As a tribute to my father, Milroy Powell, here is a copy of the article featured in January 1959 Fort Worth Star-Telegram. My parents were hard working ranchmen and I am proud to be their daughter.
Below, Mr. and Mrs. Milroy Powell, are shown with their stock dogs and Quarter Horse mare, Pecos Miss.
EDEN
In 1936, 9-year-old Milroy Powell showed the champion Rambouillet ewe at the Texas Centennial in Dallas.
Twenty-two years later Powell, now a Concho County ranchman, still showing champion Rambouillets.
He exhibited the champion ewe at the State Fair of Texas in 1957 and the reserve champion ewe at the 1958 Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show in Fort Worth.
Showing his registered sheep takes up a major part of the young ranchman’s time. A full show flock is prepared for the circuit each year.
Usually Powell exhibits at Abilene, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and several of the smaller shows. He entered sheep in 11 of the smaller shows last year.
He explained that he also would show at San Antonio, but he serves as superintendent of the Quarter Horse cutting horse show there.
None of his sheep were shown at the 1958 State Fair of Texas because his fourth child was born last fall.
Powell is married to the former Joan Auld, daughter of Dan Auld, Kerr county ranchman.
The Powell children are Milann, 8; Mac, 7; Jan, 4, and Mark, 5 months.
Reared in Coryell county, the young sheep breeder is a son of Guy Powell, who served 34 years as a county agricultural agent, retiring last year because of poor health. The elder Powell became Kerr County agent in 1947.
Milroy Powell began showing sheep when only 5. Being a county agent’s son, he never participated in the junior shows as a 4-H Club member. All of his animals were exhibited in the open divisions.
The champion ewe at the Texas Centennial, a yearling, was owned by J. P. Heath of Argyle, Denton County.
But the youngster later bought the champion ewe from Heath. Many of the Powell champions are descended from this outstanding individual, which died in 1957.
Powell has been a Rambouillet breeder 26 years. His breeding stock has remained generally the same throughout the years, with new animals added occasionally.
These high quality sheep now also are shown by Mac Powell. The youngster had the first place ewe lamb and the first place yearling ewe at Fort Worth in 1958.
Mac’s first place ewe lamb at Forth Worth was undefeated in 12 shows last year, winning a championship at Houston. Her twin sister was reserve champion ewe of the Houston show.
Both Mac and his father have sheep entered in the 1959 Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show.
Powell ranched on leased land in Kerr County about 10 years before moving to Eden in April 1957.
He purchased a 12-section ranch 7-1/2 miles south of Eden, extending into Menard County. The land previously was owned by Houston Callan, pioneer Menard County ranchman.
Before Powell bought the ranch, the 12 sections of land were in one pasture with no cross fences. The only improvements were two windmills.
Neither sheep nor goats had ever been run on the land, which was operated as a cattle ranch.
The land now is cross-fenced into four pastures with a corner of each pasture at the corral in the center of the ranch. Approximately 27 miles of fence were built, and excellent corral facilities have been provided.
Since there is no ranch house on the land, the Powells reside in Eden.
Powell is running registered and commercial Rambouillets, Angora goats and Angus cattle on the ranch.
He explained he also has owned cattle practically all his life. Last summer he purchased a registered Angus bull from a Nebraska breeder.
Occasionally Angora goats from the Powell ranch are exhibited in stock shows, but the Angus cattle have never been shown.
Powell is a member of the American Quarter Horse Association, the American Rambouillet Breeders Association, the Texas Purebred Sheep Breeders Association and the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association.
Menard County, Texas second courthouse – notice the milk cow out front and the square building on the right was the jail.
In the “Free State of Menard” by N. H. Pierce states; County Created by Legislature in 1858. Menard County came into existence by an act of the seventh Legislature, passed January 22, 1858, when eight new counties were created.
Menard had been a part of Bexar County up until that time, Section 3 of the act described the metes and bounds of the new Menard County as follows:
“That the following limits, to-wit: beginning on the west line of McCulloch County, ten miles north of its southwest corner, thence due west thirty miles, thence due south twenty-six miles, thence due east to the west line of Mason County, to the beginning, shall be Menard County, named in honor of Colonel Michel B. Menard, deceased. The county seat thereof shall be called Menard.”
