Texas History Notebook

Franco-Texan Land Company

The Franco-Texan Land Company was formed in 1876 in connection with the State of Texas’ desire to provide incentives for rail lines to develop railroads in Texas. The Memphis, El Paso and Pacific Railroad (MEP&PRR) had received a grant from the State of Texas in 1856 for it to create a railroad across the entire state from east to west, from a point on the Red River to El Paso. In all, the State made grants to five railroad companies around this time. MEP&PRR had been chartered about three years earlier. The original arrangement was for the railroad company to receive 640 acres of land for each mile of road and eight sections of land per mile for grading the roadbed, subject to certain conditions. The company had begun to complete its initial work by surveying land from the east to the Brazos River and had graded fifty-five to sixty-five miles of roadbed when the Civil War broke out in 1861, bringing the process to a stop. No track had been laid. Numerous deed records across North Texas refer to the MEP&PRR Survey.

The Munger Family, When Cotton Was King

The Munger family got its start in the cotton industry in the Mexia area. Henry Munger was the patriarch. He was born in Colchester, Connecticut in 1825. When he was still a child his parents, Sylvester Munger (1787 – 1838) and Asenath “Sene” Ingham Munger (1777 – 1840), moved to South Carolina. By 1840, both of his parents had died in South Carolina and Henry came to San Felipe, Texas with his older siblings. He clerked at a mercantile store and briefly tried his hand at gold mining in California. Henry appears to be listed in an 1850 census there, but soon he was back in Texas.

Joseph Kemp, Early Wichita County Resident

Joseph Alexander Kemp was born July 31, 1861 to William T. Kemp (1840 – 1885) and Emma Frances Stinnett Kemp (1839 – 1932) in Clifton, Bosque County, Texas. Originally from Tennessee, by the time of the 1860 census, William was living in Clifton and working as a clerk. He and Emma Frances were married in the fall of 1860 and Joseph was their first born child. Emma came from a large family of at least thirteen children and her father was a merchant in Clifton. W. T. Kemp had served with Company K, 15th Texas Infantry, formerly known as Speight’s Battalion, during the Civil War. After the war, Kemp returned to Clifton to the store he had opened with Allen Stewart Anderson before the war began. Anderson (1830 – 1864) had married Mary Robison (1839 – 1869) and they had one son, Archibald D. Anderson and one daughter, Flora Ann Anderson.

Jack F. Grimm

Abilene’s Jack Grimm was a successful independent oilman. He was born in Wagoner, Oklahoma to Suell Grimm (1883 – 1939) and Ida Mae Vermillion Grimm (1898 – 1979). He had one brother and several half siblings from Suell’s first marriage which had ended with the death of his first wife, Daisy in 1914. His father was referred to in census forms as being an interior decorator or a house painter. After his father died, his mother married Irwin Turnham (1886 – 1966).

Price Daniel, Jr.

Marion Price Daniel III was born June 8, 1941 in Austin, Texas to Governor Marion Price Daniel (1910 – 1988) and Jean Houston Baldwin Daniel (1916 – 2002). Marion Price Daniel III is commonly referred to as Price Daniel, Jr. after his father, Marian Price Daniel II, who is referred to as Price Daniel, Sr.. His father, Price Daniel, Sr. was born in Liberty County, Texas. He earned a law degree from Baylor University and practiced law in Liberty County. Daniel served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1939 to 1943 and in the United States Army and with the United States Marines during World War II. After the war, he served as Texas Attorney General from 1946 to 1953, the United States Senate from 1953 to 1957 and Governor of Texas from then until 1963. Daniel served in various appointed offices under President Lyndon Johnson and as member of the Texas Supreme Court from 1971 to 1980.