Pegasus

pegasus

(Image credit: American Oil and Gas Historical Society)

This is a well known image most likely to every American who is at least 40 years old.  For decades, it was the trademark of Mobil gas stations and other Mobilgas products and facilities.  Prior to 1911, the Standard Oil Company was the largest oil company in the world.  It was founded by John D. Rockefeller in 1863 as the Standard Oil Trust and within a few years it had become a company that dominated the oil industry in the United States.  The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was enacted to help prevent monopolies from controlling too much of the U. S. economy.  The Standard Oil Company was declared a monopoly under the Act and was ordered by the U. S. Supreme Court to break itself up into seven different “state” companies in 1911, similar to the action that was required of AT&T several decades later.

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Peters Colony

Under the rule of Spain and later Mexico, there were a number of empressario grants made, including Austin’s Colony, Dewitt’s, DeLeon’s, Edwards’ and McMullen and McGloin.  These grants were primarily located in the southern portion of the area, inland from the gulf coast.  A similar empressario system was enacted by the Republic of Texas to encourage settlement in the northern part of the Republic.  One of these grants was to W. S. Peters and his associates and was signed by President Mirabeau B. Lamar in 1841.

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YO Ranch

This famous ranch was founded by Charles Armand Schreiner, who was born in 1838 in Alsace-Lorraine, an area that lay between Germany and France.  He came to the still young United States of America with his parents and family in 1852, settling in Bexar County.  In an unexpected turn of events, both of his parents died shortly thereafter.  His father Gustav passed as the result of a rattlesnake bite within a year from their arrival, followed by his mother Charlotte’s death four years later.  His family was dispersed at that point, with his only sister getting married, one brother leaving for California to find gold and two other brothers remaining in San Antonio where they had found employment.

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Olive Oatman

 

oliveoatman

This haunting image is of Olive Ann Oatman Fairchild.  Olive was born in 1837 to a Mormon family, one of seven children of Royse and Mary Ann Oatman.  Royse had started raising his family in Illinois, briefly moved to Pennsylvania around 1849, and by 1850 had decided to join a wagon train of around 90 fellow believers to go west.

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Bose Ikard

bozeikard

Bose Ikard was born a slave around 1843 – 1847 in Noxubee County, Mississippi.  Bose gave his age to be 37 in 1880, making his year of birth around 1843, but some accounts say 1847.  All of the available genealogical records list his father to be Dr. Milton Ikard with the mother’s name simply listed as “unknown.”   In the vernacular of the time, his “master” was Dr. Ikard who was the source of his last name.  His mother would eventually be revealed as having the last name King and to have also been born in Mississippi, but beyond that, no more is known of her.  The Ikards moved first to Union Parish, Louisiana before coming to Texas about 1852 when Bose was around 8.  Bose lived with the Ikards and moved with them first to Lamar County and then to Parker County.  There he lived the life of a farmer and ranch hand, joining Milton Ikard and others defending their homes and property from Indian attacks.  While living here, Bose acquired his skills as a cowboy, to ride, rope steers, fight Indians and to shoot.

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