Texas History Notebook

Tex Avery

Frederick Bean Avery was born in 1908 to George Walton Avery and Mary Augusta Bean Avery when the family was living in Taylor, Williamson County, Texas. His parents were both from the South with his father having been born in Alabama and his mother in Mississippi. His father George operated a lumber yard. Shortly afterward, his family moved to Dallas and by 1920, they were living on East Brooklyn Avenue, near the present location of the Dallas Zoo (Oak Cliff). The census said that his father was in the oil lease business. At some point they moved further north, as Frederick graduated from North Dallas High School in 1926. By 1935, he was on his own with his mother passing away in 1931 and his father passing away in 1935.

Benjamin Franklin Terry

Benjamin Franklin Terry was born in 1821 in Russellville, Kentucky to Joseph Royall (or Royal) Terry and Sarah David Smith Terry. Terry came from a military family with both his grandfathers, Nathaniel Terry and David Smith, having served in the Revolutionary War. His maternal grandfather David Smith and an uncle also served under future president Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812. The uncle, also named David Smith, served under Sam Houston in the Texas Revolution as did other family members.

Llano’s Lost Silver Mine Stories

The legends of the Lost Silver Mines of the Hill Country date back to the mid 1700s, alternately referred to as the San Saba Silver Mine, the Llano Silver Mine, the Los Almagres Mine and the Spanish Silver Mine. The stories appear to possibly involve several locations of buried treasure in the same general area. The following is intended to be a high level look at the mystery.

Allie Victoria Tennant

Allie Victoria Tennant was born around 1890 according to the 1900 Federal census. Her father was Thomas Richard Tennant and her mother was the former Allie Victoria (or Virginia) Brown. The family was living in St. Louis, Missouri in 1900 and her father was the general manager of a coal company. Allie was the only daughter among five siblings. By the time the 1910 Federal census was taken, the family was living in Dallas and her age was listed as 11. This probably gave rise to a different year of birth being used for her, 1898, though her death certificate used June 28, 1898 as her date of birth. Her father’s profession by then was listed as being an accountant for a manufacturing company. By 1920 her father had passed away the year before, and she was living with her mother and three of her brothers in Dallas.

James Brown, Actor

James E. Brown was born in Desdemona, Texas to Floyd Estle Brown and Cordie Mae Bowen Brown on March 22, 1920. In 1920, the Brown family was living in Desdemona during Eastland County’s early oil boom. They had previously lived in Waco but had followed the oil business to Eastland County for a short time before returning to Waco when James was just three months old. James was the second of four siblings and though he was the only sibling not to be born there, he considered Waco to be his home town. He graduated from Waco High School in 1936 where he helped the school tennis team win a championship that year. Brown attended Schreiner Institute in Kerrville for one year before enrolling at Baylor University on a tennis scholarship. Along the way, he played football briefly until injuries (broken eardrum and cracked kneecap) led him to concentrate on tennis. Brown’s family remained in Waco and for a number of years lived in Brook Oaks and North Waco, in the general vicinity of Cameron Park. At the time of his father F. E. Brown’s death, the elder Brown was said to have lived in Waco for fifty years. He and Cordie Mae had divorced at one point, but they are both buried at Oakwood Cemetery.