields in Oklahoma and Texas. The East Texas town of Joinerville is named for him. Joiner is credited for having discovered the East Texas oil field in 1930 when his third wildcat well came in west of Henderson, Texas.
Angelina Eberly
Angelina Peyton Eberly is credited with having saved Austin as the capital of Texas by preventing the state archives from being removed to another location. While her name may not be as familiar as others, her story is one worth knowing.
Death of Oliver Loving
Charles Goodnight wrote of the death of his friend Oliver Loving in the book The Trail Drivers of Texas by J. Marvin Hunter. The book is widely available for purchase, and also can be downloaded. In it, Hunter has assembled sketches and observations of the cattle drivers of the 1800s.
Continue reading Death of Oliver LovingWilliam Cowper Brann
(Image credit: Texas Co-op Power Magazine)
William Cowper Brann was born in Coles County, Illinois in 1855 and was raised by a local farmer after his mother died when he was 2 1/2. His first job was to serve as a bell boy at a local hotel. Following that, he worked as a painter, a drummer, a grainer, a printer, a reporter and an editorial writer. It was written that he talked his way into a position as chief editorial writer for the Houston Post. Brann earned a reputation for being a hard worker at whatever he attempted to do.
Texas History Notebook 