Aticle from May 96 The Naturalist
Houston Audubon Society
440 Wilchester Boulevard
Houston, Texas 77079-7329
A History of the High Island Sanctuaries
By Sara M. Bettencourt
Our first foray followed the life of Martin Dunman, the original owner of what is now Houston Audubon Society sanctuary land, until his death in 1852. In 1854 the estate was settled and his assets, of which the High Island land was a part, were divided among his wife and eight children. The land now containing Smith Oaks Sanctuary was inherited by the youngest child, Emily. Her share of the land was approximately 160 acres, valued at that time at $240.00. She also inherited two Stock Horses, four Mares, a splash of cash, 329.5 acres at the Rolling Over Place, 184 Cattle and part of a Horse all told, a $1,877.63 value.
Emily Ella Dunman (she preferred the name Emma) was born about seven weeks after her fathers death. In 1867, at the advanced age of 14, she married Walter Berwick Shaw, born at Point Bolivar in 1844. Walter was a rebel. That is, he had served as a Private in Co. K, 21st Texas Cavalry (known as the 1st Texas Lancers), Confederate States Army. Emma received a Confederate Widows Pension from the state of Texas in 1910. Her application states that Walter joined his cavalry regiment at Refugio or Goliad in 1862, saw duty in Arkansas, Louisiana and Missouri, served honorably all through the war, never deserted, and was discharged on the Little Brazos in 1865. However, the records in Washington, D.C. show that Walter served in this unit for only five months in 1862. Regardless, he indeed defended the Confederacy for at least some length of time, and his widow received a pension eight dollars per month the same awarded to all qualifying Texas Confederate widows.
In 1914 the Texas Legislature approved an increase in Confederate pensions, but Emma encountered no small trouble in obtaining hers. She dashed off several letters to the Commissioner of Pensions, one to wit: sir I sente an application for an increace of pension sined by Dr gober and the the [duplicate sic] onerd [i.e., honored?] Judge Willson of eaumont as to my kneed of the pension which was sente in September but I havent hird eney thing from it my first aplication was was [duplicate sic] maid out in Galveston and began on Dec the 1 and the no is 19643 will you pleas attende to it for me and oblige We must hope Emmas persistence was obliged.
Walter Berwick Shaw, his grandchildren report, was a man of extraordinary imagination, a mystic of magical chimera.
Around the turn of the century, when the grandchildren were small, they would gather around Grandpa and listen with fascination. One day, Walter would say, you will know all that you dont know you don't know. There will be carts that can go a hundred miles an hour. People will fly way out to the stars. And one day, we will capture the voice of Christ because its still out there. (That got me thinking. What does happen to sound waves after my ear can no longer detect them? Are they still out there somewhere?)
Walter died in 1903 at age 59, in Papalote, TX (in Bee County) and is buried in the Protestant Cemetery. Thereafter, Emma lived with a daughter in Beaumont until her death from Brights Disease the day after Christmas, 1919, at age 67. Emma is buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Beaumont.
(Hmmmm. . . Brights Disease . . . a kidney ailment. There was a fellow, bout that time, name of George Smith, who claimed his Mineral Springs water would cure that particular malady and just about everything else that ails. Guess where old George discovered his famous waters? Upon his High Island land, the same land that had been Emmas inheritance, the same that today is the Smith Oaks Sanctuary. Wonder if Emma ever tried that cure or made the connection? Ahh. . . but I'm jumping ahead of myself. I cannot, now, tell you more about George Smith, because he isnt next.)
Emma and Walter Shaw had eight children and resided in Patton Beach (now Crystal Beach) on Bolivar Peninsula, in Brazoria and Bee counties, and in Beaumont, but it has not been ascertained if they ever lived upon Emmas land at High Island . . . because, you see, the Shaws owned this land for only a few years. It was in 1874, just seven years after they married, that Emma and Walter Shaw sold Emmas High Island property for $1,000 to John and Mary Ann Brown. The property remained with the Brown descendants for a period of over 110 years, until a section was purchased by the Houston Audubon Society.