Thus it will be seen that the intent of the Legislature was to honor the founder of the city of Galveston by giving his name to both the county and the county seat.
However, as Menard County was not organized until 1871, and a town known as “Menardville” already had been established, the twelfth Legislature, at its second session, November 28, 1871, passed an act permanently designating the Menard County seat, as follows:
“Section 1, Be it enacted by the legislature of the State of Texas that the town of Menardville, in the county of Menard, be and the same is hereby permanently established as the county seat of the said county of Menard.”
More about Colonel Michel Branaman Menard can be found from Fulmore’s “History and Geography of Texas As Told In County Names.”
MENARD COUNTY
MENARD COUNTY. Menard County (J-13), in Central Texas about 250 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, is bordered by Concho, McCulloch, Mason, Kimble, Sutton, Schleicher, and Tom Green counties. Menard, the county seat, is on the San Saba River at the intersection of U.S. Highway 83 and State Highway 29, about 130 miles northwest of San Antonio. The county’s center is about three miles southwest of Menard at 30°54′ north latitude and 99°50′ west longitude. The county comprises 902 square miles of rolling terrain on the Edwards Plateau at elevations ranging from 1,700 to 2,400 feet above sea level. The dark, loamy soils are alkaline and support such vegetation as live oak, juniper, mesquite, and grasses. The county lies entirely within the Colorado River basin and is drained primarily by the San Saba River, which crosses the county from west to east. Wildlife in the area includes deer, turkey, javelina, squirrel, coyote, bobcat, beaver, opossum, badger, fox, raccoon, and skunk, as well as a variety of birds, fish, and reptiles. Among the county’s mineral resources are dolomite, oil, and gas. The climate is subtropical, with an average minimum temperature in January of 32° F and an average high temperature in July of 97°. The growing season averages 220 days annually, and the rainfall averages about twenty-two inches.
Central Texas, including what is now Menard County, has supported human habitation for several thousand years. Archeological evidence suggests that hunting-and-gathering peoples established themselves in the area as early as 10,000 years ago. Early Spanish explorers found the Apache Indians in Central and West Texas in the sixteenth century, and the Comanches began moving down from the north in the eighteenth century. The Spanish began exploring the San Saba valley in 1753 and 1754. In April 1757, Father Alonso Giraldo de Terreros founded Santa Cruz de San Saba Mission, hoping to Christianize the Apache Indians. Though San Luis de las Amarillas Presidio, under the command of Diego Ortiz Parrilla, was established nearby to provide protection for the mission, in March 1758 the Comanche Indians and their allies burned the mission to the ground. In 1761, Felipe de Rábago y Terán, who replaced Ortiz Parrilla, improved the presidio by replacing wooden structures with stone ones. The Marqués de Rubí visited the site during his inspection of Spanish frontier settlements in 1766. Living conditions were poor at the presidio, and after the Indians succeeded in cutting the supply lines Rábago y Terán abandoned it without orders in 1768. The presidio was reoccupied for a short time in early 1770, but the Spanish soon abandoned it for good.
James and Rezin Bowieqqv traveled to the San Saba valley in the early 1830s to look for a silver mine that the Spanish had believed to be in the area. They were unsuccessful, but the legend of the Lost Bowie Mine, also known as the Lost San Saba Mine or the Los Almagres Mine, fed the imagination of treasure-seekers for the next 150 years. The Menard area was part of the Fisher-Miller Land Grant, made by the Republic of Texas in 1842, but few if any of the German immigrants who settled within the limits of the grant came so far west. Little settlement occurred until several years after the annexation of Texas to the United States. In 1852, in order to protect settlers from Indian attacks, the United States War Department established Camp San Saba, later known as Fort McKavett, near the head of the San Saba River. Menard County was formed from Bexar County by the state legislature in 1858 and named for Michel Branamour Menard, the founder of Galveston. Menardville and Camp San Saba attracted settlers who came west, but with the withdrawal of troops from Camp San Saba in 1859, the threat of Indians attacks delayed new settlement and caused many established residents to leave. The remaining residents attempted to organize the county government in 1866, but when the attempt failed the legislature placed Menard County under the jurisdiction of Mason County. When Fort McKavett was opened in 1868, people again moved into the area. Menard County residents finally elected their own officials in 1871.
