A beautiful mansion in Galveston

 This home was for sale a month ago. Built in 1885 it is listed as a Historic Site. 2402 Avenue L, Galveston, TX 

“James Moreau Brown (1821-1895), builder of Ashton Villa, erected this home in 1885 as a wedding gift for his daughter Matilda (1865-1926) and her husband Thomas Sweeney (d. 1905). Attributed to architect Nicholas J. Clayton, the Victorian cottage features angular dormer windows and a mariner’s wheel motif in the front porch balustrade. Judge Mart Royston, noted lawyer and civic leader, and his two sisters occupied the residence from 1911 until 1954.”

“Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 1978”

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The Halloween pet parade is coming to Black Mountain soon! (Hopefully!)

Today's quote:

Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.

PEMA CHÖDRÖN

Henry Rosenberg (or Chauncey Sweet Chapter 4)

Galveston days
Let's look at Chauncey G. Sweet's friend, Henry Rosenberg, who apparently left quite an imprint on Galveston, TX.

Taken the year of his death at 69

I'm posting this blog as a link to/from Sepia Saturday this week, though the topic ranges a bit far from the theme of city streets.  But as you read about Mr. Rosenberg, perhaps you'll see his great influence on the city might be similar to traffic flowing along the streets of Glasgow, or maybe not.

 The following is a column that was added to my Uncle Chauncey Sweet's page on Ancestry.com, letting us know about Henry Rosenberg, his friend and benefactor.

Henry Rosenberg - Galveston's Benefactor

By Michael Culpepper on September 5, 2010

This is the sixth edition of IBC's (Islander by Choice) monthly column for Galveston Monthly.  You can pick up a free Galveston Monthly at many local locations across the Island.

 My favorite Islander By Choice is Henry Rosenberg. Most Galvestonians probably associate his name with our public library or perhaps the elementary school located in the East End or maybe even 25th Street. What many people may not know is that he is responsible not only for many Galveston landmarks but also for many of the philanthropic ventures that kept Galveston livable in the early 20th century. He contributed in ways that he believed would make a unique and lasting impact.

Rosenberg was born in Bilten, Switzerland in 1824. He moved to Galveston in 1843 and worked in dry goods before eventually buying the business with his savings. By 1859, he owned the leading dry goods store in Texas.

 In the coming years, his titles would include: Swiss Counsel of Texas, Director of the First National Bank of Galveston, President and primary investor of the Galveston Railroad Company, and City Alderman to name a few.

 It was not until after Mr. Rosenberg's death in 1893 that Galvestonians realized how much space this fair city took up in his heart. He left large sums to build and support the Galveston Orphan's Home, The Rosenberg fountains, Rosenberg Free School, Eaton Chapel, Grace Episcopal Church, Galveston's first YMCA Building, the Texas Heroes Monument, and of course Rosenberg Library.  The Galveston Orphan's Home was built in 1895 on the west side of 21st street between M and M and M 1/2.

That same year, the Letitia Rosenberg Women's Home, named after his deceased first wife, was erected at 25th and O 1/2. The architecture and fabric of our island still benefit today from these contributions, but more importantly young lives were changed for the better within those walls.

The section of Henry Rosenberg's will that gets my "cool factor" award has to be the drinking fountains "for man and beast". He left $30,000 for fountains to be built throughout the city. That he wanted them in all communities and included the animals' needs says a lot about this man. 17 granite fountains were erected - most with lower basins for animals of all kinds to enjoy. About half of these fountains are still around today and can be viewed at various spots around the island. Each one is inscribed "Gift of Henry Rosenberg".

The Rosenberg Free School and the YMCA building were two very thoughtful gifts that we no longer get to enjoy (except through photos). The Free School was replaced in the mid 1900's by a more modern structure. The Galveston YMCA building was torn down in 1954.

The Texas Heroes Monument at the intersection of Broadway and Rosenberg Street, is one of the most viewed and admired landmarks in our city and is the reason that 25th was named after Rosenberg. 

