biography – Page 74 – Texas History Notebook

Crone W. Furr

Crone Webster Furr was the founder of the Furr Food Store chain, a familiar group of stores in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. Furr was born May 8, 1878 in North Carolina into a family that included five brothers and four sisters. In 1894, when he was still a teenager, his family moved to Collin County, Texas. Two years later, he married Annie Furr, whose family was unrelated but bore the same last name, and shortly thereafter he began farming a rented farm a few miles out of McKinney, Texas. Furr was industrious and opened a small grocery store at a crossroads near his farm.

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Bonham, Texas

Bonham, Texas (33°35′2″N 96°10′54″W) is the county seat of Fannin County and is named for James Butler Bonham (1807-1836), one of the defenders who died at the Alamo. He was born to James and Sophia Butler Bonham on February 10, 1807 in Red Banks, South Carolina. Bonham was raised in South Carolina and attended but did not graduate from South Carolina College. He then studied law and began a law practice in South Carolina in 1830 where he would remain until about 1834 when he moved west to Montgomery, Alabama, where the family also had relatives.

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Manuel T. “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas, Texas Ranger

Manuel Trazazas Gonzaullas was born on the Fourth of July, 1891 in Spain. His parents were naturalized US Citizens but were in Spain at the time of his birth. Manuel was brought up in the border town of El Paso. He was reportedly inspired to become a Texas Ranger after seeing Ranger John R. Hughes on horseback when Gonzaullas was only a youth. His desire to pursue a career in law enforcement was further led by the murder of his two brothers and the serious wounding of his parents in an incident. He did not join the Rangers at his first opportunity, but rather served in the Mexican Army and an agent for the US Treasury Department for five years. He married in 1920 and enlisted in the Rangers later the same year.

Butterfield Stage Line

Approximate route of the Butterfield Overland Stage though Texas

Special credit to Steven Craig.

The Butterfield Overland Mail Trail ran from about 1858 to 1861 on a route that began in either Memphis or St. Louis and terminated in San Francisco carrying passengers and U. S. Mail. It began with the Overland Mail Expedition, which was a test of the route in January of 1858 and took about 25 days. Ultimately, the same general route was authorized by then Postmaster General Aaron Brown to deliver the U. S. Mail. Prior to this, mail was shipped from the Gulf of Mexico to Panama, freighted across Panama and shipped on to San Francisco and other west coast destinations or shipped around South America.

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Presidents, Republic of Texas, Part 3 (1842-1845)

The first three Presidents of the Republic of Texas reflected the various swings of political sentiment among Texas voters. Sam Houston was followed by Mirabeau B. Lamar. Following the Lamar term, Sam Houston was again elected President of the Republic and took office on December 13, 1841.