Because the county was organized so late, no record shows how Menard residents voted on secession or in the 1870 gubernatorial election. In later years, however, Menard County voters were staunch Democrats in state politics, and in most of the presidential elections since 1872 they have preferred the Democratic candidate, the exceptions being Warren G. Harding in 1920, Herbert Hoover in 1928, Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, Richard M. Nixon in 1960, 1968, and 1972, and Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984.
In 1870, Menard County had a population of 667, of whom 295 were white and 372 were black. The high percentage of black residents was probably due to the presence of the “buffalo soldiers” (see NINTH, andTENTH UNITED STATES CAVALRY) at Fort McKavett. By 1880 the county’s population had risen to 1,239, but the number of black residents had fallen to thirty-seven. The population fell when Fort McKavett was closed in 1883, but by 1890 it had almost recovered, with 1,215 residents reported. Although the local economy was set back by the troop withdrawal, the community around Fort McKavett had about eighty residents in the 1890s; Menardville had 300 residents by the early 1890s and was the main commercial center for area ranches. Most of the people who moved to Menard County were native to the United States and came from another county in Texas or from one of the Southern states. Most of the immigrants came from England, Ireland, and Germany in the 1870s, and from Mexico in the 1880s and again in the 1930s.
Some of the earliest schools in Menard County were held under shade trees; others met in one-room buildings within walking distance of several families. Children who lived on isolated ranches sometimes had tutors or were sent to boarding schools. Menard County was exempt from instituting a district school system until the 1890s, but soon after the turn of the century the county had nine common-school districts. By the 1940s improved transportation made possible the large-scale consolidation of schools into a single independent school district. Until the mid-twentieth century, for many children in Menard County school took second place to duties on the family farm; as a result, dropout rates were high. As late as 1940, fewer than 13 percent of residents over the age of twenty-five had completed high school. Citizens began to place greater emphasis on education in the 1950s as job markets expanded. By 1960, 20 percent of the county’s population over twenty-five had graduated from high school, and by 1980 graduates constituted nearly 45 percent.
For several years after the organization of Menard County, missionary priests and circuit riders provided the only religious services. The Catholic and Episcopal churches were probably the first to be represented in Menard County, but the Baptist Church, established in 1879, seems to have been the first to organize regular meetings. A Presbyterian church was established in 1886, a Methodist church in 1887, a Catholic church in 1899, a Christian church in 1914, and a Lutheran church in 1916. In the early 1980s the county had thirteen churches, with an estimated combined membership of 1,685; Southern Baptist and Catholic were the largest communions.
In 1890 more than three-quarters of the county’s population lived on farms and ranches, and the dominant occupation was stock raising. Both cattle and sheep did well, their numbers increasing from 10,456 and 27,586 head, respectively, in 1880, to 33,690 and 90,363 head in 1890. The number of farms rose from thirty-six in 1880 to 158 by 1890, and their average size increased from 1,811 to 2,096 acres. Although most of the county’s resources were devoted to stock raising, irrigated farms along the San Saba River provided the local market with such crops as cotton, corn, sorghum, oats, alfalfa, rye, and wheat.
In 1910 Menardville residents offered the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railroad Company several incentives to extend its track to their town: a right-of-way, the land for stock pens and depot, and $10,000 to build the depot. The track was completed, and in February 1911 the first train arrived. The railroad made outside markets easier to reach, and the town of Menard (as it was now called) boomed; by 1914 its reported population was 1,000. Another town, Callan, began as a result of the railroad’s coming to Menard County; it was successful for a few years, but declined as other transportation methods improved.
For several years around the turn of the century, the cattle industry eclipsed sheep production in Menard County, with the number of cattle rising to more than 54,000 and the number of sheep falling to fewer than 19,500. By the 1920s, however, the wool industry was again of first importance, with the sheep population numbering more than 71,000 and cattle falling to less than 28,000 head. Wool production peaked in 1930, when 305,450 sheep produced more than 2.1 million pounds of wool. The mohair industry also came into prominence between 1910 and 1920. In the latter year the county had more than 35,700 goats and produced nearly 111,600 pounds of mohair.