Many may not realize that this monument tells the true story of the Texas Revolution. Most know that Lady Victory's extended arm points to the battle grounds at San Jacinto where independance was won for the Texans. However, there are also four very vivid bronze panels at the monument's base that show not only the victory of San Jacinto, but also the Goliad Massacre, the Battle of the Alamo, and General Houston Charging against the large numbers of the Mexican army at the final battle.

 

 In Rosenberg's eyes, his most important gift was the Library that now bears his name. It was the first free library in the state of Texas. In his will, he wrote about the gift of the library: "I desire to express a practical form of my affection for the city of my adoption and for the people among whom I have lived for so many years. Trusting ... that it will be a source of pleasure and profit to them and their children and their children's children for many generations."

 Henry Rosenberg's built his home (which still stands) in an older neighborhood on Market Street. It was an unusual move when people of his means were normally building mansions on Broadway. He preferred to live among society rather than above it. Rosenberg was a rich man in many ways, not the least of which was his richness of generosity toward people without means. It is something that, although has recently come into vogue, wasn't very prominent in Henry Rosenberg's time. His qualities should be an inspiration to any Islander.



Mrs. Rosenberg obviously had quite a sense of humor.  Why else would she have listed her exact age, and then her weight!  I don't know how many years she had been married to Henry, who was 17 years her senior.  I think I would have liked to meet this lady.

For lots more information about my great great great (not sure how many) Uncle Chauncey G. Sweet...look HERE.

Chauncey Granger Sweet, 1865, Chapter I

Born on Feb. 6, 1965, Beaumont, Texas.

In early Galveston, (and Sabine Pass, and Beaumont, Texas) especially through the Civil War, my family was caring for each other, especially the orphaned children.  My grandmother's mother Zulieka and her sister Ada's parents died early during the Civil War.  They may have been raised in the home of their aunts, one of whom was Elizabeth (Lizzie) Granger Sweet.  Lizzie's husband was Sidney Sweet and he died in 1875 leaving her to raise her own children, Chauncey Granger Sweet (10) and his sister Lucy Azalea Sweet (7). T

he other aunt was Lucy Granger Wakeley (or Wakelee) and I believe my great grandmother may have lived with them as well. More information about their lives will come soon.

Chauncey G Sweet was my grandmother's great-Uncle Chauncey.  My grandmother named one of her sons after him, Chauncey Sweet Rogers.  His mother was my grandmother's grandmother's sister.

OK, the fun begins...census searches:

In 1870 Census of Sabine Pass, Texas, Chauncey G. Sweet is part of a family with his father, Sidney J. Sweet, (48) listed as a Tinner, born in MA.  Mother Elizabeth Sweet (36) was also born in MA.

There are 4 children listed, and I only knew of the younger two until this discovery looking at the original documents. Ancestry didn't have them part of their chart yet.  Mary E. is 16 in 1870.  Fanny A. Sweet is 8.  Chauncey G. Sweet was 5, and Lucy A. was 2.  All the children were born in Texas. However, the two elder children must have died fairly young, because they don't appear in later census lists.  However, a girl of 16 could also have married, which was frequently done.  Fanny at 8 is the missing member of that family.

Chauncey G. shows up next in the 1880 Galveston Census.  C.G. Sweet (15) was a clerk and living as a boarder with his Aunt and Uncle Wakely.  At that time Alex (sic) Wakely was a Ships Chandler (age 45) and his wife Lucy (Lizzie's sister) was listed on the census as L.E. at 40.  Also in the household were my great-grandmother Zulieka (21) and her little sister Ada (19).  Mr. Wakeley was actually named Augustus, but it was written wrong on the census sheet.

