Gone Fishing

Repost from When I Was 69 blog, dated 6.28.19

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 I've shared these 2 photos before, among the few that were rescued from a fire my Rogers family (grandparents) had in Fort Worth, TX in the 1920s. 

Annie Lou Rogers Wilson was my grandfather's little sister, both of them raised by an aunt and uncle most of their childhoods.  But their mother moved from Walker County TX where they had been born, and lived the rest of her life in Galveston TX.  And at times the children are listed on census records living with her, like the 1900 Galveston Census.  Annie Lou would have been 25 in 1904. She didn't marry until 1906.

 10-30-1904 Annie Lou's Skiff - I'm pretty sure there was also a sailboat attached to this dingy.

10-30-1904 on Hannah's Reef Galveston Bay.

These gentlemen seem to have a fair catch of fish on display themselves, don't they? I don't see anyone resembling a woman who could have been Annie Lou.

Galveston TX

Repost from When I Was 69 dated3/5/22 

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A repost about Galveston starts with a photo of an old hotel...

Beach Hotel catered to vacationers until a fire in 1898.

Galveston (mid 19th Century) served as a transfer point for oceangoing vessels and coastal steamers which ran a route through Galveston Bay and Buffalo Bayou to Houston.

Galveston 1871

^{The island has sometimes been called the "Ellis Island of the West" as it was the primary point of entry for European immigrants settling in the western United States. German immigration during this period was so great that the German language became a commonly used language on the city's streets. The immigrants were not simply the poor or the oppressed seeking refuge but many of the educated, middle class.}

^{The Galveston Weekly News described one 1849 ship's arrival as carrying members of the "wealthy class" including lawyers and merchants and many skilled workers.}

^{Between 1838 and 1842, 18 newspapers were started to serve the island's rapidly growing population (The Galveston County Daily News is the sole survivor). A causeway linking the island with the mainland was finished in 1860, which paved the way for railroad expansion.}

In 1843 Henry Rosenberg (friend of my great Uncle Chauncy Sweet) settled in Galveston from Switzerland.  I shared about his contributions to the city HERE. He started the first free library in Glaveston.

The construction of the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad, which built a bridge to the island in 1860, strengthened the link between the two towns.

Tensions over slavery in the U.S. as a whole eventually led to the American Civil War, [April 12, 1861 to April 9, 1865], in which Texas joined on the side of the Confederacy. The Battle of Galveston was fought in Galveston Bay and island on January 1, 1863, when Confederate forces under Major General John B. Magruder attacked and expelled occupying Union troops from the city, which remained in Confederate hands for the duration of the war.

Juneteenth, which is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States, owes its origins to the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation upon the return of Union forces to Galveston in 1865.

My ancestor, George T. Granger (Lucy Pulsifer Granger's husband) wrote at the beginning of the Civil War in Dec. 1861 of the death of their daughter, my great great grandmother Mary Granger Phillips, HERE for letter and transcription.

During the Civil War, the orphans of Mary and William Phillips, Zulieka and Ada Phillips were taken in by the Granger family, either with Lucy Pulsifer Granger, their grandmother, or with Aunts Lucy Granger Wakelee or Lizzie (Elizabeth) Granger Sweet.  I am a descendent of Zulieka.  I wrote in my blog about their mother's letters to her sisters prior to the outbreak of the war HERE transcriptions of more of Mary Phillips letters.

Following the war Galveston quickly recovered; northern troops were stationed in the city, and a depleted state demanded the trade goods denied by the blockade and the war effort. With so many susceptible people present, however, the city in 1867 suffered one of its worst onslaughts of yellow fever, which affected about three-fourths of the population and killed at a rate of twenty per day. This disease, a malady of most southern ports, did not cease to be a threat until the institution of rigid quarantines after 1873. Galveston nonetheless surged ahead and ranked as the largest Texas city in 1870 with 13,818 people and also in 1880 with 22,248 people.