By virtue of its rural environment and relatively small population, Menard County escaped many of the hardships suffered by more urban areas during the Great Depression of the 1930s; nevertheless, several relief programs were enacted. The highway department provided jobs by hiring local labor to clear the river channel in the early 1930s, the PTA offered free lunches for needy children in 1931, the Texas Relief Cannery was in operation in the summer of 1934, and the Drought Relief Program bought cattle and sheep from area ranchers in 1934.
Although farmers in Menard County had been early advocates of diversified crops, the expanding cotton market of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries prompted them to devote more and more of their cropland to cotton. In 1890 farmers grew 63 bales of cotton on 101 acres, or 2½ percent of the county’s improved land; in 1900, 2,129 acres, or 28 percent of the improved land, produced 928 bales; and in 1930, 7,687 acres, or 46 percent of the cropland harvested, produced 933 bales. The depression shifted the focus of local agriculture away from cotton and back to feed crops. In 1940 only 1,470 acres was planted in cotton. Oats, barley, sorghum, and hay became the primary crops, which together accounted for more than 60 percent of the county’s cropland harvested.
Oil and gas production in Menard County began in the 1940s, although wildcatters had been drilling exploratory wells since 1919. The first attempted oil well, drilled in 1919, was dry. A gas deposit was tapped in 1929, but was plugged the same year for lack of a market. The gas well was redrilled in 1941 and produced about seven million cubic feet of gas. A small oilfield was discovered northeast of Fort McKavett in 1946 but abandoned the following year. Exploration continued throughout the 1940s and 1950s, but not until the 1960s were most of the important deposits in the county discovered. Production peaked in that decade with an average annual yield of more than 270,000 barrels. Of the county’s forty oilfields, about twenty were still active in the 1980s, producing 132,000 to 185,000 barrels annually. In the 1980s about 94 percent of the land in the county was in farms and ranches, but only about 2 percent of this was under cultivation. Wheat, hay, oats, and sorghum were the primary crops; others were sweet potatoes, watermelons, and pecans. About 96 percent of agricultural receipts came from livestock and livestock products, the most important ones being sheep, wool, cattle, angora goats, and mohair. The number of animals on hand, although still large, was smaller than in previous years because ranchers found it more efficient to raise fewer animals of better breeds. The county had no significant manufacturing industries but received a considerable income from tourists, who were attracted by the hunting and fishing opportunities in the area and by the ruins of the Spanish presidio and Fort McKavett.
Menard County reached its highest population in 1940, with 4,521 residents reported. The population fell to 4,175 by 1950 and 2,964 by 1960, as people left the area to find jobs in larger cities. The number of farms in the county fell from a high of 431 in 1940 to 275 in 1959. The railroad discontinued passenger service to Menard in 1954 and abandoned the line completely in 1972. The population continued a slow decline through the 1980s, the number of residents falling to 2,646 in 1970 and 2,346 in 1980. In the early 1980s, 29 percent of county residents were of Hispanic descent, 24 percent were English, 20 percent were Irish, and 0.3 percent were black. In 1990 Menard had 1,606 residents, while the county’s total population was estimated at 2,252.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Menard County Historical Society, Menard County History-An Anthology (San Angelo: Anchor, 1982). Menard Messenger, Historical Edition, June 18, 1936. Menard News, Historical Edition, November 11, 1971.
Medard Menard (1814-1887) Lawrence T. Jones III Texas Photographs, DeGolyer Library, Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University
MENARD, MEDARD (1814-1887). Medard Menard, businessman, politician, and Confederate officer, was born in Kaskaskia, Illinois, on March 8, 1814. Menard spent his youth along the frontier. He moved with his family to St. Genevieve, Missouri, and fought in the Black Hawk War of 1834. In 1837 he migrated to Galveston, Texas, to join his brother, Michel B. Menard, founder of that city and namesake of Menard County. [UPDATE: Medard is not the brother of Michel] On November 1, 1838, Medard Menard married Susan Le Clere. This couple had one son and one daughter. In Galveston, Menard established himself as a bookkeeper for various shipping concerns and as a deputy collector for the town port. From 1849 to 1850 Menard represented Galveston in the U. S. House of Representatives.
