History

In 1880 C. G. Napier was a media celebrity in San Antonio. His advice to farmers and ranchers about raising crops and animal husbandry was published in the San Antonio Express under the pseudonym of Greeley #2 and was widely read throughout south Texas. Greeley #2 traveled throughout Texas and wrote about people, places, and agricultural practices.

Carpenter, is located in far northwest Wilson County on the boundary with Bexar County. Its location is approximately three miles southeast of St. Hedwig...

D’Alanson (D. A.) Saltmarsh, a successful stagecoach operator, came to Texas to make his fortune on...

William H. Irvin was one the early settlers along the old Gonzales Road in the vicinity...

On December 24, 1854, after traveling over 5,000 miles, a group of Polish Silesians gathered on...

David State Trainer came to the Republic of Texas and moved to Bexar County as Texas...

Tom Secrest was born in Texas about 1852.  He was the son of John M. Secrest...

A Lost Treasure People lose things; it happens. We become distracted, we misplace things, we forget. Even...

Erastus Beall and his sons engaged with their neighbors in a deadly feud, shaping the community that would become La Vernia.

Burrell L. Lann was associated with the violence at the mysterious village of Cottage Hill.  He...

There are lines that when crossed result in irrevocable commitment. Soldiers instinctively know these lines where...

During the winter of 1838, the Cherokees in Tennessee began their forced march on the “Trail of Tears”. The march began in Red Clay, Tennessee, capital of the Cherokee Nation. Chief John Ross’s wife, Daniel Ross Coodey’s aunt, died on the trail. Daniel Ross Coodey, a leader in the Cherokee nation came to Bexar County, Texas and purchased the site of Cottage Hill.

Arriving in Texas in 1841, Joseph Dornstin was a pioneer who blazed the trail that would be followed by Silesian settlers in the decades that followed.

In 2005, the Texas Historical Commission designated the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Roman-Catholic Church Cemetery of...

Since its founding in 1853 the Historical Post Office in present day La Vernia has had three official names: Post Oak, Lavernia and La...

James H. McMahon served the medical needs of residents in Wilson and East Bexar County.  His...

The Historical Post Office in present day St. Hedwig has been located at several sites and has possessed two official names: Cottage Hill and...

Historians struggle to identify sources of information that have first hand knowledge. Eyewitnesses to historical events...

Historians struggle with the fear that an error or omission will produce faulty conclusions. The contributions of Joseph N. Dornstin were attributed to another good man by an historian who claimed that Dornstin changes both his given and surnames.

Read about unusual life of Constable Arthur Casanovas of St. Hedwig, Texas who witnessed the killing of King Fisher and Ben Thompson.