What is known about the Browns? Born around 1810 in Pittsburgh, PA, John Brown married Mary Ann McGill, who was born about 1819 (data conflicts as to the actual date). They resided in Louisiana and several areas of Texas West Columbia, Brazoria, Bastrop, Galveston and High Island. A carpenter, blacksmith and farmer, in the early 1880s Brown also operated a grocery store located at 30th and Avenue M in Galveston. According to the family story, John loved oak trees and not having much to do in his golden years, planted oak trees, not only on his property, but all over High Island. It is said that any oak trees at High Island planted in a line were planted by John Brown. Perhaps you have noticed the large tree in the Smith Oaks Sanctuary with the honorary plaque announcing it as the John Brown Oak. In 1988, through the efforts of Bessie Cornelius of Beaumont, this tree was dedicated by the East Texas Nature Club and voted a member of the Live Oak Society of the Louisiana Garden Club Federation, Inc., thereby certifying that it is over 100 years old. It was measured at the time as being 17 feet, 4 inches in diameter and having a canopy of 144 feet. It is thought that any tree whose girth is greater than 17 feet is at least 100 years old. If John Brown indeed planted the oak trees, it is likely he did not plant his namesake, as it is larger than the others. It is altogether fitting, however, that this oak honor John Browns conservation efforts.
John Brown died at about age 78 in Galveston. It was August 18, 1886, the same day that a hurricane hit the Texas coast, inflicting some damage to Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula. (His death was listed as due to old age and senile debility and was, therefore, unrelated to the hurricane.)
The Galveston Daily News for August 20 and 21 reported that in Galvestons east end, the water was waist deep and the streets running from bay to gulf . . . were like rivers.
Some of you Texas history buffs will know that this storm made not Galveston, but another Texas town, famous. This hurricane destroyed forever the small coastal port of Indianola. The storm surge carried away or left uninhabitable every single building in that town. Today, Indianola exists only in a few foundation fragments and remembrance.
Lest you check the Galveston records to corroborate John Browns death date, let me me admit to some confusion in the records.
The date recorded in the Brown family Bible is listed above. The Galveston city death records and the newspaper Mortuary Report, however, list his date of death as September 27, 1886 over a month later. As evidence goes, family Bible entries usually recorded at the time of the event, and by someone who ought to know are pretty reliable. On the other hand, city officials in the 1800s did not attend to administrative details with the same insistence as today. In addition, it is hard to imagine that Johns widow, in the midst of a personal crisis, would put as her first priority battling a hurricane and wading through waist deep water simply to inform the officials that a John Brown had gone to his reward. Perhaps it took her a month to get around to it. Yet it is intriguing that the death records list not only his death date, but also his burial date as September 27, 1886. Should we believe that John was buried over a month after his death? Perhaps they had to wait for the flood waters to recede. The records show that he was interred in the Old City cemetery in Galveston (located at 40th between Broadway and Avenue K). But, unfortunately, the cemetery office records were destroyed in the 1900 storm (which did make Galveston famous). And no one has yet compiled a tombstone-by-tombstone enumeration of this cemetery. One is, therefore, tempted to quip just where does John Browns body lie amolderin in the grave?
Johns wife, Mary Ann, died in Galveston in 1890 around age 71. She, also, was buried in the Old City Cemetery, perhaps, however, in a different plot from her husband. The records are ambiguous. Maybe someday their head stones will be rediscovered. (Although several have asked about the marked graves at Smith Oaks, no land owners are buried on sanctuary property. These graves have been determined to be the last resting places of beloved family pets.)
The Browns had a cadre of six children, but the time has come to close this current correspondence. The next chapter will convey with which child this conundrum continues. (Hint: her name begins with C.) Ciao!
This is the second in a series of articles by Sara Bettencourt on the High Island Sanctuaries. The series will continue in future issues of The Naturalist.