After the Civil War began, Menard raised a cavalry company which was mustered in the Twenty-sixth Texas Cavalry Regiment in March 1862. As a lieutenant colonel, Menard served with this unit in actions along the Red River and in Louisiana. After the surrender of the Twenty-sixth Texas Cavalry in 1865, Menard returned to Galveston, assuming a post as a cotton weigher until his retirement. Menard died in that city on July 12, 1887.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
John Henry Brown, History of Texas from 1685 to 1892 (2 vols., St. Louis: Daniell, 1893). Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, 1849-1850 (http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(hj045276))), accessed March 22, 2011.
UPDATE 14 Jun 2012: Please cite Southern Methodist University, Central University Libraries, DeGolyer Library when using this image file. A high-quality version of this file may be obtained for a fee by contacting [email protected].
Tonight, May 22, 2011, there were several nice Axis bucks at our feeder here in Real County, Texas. Thought the best way to share was with a video. So here’s hoping this works…
Are you familiar with our official Photographer of Texas, Wyman Meinzer?
His photography is featured in a video called West Texas with the piano music of Doug Smith at his website https://www.wymanmeinzer.com/. (2020, no longer available but you can watch his Yeti video)
Here is a well-written article about Wyman from the Texas Tech website.
Wyman Meinzer In Focus
From his photography beginnings at Texas Tech, alumnus Wyman Meinzer has always had an eye for capturing the essence of nature through a different light.
Written by Gretchen Pressley
Wyman Meinzer was named the official photographer of Texas in 1997 by the Texas Legislature and then-Gov. George W. Bush. In 1999 he gave the commencement speech for Texas Tech University.
The swelling West Texas storm clouds bruised the sky above Wyman Meinzer’s house in Benjamin. But Meinzer could see only beauty in the storm as the color from the sunset came up, hit the clouds and swept across the pristine grasslands. Meinzer grabbed his camera and headed out for a drive with his wife.
“I was so happy because I was going to be able to show someone this and blow their minds,” Meinzer said. “That was the neatest feeling, to be good enough to communicate with the camera, that I could expect the same response from the viewer that I had, to create that kind of emotion.”
This West Texas-bred cowboy has always loved the outdoors and Texas with a passion infused in all of his work. Named the State Photographer of Texas in 1997, Meinzer has published 19 books and his work has appeared in numerous national and award-winning magazines, such as Time, Newsweek and National Geographic. Despite all of these accomplishments, which Meinzer chats about casually with a matter-of-fact tone, the best part of his job is that he gets to spend his time with the things he loves, the outdoors and photography.
Zooming In
In 1969, Meinzer knew just what to zoom in on when he started his undergraduate degree at Texas Tech. The university had an outstanding wildlife department; Meinzer eagerly enrolled hoping to specialize in his particular interest: coyotes. Then an instructor literally handed him another career option, a 35mm camera.
“Right away, I recognized what could be accomplished with a camera, but I knew there was more I could do, Meinzer said. “My wife tells me all the time: you are so blasted focused, if it is something you want to do, you zero in and focus until you learn it, and that’s what I did. Photography was all I could think about. I wanted to be the best.”
After graduating in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife management, Meinzer took a picture-perfect, three-year-long sabbatical to live among the coyotes of his studies and work on his photography. He moved into a half-dugout on an associate’s ranch, working alone most of the time.
“It’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t been there, you have to be a different cat to appreciate it,” the six-foot-tall Meinzer said, leaning back in his chair.
“I was out there for weeks at a time with no other person, a half dugout with no electricity, no running water. I had hundreds of thousands of acres to roam over freely, and I could see all kinds of gorgeous sights and weather patterns. I got to be a student at a very basic level once again.”
Shooting for the Top
After his three-year photo shoot in the wilderness of West Texas, Meinzer accepted a research position at Texas Tech and continued to develop his photographic talent, submitting images to magazines around the country and asking for advice.
“I never had formal training,” Meinzer said. “So I did a lot of stumbling. I got my equipment on campus, so I would hang out and talk shop with the other photographers.”