In spite of efforts to maintain trade supremacy by improving port facilities and contributing to the construction of railways running to the city, Galveston business leaders saw their town slip to fourth place in population by 1900. Galveston acquired a coast guard station in 1897 which still operated in the 1990s and a small military base, Fort Crockett (1897–1957), but other cities such as Dallas acquired transcontinental rail connections and a growth in manufacturing establishments. At a time when Houston, Beaumont, and Port Arthur benefitted from the oil discoveries of the early twentieth century, Galveston had to put its energy into a recovery from the nation's worst natural disaster, the Galveston hurricane of 1900. The island lay in the pathway of hurricanes coursing across the Gulf of Mexico and suffered at least eleven times in the nineteenth century.

I mentioned (Aunt Lizzie) Elizabeth Granger Sweet, "Grand Aunt" to my relatives, who survived the hurricane of 1900, HERE.

And my own grandfather, George Rogers, Sr. also was a survivor of that hurricane, who I honored in this post which includes details and pictures.

The Galveston hurricane of 1900, with wind gusts of 120 miles per hour, flooded the city, battered homes and buildings with floating debris, and killed an estimated 6,000 people in the city. Another 4,000 to 6,000 people died on the nearby coast. For future protection the city and county constructed a seventeen-foot seawall on the Gulf side of the island, raised the grade level, and built an all-weather bridge to the mainland. The development of other ports by means of the ship channels, alternative sites for business and manufacturing provided by other modes of transportation, and notoriety because of hurricanes destined the island city to medium size.

My grandmother, Ada Swasey Rogers, also survived the storm, and in 1906 married my grandfather.
I gave a lot of the same information about Galveston a couple of years ago on this blog HERE.

Rogers house, built by my grandfather and where my father was born in 1914.

Busy Dock Scene, Galveston, ca. 1912.

The Galveston–Houston Electric Railway was established in 1911 and ran between the city and Houston. The railway was recognized as the fastest interurban line in 1925 and 1926.

More recent times:

During the years between the world wars Galveston, under the influence of Sam and Rosario (Rose) Maceo, exploited the prohibition of liquor and gambling by offering illegal drinks and betting in nightclubs and saloons. This, combined with the extensive prostitution which had existed in the port city since the Civil War, made Galveston the sin city of the Gulf. The citizens tolerated and supported the illegal activities and took pride in being "the free state of Galveston." In 1957, however, Attorney General Will Wilson with the help of Texas Rangers shut down bars such as the famous Ballinese Room, destroyed gambling equipment, and closed many houses of prostitution. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

Howard Barnstone, The Galveston That Was (New York: Macmillan, 1966). Charles Waldo Hayes, Galveston: History of the Island and the City (2 vols., Austin: Jenkins Garrett, 1974). David G. McComb, Galveston: A History (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986).

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My grandparents had moved from Galveston to Fort Worth TX by 1920.

Postcard view of Beach Boulevard, early 1940s

Wikipedia continues with the changes since the Rogers family left:

Beginning in 1957, the Galveston Historical Foundation began its efforts to preserve historic buildings.^[58] The 1966 book The Galveston That Was helped encourage the preservation movement. A new, family-oriented tourism emerged in the city over many years. The 1960s saw the expansion of higher education in Galveston.

Historic "Strand District" of Galveston

In the 2000s, property values rose after expensive projects were completed and demand for second homes led some middle class families to move from Galveston to other areas.

In 2007 The Associated Press compiled a list of the most vulnerable places to hurricanes in the U.S. and Galveston was one of five areas named. Among the reasons cited were low elevation and the single evacuation route off the island which is blocked by the fourth largest city in the United States, Houston 

Hurricane Ike made landfall on Galveston Island in the early morning of September 13, 2008 as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 110 miles per hour (180 km/h)^. Ike produced waves and a rising storm surge of about 14 feet (4.3 m), which went around the famous Galveston Seawall, flooding the city via the storm sewers, and the unprotected "bay side" of the island, before the first winds or drop of rain. The storm left Galveston without electricity, gas, water pressure and basic communications.

