Uncategorized – Texas History Notebook

Brad Johnson, Actor

Brad William Johnson (1959 – 2022) was an American actor. His parents were Grove Johnson and Virginia Scala Johnson. Brad was born to the couple on October 24, 1959 while the family was living in Tucson, Arizona. It has been suggested that he graduated from high school in Dallas but most likely, he graduated in Grants Pass, Oregon. Online genealogy sources note that he was in the school yearbooks when he was in the 11th and 12th grade. Also, he appears to have attended but did not graduate from college.

Bill Moyers

Billy Don “Bill” Moyers was a journalist who served in the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson administrations. He was well known in media for his political observations. Moyers was born June 5, 1934 in Hugo, Choctaw County, in southeastern Oklahoma to John Henry Moyers and Ruby Jewell Johnson Moyers. The couple had two sons, Jim and Bill. By the time the 1940 census was recorded, the family had moved to Marshall, Texas. Both Jim and Bill graduated from high school in Marshall. Jim earned a B. A. degree from University of North Texas (then known as North Texas State College). Bill attended North Texas for two years before transferring to University of Texas at Austin.

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”

Hotel Dieu, El Paso

Often mentioned in old newspaper accounts and obituaries is an early regional medical center in El Paso, Texas known as the Hotel Dieu. An injured or critically ill person would sometimes be noted as having been transported to the Hotel Dieu in El Paso for an operation or some other kind of treatment. It might seem to be an unusual name for a medical center, but this El Paso hospital was in business for about one hundred years.

July 4, 1865 and July 4, 1876

We can often learn a great deal from online newspapers. One early Texas publication was the Galveston Daily News. It had begun in 1842 and could for many years be relied on to cover state wide news despite its Gulf Coast publishing location. In its issue of July 4, 1865, it discussed several items of interest to Texas residents. Placing it in context, the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, Virginia had occurred April 8, 1865, not quite three months earlier. Major-General Gordon Granger of the United States Army had issued General Order #3, commonly referred to as the “Juneteenth” order, two weeks earlier.