His vision paid off and by 1985, he was known all over the country. Sports Afield magazine called him part of the new breed in American nature shooters who had a different look, a different approach to the art.
Every year, Meinzer tries to spend time reconnecting with his roots near Knox County.
“I was told from the very beginning I had a very interesting approach to the use of light,” Meinzer said. “And because of my love for the outdoors, I would see things the average person could never expect to see.”
Sharing His Vision
In between photo shoots for magazines and books, Meinzer shares his knowledge with the next generation of photographers at Texas Tech.
Meinzer started teaching in 2000 and now co-teaches one of the most popular photography courses at the university: Special Problems in Photography. Even more sought-after is Meinzer’s intersession course on the Junction campus. In this two-week course, professors and students spend all day, every day out in the field working on their skills.
“I always tell them, chunk your boyfriends, chunk your girlfriends, because for two weeks you are going to live and breathe photography,” Meinzer said with a laugh.
The 12-student group completes one field trip where they live together in housing provided by the university and eat the food Meinzer cooks for them. They walk into rivers in the moonlight, waiting for the perfect shot, completely immersing themselves in outdoor photography.
“It’s fun to see them come in at first, and then to take those students and elevate them to another level,” Meinzer said. “I also tell them: “If you don’t think that you can swing it in this business, I am a living example that anyone can do it if they want it badly enough.””
Meinzer continues living in the land he loves, in the a home he had built called the “Annex,” next to the old jailhouse in Benjamin, which he has turned into a museum of sorts. He still tries to take time off every winter just to reconnect with his roots by hunting and roaming the hills in the rolling plains around Knox County.
Photos Courtesy Wyman Meinzer
Related
The Department of Natural Resources Management is part of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Texas Tech University. The department offers degrees in range management, wildlife management, fisheries management and ecology and conservation.
Wyman Meinzer co-teaches one of the most popular photography courses at the university: Special Problems in Photography for the College of Mass Communications.
Meinzer also teaches an intersession course at the Texas Tech University Center at Junction. The Junction Summer Program offers an extraordinary educational experience for art students with courses in ceramics, glass, jewelry design, photography, painting and more. Find out more about the Junction Summer Program. [UPDATE: He is the former teacher of the course]
<iframe src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/22132017?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0″ width=”400″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″>Wyman Meinzer’s West Texas from Wyman Meinzer on Vimeo.
In remembrance of the Union and Confederate soldiers who served in the American Civil War (1861-1865), the Liljenquist Family recently donated their rare collection of almost 700 ambrotype and tintype photographs to the Library of Congress.
These fascinating photographs represent the impact of the war, which involved many young enlisted men and the deaths of more than 600,000 soldiers. The photos feature details that enhance their interest, including horses, drums, muskets, rifles, revolvers, hats and caps, canteens, and a guitar. Among the rarest images are African Americans in uniform, sailors, a Lincoln campaign button, and portraits with families, women, and girls and boys.
Group portraits also feature interesting poses, including soldiers with each others’ cigars.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why are these Civil War photographs important? Many reasons! See Brandon Liljenquist’s eloquent essay about why the family collected these portraits.
Where can I see the original photographs? They’ll be on exhibit in “The Last Full Measure”, April 12, 2011 through August 13, 2011, in the Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building. Also online!
Why are there more Union than Confederate portraits? The Union portraits outnumber the Confederate because the North had more photographers working during the war and more soldiers. Photographic supplies were scarce in the South.
Why are the letters backwards? Letters on the hats and belt buckles are usually reversed because ambrotypes and tintypes are direct positives–images directly from the camera, like negatives. See the hat and buckle in this image for an example of laterally reversed letters.
What are ambrotypes? Patented by James Ambrose Cutting in 1854 and popular through the mid-1860s, an ambrotype is an underexposed glass negative with a dark backing that creates a positive image. Photographers applied pigments to add color, often tinting cheeks and lips red and adding gold highlights to jewelry, buttons, and belt buckles. Ambrotypes were sold in either cases or ornate frames to provide an attractive appearance and also to protect the negative with a cover glass and brass mat.