Handbook of Texas History online 
and Wikipedia provided facts.

 The city will continue, though it may have changes again.  But the bones of my ancestors are buried in the cemeteries of Galveston. I don't have any living relations who live there now.



Sharing at Sepia Saturday this week.

Today's quote:

Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.

-Edsger W. Dijkstra, computer scientist (11 May 1930-2002)

  

 

Galveston roots of Rogers family

 My father was born in Galveston TX, and his parents had lived there most of their lives. My grandmother's parents had met and married there, and she had several cousins and aunts and uncles there as well. I think my grandfather moved there when a child. But they married there in 1905.

The 1900 census gives my grandmother being listed in her parents home, as well as her Uncle and Aunt Sweet's. Her parents lived at 1509 Avenue I.

Her Uncle Chauncey Sweet and "Auntie" Ada Pulsifer Phillips Sweet lived at 1709 Winnie St., where Ada at 14 and her younger sister at 12 were also listed for that Census of 1900.

Postcard, undated of the beach and seawall in Gaveston (probably 1930-1950)

1709 Winnie Street, Galveston - Google street view. These houses were built later than where Great Uncle Chauncey and "Auntie" Ada Sweet lived in 1900. (see below)

"1201 Avenue I - Galveston Texas. Auntie's home that she loved so much. (Mamma?)" Not dated, but they may have moved here after living on Winnie St.

The Chauncey Sweeets lived at 1201 Avenue J in 1910, but by 1920 were on Ave. I (according to the census records.) Perhaps my grandmother (who I think gave the caption for this house's photo above) got the street confused. But it is a beautiful house, probably on a corner with that wrap around porch.

My grandfather, George Rogers Sr. and his sister Annie, lived with their mother, Betty Rogers (widow) at 1828 Church St. with a boarder and a female servant in 1900.

Ada Swasey married George Rogers in 1905 at her parents' home, on Avenue I. Her parents left Galveston and moved to Houston in 1907.

In 1910 the young Rogers family, George, Ada and sons Elmore and Alexander, were living at 1217 Avenue J.  They were in their own household.  In 1916 their oldest son, Elmore accidentally drowned. They had a daughter born in the same month just before he died. She unfortunately also died before her 3rd birthday. Sons Chauncey Rogers (1912) and George Rogers Jr (1914, my father) were born in Galveston, but I don't know the address of their home yet.

By 1920 the George Rogers family had moved to Fort Worth Texas, where their last son, James was born in 1922. The census for that year was so poorly written the family was transcribed as Ragus, with Alexander getting a very strange name, and Chauncey even is considered a daughter, but at least George at 5 (my father) is legible.

House built by my grandfather, George E. Rogers, Sr. in Galveston TX. Photo taken in the by my sister when we visited in the 1970s. I don't know if this is one of the houses where some of their sons were born (but it probably would have been.) And I don't know exactly where it was located. Avenue J is now Sealy St, but none of the houses are raised up like this one. Perhaps another one has replaced it by now.

The seawall in Galveston was built after the Hurricane of 1900, no name given to it. All the homes which survived the storm winds and tide (which killed maybe 6000) were raised up and fill was added to all the town remaining...as well as this high seawall.

1905 is date of the photo below, which shows the seawall completed.

A few photos of the devastation of the Hurricane of 1900 in Galveston...

Sharing my Galveston roots with Sepia Saturday for this week.

Exercising on the Beach, 1935

Great (times 3) Grandfather George Tyler Granger

Happy birthday to George Tyler Granger (1804-after 1870)

(repost and edited from Tuesday, August 20, 2013)

Born on August 20, 1804 in Newburyport, Massachusetts, with parents and siblings.  What kind of education did he receive?

Just looking at his correspondence later between himself and his children, and his level of business acumen, I would say some college is probable.  But he did spend most of his life dealing in lumber.

