Texas History Notebook

H. J. Justin

Herman Joseph Justin was born April 7, 1859 in Lafayette, Indiana to Nicholas Wilhelm Justen and Katherine Hubertz Justen. Both of his parents were born in Germany. H. J. was the oldest of their six children. Some biographies, including the Justin Boots website, list Nicholas’ profession as cigar maker, but in the 1870 and 1880 census he is listed as a tailor.

Ann Sheridan, Actress

Clara Lou “Ann” Sheridan was born in Dallas County, Texas on February 21, 1915 to George Washington Sheridan and Lula Stewart Warren Sheridan. A biography says that her family moved to Denton when she was 3 years old. Her father’s profession was listed as a machinist in a garage in the 1920 federal census and the family consisted of George W., Lula, their five children and George’s parents. George is said to have been a grand nephew of Union General Philip Henry Sheridan. Such a connection is not easy to verify using online genealogy records, although they may indeed be related in this way. Clara Lou was the youngest of the couple’s five children who lived to be adults.

G. H. Schoellkopf

Gottlieb Heinrich/Henry Schoellkopf was born in Germany on September 23, 1849. He came to the United States when he was a youth of 14. A newspaper article in the Amarillo Daily News of June 18. 1940 recounted his early days. Not long after the Civil War, G. H. Schoellkopf had come to Texas in the late 1860s, looking to acquire bison hides for a company of tanners and robe makers (possibly a company run by an uncle or some other relative) out of New York. He set up his first location at a former trading post in Indianola on the Gulf Coast. From there he began to travel around the state and into Mexico looking for hides. The article says Schoellkopf was impressed by the potential of the area and felt like there was an opportunity for him to operate his own business. He was motivated to stay in Texas after a storm hit the area and the waters, either a tidal wave or storm surge, destroyed his business. It would only be a few years later when the first of two monster storms would essentially wipe out Indianola, but this storm was large enough. Schoellkopf took the opportunity to relocate to Dallas, then a small trading village, in 1869.

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”

Major Nicholas Nolan

Nicholas Merritt Nolan was born around 1835 in County Kilkenny, Ireland to James Nowlan and Bridget Maher Nowlan. Nolan emigrated to the United States as a youth. In 1852, he enlisted in New York in the United States Army as a private. He was promoted through the ranks and was a first sergeant at the outbreak of the Civil War. During the war, he was commissioned as an officer and served with the 6th United States Cavalry Regiment.