This Day In Texas History - August 12

[joe817]

1838 - On August 12, 1838, thirty-three of the Gonzales Rangers, a volunteer group, joined Joseph S. Martin in laying out a townsite near Walnut Branch; they named the site Walnut Springs. The name was changed in February 1839 to Seguin for Juan N. Seguín.

1840 - On this day in 1840, Gen. Felix Huston, Col. Edward Burleson, and others, including Ben McCulloch, fought a running battle with a large party of Comanche Indians. The battle of Plum Creek occurred as a result of the Council House Fight, in which a number of Comanche leaders were killed. Chief Buffalo Hump led a retaliatory attack down the Guadalupe valley east and south of Gonzales. The band numbered perhaps as many as 1,000, including the families of the warriors, who followed to make camps and seize plunder. The Comanches swept down the valley, plundering, stealing horses, and killing settlers, and sacked the town of Linnville. The Texans' volunteer army caught up with the Indians on Plum Creek, near present-day Lockhart, on August 11 and soundly defeated them the next day.

1860 – Sam Houston’s son, Temple Houston, was the first child to be born in the Governor’s Mansion.

1869 - Bremond, TX(in northwestern Robertson county): Articles of incorporation were forwarded to the secretary of state on August 12, 1869.

1929 - Alvis Edgar Owens Jr, better known as Buck Owens was born in Sherman. Buck was the star of the hit TV series "Hee Haw", but also had a long list of smash hits on the Country and Pop Charts, including "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail", "Waitin' in Your Welfare Line" and "Act Naturally"

1938 - On this date in 1938, Seymour in Baylor County, set a new all time Texas high temperature of 120 degrees. This record would stand for 56 years, until Monahans tied the heat mark on 1994.

1982 - Joseph Arrington, known as "Joe Tex," died.

1983 - A sinkhole approximately 250 feet in diameter and twenty-five feet deep, formed suddenly over the crest of the Boling Dome three miles north of Boling, collapsing the roadway. Boling Dome, an underground rock structure that contains petroleum, sulfur, and salt, is on the western bank of the San Bernard River almost entirely in Wharton County. It is oval in shape and ranges five miles east-west and three miles north-south, encompassing 5,500 acres. Oil production at the site began in 1925 and sulfur wells began producing in 1929. Over 8,000 wells had been drilled to mine the sulfur reserve, and 12,000 more for oil and gas, producing a highly porous zone that affects the integrity of the dome. In addition to the 1983 sinkhole, several others have occurred over the Boling Dome, a condition that is becoming common at other salt dome sites where sulfur and oil are produced.

1985 - Edgar Bryan Kincaid, Jr., died in Austin. Released by wealth from regular work, Kincaid had spent ten years, beginning in 1963, editing Harry C. Oberholser's Bird Life of Texas. He reduced the massive three-million-word manuscript by two-thirds and chopped a 572-page bibliography to thirty pages--thus making this classic work accessible. In his later years, Kincaid became quite reclusive. His fear of burglars was realized when he was robbed in his own house at gunpoint, after which he developed a fever and died.

[ELB]

1838 - On August 12, 1838, thirty-three of the Gonzales Rangers, a volunteer group, joined Joseph S. Martin in laying out a townsite near Walnut Branch; they named the site Walnut Springs. The name was changed in February 1839 to Seguin for Juan N. Seguín.

...

Hey! I recognize that story!

The Guadalupe River runs through Seguin, and early rangers (and no doubt many others) frequently camped near the river on the site of the future Walnut Springs/Seguin. There is a north/south street, one block west of the main north/south Austin Street, named Camp Street that reflects this early use by the rangers.

Two of the Gonzales Rangers were Henry B. and John R. King, originally from Tennessee, who participated in the Texas Revolution. Afterwards they along with some of the other Gonzales Rangers formed a corporation to establish Walnut Springs as a town. A third brother (and their mother and stepfather) eventually joined them, and all three brothers served as rangers. They are buried in the King Family Cemetary, also known as the King Ranger Cemetary, located appropriately enough not far from King Street. (Seguin (the city) also features the King Ranger Theater not so far away - I've never checked whether it is founded and run by descendants or not, wouldn't surprise me tho.)

I've never read of any connection between these Kings and Richard King of King Ranch, I assume they were completely different families.

The founders later found out there was another town in Texas named Walnut Springs, so they needed to come up with a new name. Now all of the semi-reliable historical texts take a jump here: they simply say the place was named after Juan Seguin, but never explain why him? Yes he was a well known hero of the Texas Revolution, no doubt the King brothers and others knew him personally; but no doubt there were many other candidate heros to choose from. The King brothers themselves were no slouches, well known as rangers and in political circles, so why not King, Texas, for example?

I think I found the answer one day googling the interwebs on this question, but I have not been able to find that source again. However, the explanation makes so much sense, and would fit so perfectly into that time period, that I believe it to be true.

At the time a new name was needed, Juan Seguin was serving as a Senator in the Texas Legislature, and soon-to-be-something-other-than-Walnut-Springs needed a post office to be a real town. The story I read was that if Juan arranged to get the-town-formerly-known-as-Walnut-Springs a post office, they would name the town after him.

This rings so true I just gotta think it is. Juan was not only well known, but he knew the people, particularly fellow rangers, of Seguin; he was also politically ambitious and having a town named after you can't hurt. Those early Texans could be very idealistic, but they were also very practical, politically astute bunch used to making deals, and I think everyone recognized a good deal when they saw it. Wikipedia has a reference to him getting a mail route established to the town of Seguin, and the Texas Almanac of 1964-65 refers to the site of the "Juan Seguin Post Office."

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.