His mother's maiden name was Tyler, so it became his middle name...which was a tradition found in many families. George Tyler Granger's mother Sarah Tyler was the daughter of Silas and Phoebe Wood Tyler.

George married Lucy Pulsifer on February 13, 1828, when he was 23 years old in Newburyport, MA.  He posted his intentions for marrying her in January of that year, which is still a record available to read, though the transcriptionist kind of messed up the name Pulsifer.

He was a lumber dealer in Newburyport at age 45 (Census taken Oct 8, 1850).  In that year he lived with his wife, Lucy Pulsifer Granger, as well as children Mary H. (21), George (20), Elisabeth P. (17), Lucy E. (13) as well as 78 year old Elizabeth Raymond. A servant was from Ireland, 21 year old Nancy Sullivan.  His son George had an occupation as a clerk already.  I wonder if Ms Raymond was a relative or housekeeper? (I don't find any relatives of that name.)

Newburyport, MA: The town prospered and became a city in 1851. Situated near the mouth of the Merrimack River, it was once a fishing, shipbuilding and shipping center, with an industry in silverware manufacture

Barque Mary L. Cushing, last merchant ship built on the Merrimack, docked at the Cushing family pier in Newburyport

George T. Granger had documented sales through Newburyport's support program for paupers, all billing for lumber sales.  I really don't know if these sales were in support of him, or other people.  They continued from 1826 when he was 21, till after his marriage until he was around 38.

By the time he was 42 he petitioned the town council to purchase a clock for the market square, along with 39 others, so his name was on the historic record of Newburyport.

Brown Square in 1913, viewed from before the City Hall.. The houses and church still stand but the street has been paved and more modern buildings inserted.

In the Newburyport City Directories from 1846 through 1850 he had a residential address of 16 Boardman, and at times a business at 10 Water St.

City Hall c. 1910. The building looks about the same today. It was constructed 1850–1851. The corner of Brown Square is visible across the street. The view is from where the Post Office now stands.

Sometime between 1850 and 1860 Granger migrated with all his family to Texas.  His brother-in-law, Joseph Pulsifer had moved first to New Orleans, then was an early settler of Beaumont Texas.  George T. Granger's eldest daughter, Mary, had married William Phillips (from Georgia) before their first child was born in 1858.

By 1860 George T. Granger was a lumber merchant in Galveston, Texas, at age 56. He would spend  more time there, as well as having connections in Beaumont, TX and Sabine Pass, TX.

Some of George Tyler Granger's correspondence with his adult children has survived. I'm transcribing it and adding it to his overview on Ancestry.Com.  I started with his letter to his daughter, Elizabeth, after finding out his oldest daughter, Mary had just died in 1856 (written from Grigsby Bluff.)  There were settlers near Beaumont named Grigsby. George T. Granger's wife, Lucy Pulsifer Granger's brother, Joseph Pulsifer, was an unmarried pharmacist who made business partnerships including the purchase of land for Beaumont.

Of George Granger's children, his daughter Elizabeth, (Izzie on some letters), lived to be 78 years old.  She was widowed farily early after having 2 children, and in her later years lived with her son and his family.  She had been born in 1833, which I just chased down today, because trees of other families had her born the same year as her brother, Joseph Granger, but I have now found his written birth record. Unfortunately he died at 15 years old. I finally found a source document for Elizabeth's birth also.

Father George T. was a lumber merchant.  When he moved to Galveston he continued that occupation in the 1860 and 1870 census, but somehow changed into a surveyor before his death. His death date and place are unknown, but sometime after the 1870 census.  His wife, Lucy has a clipping giving her death as May of 1876, but is listed as 74 years old living with daughter Elizabeth Granger in the 1880 census. (I've found many census reports that still include people who have recently died, so perhaps families were keeping them on the records for some reason or another.)

Gone Fishing

Annie Lou Rogers Wilson's skiff...

a repost from When I Was 69...