Also on that census report, C.G. Sweet's father is reported from Mass, as well as his mother who was born in Newburyport, MA.  C.G. was also listed as having been born in Sabine Pass, TX. Other sources say Beaumont.  I just found a photo of a marker for Chauncey's father, Sidney J. Sweet in Sabine Pass, TX.  Here's the picture of the memorial to C.G.'s great aunt, Julia Sweet (Burgett) and Sidney J. Sweet in Sabine Pass, TX.  Unfortunately this marker memorializes several family members who died of yellow fever in 1862.  Julia Sweet Burgett had already lost her first husband, Maj. Sidney A. Sweet, who is included on this marker. He would have been C.G.'s grandfather's brother, I believe. Most of this information came from Texas Find-A-Grave, where the story surrounding that yellow fever epidimic was told.

More in the next Chapter...soon.

Early Galveston and my family

Let's think a minute about Galveston, Texas.  It has not always just been a tourist destination.


My father was born there almost a hundred years ago in 1914.
His father, George Elmore Rogers, Sr., built the house my father was born in, and they lived there many years. (See george-elmore-rogers-sr HERE)

House built by George Rogers Sr. in Galveston, TX

My grandfather's mother, Bettie Bass Rogers, lived in Galveston the later part of her life (from before the storm of 1900 till her death in 1924).  (I featured my family survivors of the Storm of 1900 HERE)

My father's mother, Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers, was raised in Galveston.

Her mother, Zulieka Phillips Swasey had been raised as an orphan in Galveston during and following the Civil War. (See this blog posting on Zulieka Phillips Swasey's birthday.)  Zulieka and Ada Phillips were brought up in an Aunt and Uncle's home, probably that of  Elizabeth Pulsifer Granger Sweet and Sidney Sweet.  Or perhaps another Aunt and Uncle were the sister's Phillips guardians.  I have some letters written in the household by children, which don't describe clearly who was where.

Many of the men in my grandmother's family were ship captains (See captain-alexander-g-swaseys-ship-ella HERE).  Some had been ship builders from South Carolina or before that from Massachusetts, (See george-tyler-granger HERE)

A coastal life seems idyllic, doesn't it?  Well, some of the time...and that's when there aren't storms.  There is poor soil to grow a garden.  And little children can drown easily.  But if there's a port like Galveston, there are new goods available, and sailors, and everything sailors like in their lives. Some of that would have been nice for raising families, some of it might not have been.




But what of the time when Galveston was the largest city in Texas?  My family first came there before the Civil War. 

The Handbook of Texas History (see below) talks about an epidemic of Yellow Fever in 1867, affecting three fourths of the population.  "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."

Incidentally I can't find anyone in my family tree who died in 1867.  But of the relatives living in Galveston at that time, there are a lot who don't even have a date of their death.  That has little meaning, but the conjecture is that if 20 people died in a day, (see below) it was probably difficult to keep track of who they were.

Also many people would pass through an international port from far across the oceans.  Many of the German settlers in Texas came through Galveston.  So my mother's grandfather's parents might have walked the streets as they first learned English before going towards Hillsboro, Texas.

I've visited Galveston as a child, and later as an adult who lived out of state.  It has looked different each time, including how the Gulf waters rolled upon the sands.

I'll let you read the entire article below, if you're interested in more information about historic Galveston.





I'm also posting this for the meme over at Sepia Saturday for the last post of 2013...Happy Holidays everyone!
 Click here to go see what everyone else is up to...world wide!



Source:
Handbook of Texas History online 

GALVESTON, TEXAS. The city of Galveston is on Galveston Island two miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, at 29°18' north latitude and 94°47' west longitude, in Galveston County. It is fifty miles from Houston and is the southern terminal point of Interstate Highway 45. The island is a part of the string of sand barrier islands along the coastal zone of Texas. On its eastern end where the city stands the currents of Galveston Bay maintain a natural harbor which historically provided the best port site between New Orleans and Veracruz.