What are tintypes? Tintypes, originally known as ferrotypes or melainotypes, were invented in the 1850s and continued to be produced into the 20th century. The photographic emulsion was applied directly to a thin sheet of iron coated with a dark lacquer or enamel, producing a unique positive image. Like ambrotypes, tintypes were often hand colored. Customers purchased cases, frames, or paper envelopes to protect and display their images.
One caution: Tintypes and ambrotypes found in cases and frames can be difficult to identify. A magnet will be attracted to the iron support, but if a sheet of metal is used behind an ambrotype, you could be fooled into thinking that the image is a tintype.
What are the photo cases made of? Cased photographs typically include the metal or glass image plate, a cover glass, and a brass mat wrapped together with a brass preserver, and placed inside of a leather or thermoplastic case for both protection and adornment. One side of the inner case often has a patterned velvet lining. The outside of a case can be plain or decorated with flowers, figures, patriotic themes, and other subjects. They’re also called union cases.
Who cataloged the photographs? We rarely have the resources to provide much descriptive information for a single photo, but for these rare images we received great help from two summer Junior Fellows at the Library–Matthew Gross and Elizabeth Lewin. They worked with photography curator Carol Johnson and cataloging specialist Karen Chittenden to prepare the extensive descriptions using information provided by the Liljenquist Family, the reference sources cited below, and their own sharp observations. Now that the digital images are available, even more details are visible, and we welcome new discoveries!
Where can I learn more about Civil War photographs and soldiers?
Civil War Uniforms Katcher, Philip. Civil War Uniforms: A Photo Guide. London: Arms and Armour, 1996.
Lord, Francis A. Uniforms of the Civil War. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2007.
Shaw, Antony, editor. The Civil War Catalog. Philadelphia: Courage Books, 2003.
Shep, R. L., and W. S. Salisbury. Civil War Gentlemen: 1860s Apparel Arts & Uniforms, 1994.
Service Information Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (National Park Service) Facts about soldiers who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War.
Ambrotypes and Tintypes Burgess, Nathan G. The Photograph and Ambrotype Manual: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Taking Positive and Negative Photographs on Paper and Glass New York: Hubbard, Burgess, 1861. www.archive.org/details/photographambrot 00burg
Carlebach, Michael L. Occupational Portraits in the Age of Tintypes. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002.
Rinhart, Floyd, Marion Rinhart, and Robert W. Wagner. The American Tintype. Columbus: Ohio University Press, 1999.
Schimmelman, Janice G. The Tintype in America, 1856-1880. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2007.
Photograph Cases Berg, Paul K. 19th Century Photographic Cases and Wall Frames. [United States]: Paul K. Berg, 2003.
Rinhart, Floyd, and Marion Rinhart. American Miniature Case Art. South Brunswick and New York: A.S. Barnes, 1969.
On January 26, 1856, Kerr County was formed from Bexar Land District No. 2. At the request of Joshua D. Brown, the name of Brownsboro was changed to Kerrsville, for his friend and fellow veteran of the Texas Revolution, Major James Kerr. Kerrsville became the county seat but later the “s” was dropped and the town became “Kerrville.”
Joshua D. Brown came from Gonzales to become the first settler at the headwaters of the Guadalupe River in what became to be known as Kerr County. In 1856, Joshua named his newly organized county Kerr because James Kerr was his friend [UPDATE: James Kerr was JDB’s father Edward Brown’s first cousin by marriage. His first cousin Henry Stevenson Brown’s wife was Margaret Kerr; James Kerr was her brother] and because Kerr was the first American to settle on the Guadalupe River at Gonzales before the state was the Republic of Texas. Major James Kerr was an important part of Texas’ beginning and played a key role in the break with Mexico and the struggle for establishment of an independent Republic of Texas. Joshua D. Brown participated in the revolution of Texas along with Kerr in many military campaigns.
Kerr was a life-long friend of Stephen F. Austin, the most successful Texas Empresario, who was instrumental in bringing the American settlers to this new land, known as “Original Three Hundred”, and Kerr followed him to Texas from Missouri.
Major James Kerr (was a Lieutenant in the War of 1812) was surveyor-general of the Green DeWitt Colony, whose grant was awarded by the Mexican government on April 15, 1825, to settle 400 colonists on the Guadalupe River, and also the DeLeon Colony. Kerr, like Austin, was an unwavering and loyal Anglo-Mexican patriot working for the welfare of the Texian colonists, their economic and political freedom as adopted citizens of Mexico, above all interests.