Gone Fishing

I've shared these 2 photos before, among the few that were rescued from a fire my Rogers family (grandparents) had in Fort Worth, TX in the 1920s.

Annie Lou Rogers Wilson was my grandfather's little sister, both of them raised by an aunt and uncle most of their childhoods.  But their mother moved from Walker County TX where they had been born, and lived the rest of her life in Galveston TX.  And at times the children are listed on census records living with her, like the 1900 Galveston Census.  Annie Lou would have been 25 in 1904. She didn't marry until 1906.

 10-30-1904 Annie Lou's Skiff - I'm pretty sure there was also a sailboat attached to this dingy.

10-30-1904 on Hannah's Reef Galveston Bay.

These gentlemen seem to have a fair catch of fish on display themselves, don't they? I don't see anyone resembling a woman who could have been Annie Lou.

For Sepia Saturday this week, we've got a nudge to go out on a boat, or sit by the water, and perhaps catch some dinner as lovely looking as their gentleman has.

I shall be purchasing some salmon at the Tailgate Market this morning, shipped in from Canada.

George and George, and then another George

For years I've scratched my head, how could there be a man (Uncle George W. Granger) who lived in two places, wife named Elizabeth, but with different children's names?

What was going on?  I kept thinking, some of these records are mixed up.  Then I'd whisper to myself, was he keeping 2 families, or traveling back and forth with them from Massachusetts to Texas in the 1860-1880s?  Not likely.

So the census and birth records talk about two George W. Grangers, both born in Massachusetts in the early 1800s...not the same town though.  And one moved to Galveston Texas and one apparently stayed in MA.

The man in Texas was the brother of my great great grandmother Mary Granger Phillips.  The whole family relocated about 1854-55, because her father had been in Newburyport MA in 54, then grandma Mary got married to grandpa William Phillips in Galveston TX in 1855...a whirlwind romance apparently.  Remember Galveston was a bustling seaport at that time, like New Orleans and Charleston.

But back to George (I do tend to wander in my mind these days)

Born to George Tyler and Lucy Pulcifer Granger on May 15, 1830, as 2 records of Massachusetts births proclaim, George W. was their second child of 5. Father George T. was a lumber merchant.  When he moved to Galveston he continued that occupation in the 1860 and 1870 census, but somehow changed into a surveyor before his death. His death date and place are unknown, but supposedly after the 1870 census.  Mother Lucy has a clipping giving her death as May of 1876, but is listed as 74 years old living with daughter Elizabeth Granger in the 1880 census.

Galveston in 1870s

Incidentally, there is no mention of why George didn't serve for the Confederacy, but I would imagine his having been from Massachusetts might have had something to do with it.  They may have lived in a city of cosmopolitan tastes, like most ports would have, but the politics of the times meant Texas joined the Confederacy.  (A side note is that many Texans voted against succession.)

George W. married when he was 34, to 20 year old Elizabeth T. Mosley, who was from Louisiana.  The marriage was on Dec 2, 1864, in Jefferson County, TX (where Beaumont is) but they appeared on the 1870 Galveston census and in the Galveston City Directory as living with his parents.  George W. was first a clerk, then a bookkeeper as his census occupational listings.

George and Elizabeth had a son named George Washington Granger, Jr...born on 23 Feb. 1877.

The 1880 census is the last official record of GWG's life, where at 49 he lists himself as a clerk in a grocery and as head of household with wife and son in Galveston.

We don't know when or where he died.  When his wife listed herself as a widow in the 1910 Galveston Directory, we know he was gone.  Was it in the terrible storm (hurricane) of 1900?  Someone on ancestry says he died in 1901, but I haven't found any reason for them to say so.

Here's part of my posts from several years ago about Galveston history, in case you want more background information.

And then there's George W. Granger of Tolland Massachusetts.  Is he related to me? I kind of think and hope so.

I'll give you a thumbnail of his life, tomorrow.

Sharing again with Sepia Saturday, this time because of Sepia photos where yesterday I posted a watery scene because of the theme!