Decatur, Texas (33°14′N 97°35′W) is the county seat of Wise County in North Texas. Its namesake is Stephen Decatur, Jr., a famous naval officer. Decatur was the son of naval officer Stephen Decatur, Sr. who served in the navy during the American Revolution. Stephen Decatur, Jr. was reared in Philadelphia and upon graduation from Episcopal Academy there, at 17 years old, he worked in the maritime industry before securing a midshipman’s warrant in 1798 and began serving on the USS United States. This was in the interim period between the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, but there was still quite a lot of naval activity that occurred. Decatur was then assigned to a frigate USS Essex as a first lieutenant protecting maritime shipping. In succession, he was transferred to the USS New York and USS Argus. This was followed by a transfer to the USS Enterprise, a schooner. He served in action against French ships and others. In one event, he was commanding a captured enemy ship in the harbor at Tripoli on a mission to destroy the captured USS Philadelphia. Decatur was able to board the ship with 60 men, set it afire, escape to his vessel and reach open sea. For this, he was commended by Vice Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson.
Tag: history
José Antonio Navarro
José Antonio Navarro was the son of Angel Navarro of Corsica, the Mediterranean island south of Spain, and Josefa Maria Ruiz y Peña. He was born in 1795 in San Antonio de Béxar. He, like many other Tejano residents of the area, opposed the rule of Santa Anna. He married Margarita de la Garza in 1825 and together they would have seven children.
Continue reading José Antonio NavarroDaingerfield, Texas
Daingerfield, Texas (33°1′51″N 94°43′28″W) is the county seat of what is now Morris County. It was carved out of other counties, and is named for Captain London Daingerfield who resided there, one of the first settlers in the area.
Alfonso Harris
Alfonso Laurell Harris was born March 26, 1926 at old Parkland Hospital a few miles from his home. He was a good student and entered Booker T. Washington High School at age 11, allowing him to graduate when he was just 15. He he later moved to the Northwest and began working as an aircraft engine inspector in Ogden, Utah. On July 14, 1944 he enlisted in the US Army, shortly after his 18th birthday at nearby Fort Douglas, Utah. As it did for hundreds of thousands of others, the terms of his enlistment read “Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law.”
Matador Ranch
The Matador Ranch is unique in that for the first 70 years of its existence it was owned either by a number of people or a syndicate, rather than having been owned by one family or a partnership. The Matador Cattle Company was founded 1879 by five individuals: Col. Alfred Markham Britton, Henry Harrison Campbell, Spottswood W. Lomax, John W. Nichols, and a brother in law of Britton known only by the name of Cata. The ranch’s name was coined by Lomax, who is said to have had a keen interest in Spanish literature.
Texas History Notebook 