The families who arrived in Texas had to deal with the hardships of this new land. Most of the Mexican forces found in Texas at this time were presidarios, the worst convicts of Mexico. The Mexican government drafted these convicts into the armies. The settlers and the presidarios were constantly at odds with each other. Because of the attacks from the Indians in the area, the Mexican Commandant at Bexar presented the people of Gonzales with a valuable four-pound cannon.
There was a Mexican garrison at Anahuac that was controlled by Mexican forces of mostly the dreaded presidarios. There was an attack of a lone woman by four presidarios where all but one got away when some men working nearby came to her screams. The settler decided that hanging would be too big an insult to the flag of Mexico, so they tarred and feathered the soldier and walked him to the garrison with a warning that if anything like this offense happened again that there would not be a presidarios left alive.
In 1831, the Mexican presidarios were not happy with this little incident and their reaction resulted in the arrest of several soon to be heroes, namely one William Travis. This was the beginning of the spread of the words “Revolution”. The Mexicans released the Anglos. James Kerr was a member of the first organized gathering to make public pronouncement against the dictator Santa Anna.
In 1835, the Mexican government sent Captain Castenado to Gonzales to retrieve the old iron cannon and his orders were to use force if necessary but no matter what get the cannon. The Texians heard of his travels and Captain Albert Martin sent messengers to the settlers in the surrounding areas to come to his aid. James Kerr was among the patriots who rallied to the defense of the cannon when a Mexican force of one hundred and fifty men was dispatched from San Antonio to Gonzales to seize the cannon. The Texians attacked the force and drove them back to San Antonio with no Texian casualties. This was the beginning of the War of Independence for Texas.
The people of Gonzales began doing what they could to support the upcoming revolution by donating all their iron. The women brought in their flat irons, pots and pans. One woman even gave the spindle from her spinning wheel. Using the Gonzales ladies cherished silk dresses a committee had designed a flag. It would have a white field without a border and in the center a picture of the treasured cannon. Over the cannon a single five-pointed lone star was sewn and under the cannon the words, “Come and Take It”.
Major James Kerr died in Jackson County on his farm 7 miles north of Edna on Kerr’s Creek and was buried in the Kerr Cemetery. Engraved on the vault over his site is:
“Sacred to the memory of Dr. James Kerr, born in Boyle County, Kentucky, September 24, 1790. Emigrated to Missouri in 1808, then to Texas in the year 1825. Having participated in most of the trying scenes of the struggle for Texas Liberty, he died in Jackson County December 23, 1851.” (UPDATE: the year of death should be 1850 per the probate of the will of James Kerr at the county clerk’s office in Edna, Texas and the writings in A Texas Family by Major James Kerr Crain; marker is incorrect.)
UPDATE: You can read more about Joshua D. Brown on this blog at this link: https://blog.wilkinsonranch.com/2018/06/11/joshua-d-brown-founder-and-father-of-kerrville/
My mother’s, maternal grandmother was Grace Ida Stulting. Grace was born on 17 April 1869 in Gonzales, Gonzales County, Texas to Christopher Columbus Stulting and Elizabeth Virginia Tyler. [Note: the death certificate shows birth year as 1870 and also on the headstone, but the 1870 Gonzales County Census shows a 2-month-old Gracie] Just a year later, Alonzo Potter Brown was born on 17 April 1870 in Kerr County, Texas to Joshua D. Brown and Sarah Jane Goss. On the 18 November 1891, Grace and Potter were married in Gonzales, Gonzales County, Texas, and they lived in Kerrville, Kerr County, Texas, for the rest of their lives. They had three children, Roy N. Brown, born 8 Aug 1895, Gussie May Brown, born 3 September 1897 (my grandmother) and Jane Helena Brown born 17 Aug 1901. Grace lived until 20 April 1958 and Potter lived until 26 February 1964. Potter and Grace shared a long and happy life together.
Potter and Grace Brown at (I believe) Schreiner’s anniversary in Kerrville, Texas 1954.
Wyman Meinzer