 Karankawa Indians used the island for hunting and fishing, and it was the probable location of the shipwreck landing of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1528. José de Evia^qv, who charted the Texas coast in 1785, named Galveston Bay in honor of Bernardo de Gálvez, the viceroy of Mexico. Later mapmakers applied the name Galveston to the island. Louis Aury established a naval base at the harbor in 1816 to support the revolution in Mexico, and from this point Aury, Francisco Xavier Mina, and Henry Perry launched an unsuccessful attack against the Spanish in Mexico.

When Aury returned with his ships after leaving Perry and Mina on the Mexican coast he found Galveston occupied by Jean Laffite, who had set up a pirate camp called Campeachy to dispose of contraband and provide supplies for the freebooters. In 1821, however, the United States forced Laffite to evacuate.

Mexico designated Galveston a port of entry in 1825 and established a small customshouse in 1830. During the Texas Revolution the harbor served as the port for the Texas Navy and the last point of retreat of the Texas government. Following the war Michel B. Menard and a group of investors obtained ownership of 4,605 acres at the harbor to found a town. After platting the land in gridiron fashion and adopting the name Galveston, Menard and his associates began selling town lots on April 20, 1838. The following year the Texas legislature granted incorporation to the city of Galveston with the power to elect town officers.

Galveston grew on the strength of the port; cotton moved outward, and farming supplies and immigrants came in. The city served as a transfer point for oceangoing vessels and coastal steamers which ran a route through Galveston Bay and Buffalo Bayou to Houston. 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.

Business collapsed, however, when the Civil War brought a blockade of the port by Union ships and a brief occupation of the town by federal troops. The dramatic battle of Galveston on New Year's Day, 1863, ended the occupation, but the port remained isolated and served mainly as a departure point for small blockade runners. 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. It had the first structure to use electric lighting, the Galveston Pavilion; the first telephone; and the first baseball game in the state. The Galveston News, founded in 1842, is the state's oldest continuing daily newspaper. The Galveston buildings, especially those designed by architect Nicholas J. Clayton, were among the finest of the time; in 1881 the city won the site of the state medical school in a statewide election; and the Grand Opera House was built in 1894 and presented the best theatrical productions in Texas. The opera house was restored as a modern performing arts hall in the 1980s.
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. 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. In 1980 it had a population of 61,902 and ranked twenty-ninth in the state.

Around 1900 business leaders redesigned the city government into the first commission form in the country (see COMMISSION FORM OF CITY GOVERNMENT). Their idea was to have the governor of the state appoint a mayor and four commissioners. Each commissioner would control a specific function of government-finance, police and fire control, water and sewage, streets and public improvements. Since the original plan was patently undemocratic, it was subsequently revised to provide for the election of the officers. The commission plan was somewhat popular in the years before World War I but faded in the 1920s in favor of the city-manager plan. Galveston, however, continued with the commission government until 1960, when it too changed to a city-manager form.
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^qv shut down bars such as the famous Ballinese Room, destroyed gambling equipment, and closed many houses of prostitution. Between 1985 and 1988 Galveston voters in nonbinding referenda defeated proposals to legalize casino gambling, although proponents argued that gambling could promote the local economy. Pursuant to a law enacted by the Texas legislature, however, gambling on board cruise ships embarking from Galveston was expected to boost business activity in the wharf district beginning in September 1989.

Galveston has survived on its port, tourism, and the University of Texas Medical Branch^qv. In the later 1900s the Galveston Historical Foundation encouraged historic preservation in the old business area of the Strand and various Victorian homes, which has added to the visitor attractions of the city. The famous Rosenberg Library serves as a circulating library as well as an important repository for archival materials pertaining to the history of Galveston and Texas. The restoration of the nineteenth-century square-rigged vessel, Elissa, in 1975–82 gave Texans their own "Tall Ship" to sail into New York harbor for the celebration of the centennial of the Statue of Liberty. In 2000 the population was 57,247.

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).

In honor of the hurricane survivors of my family

Sept 8-9, 1900.  Galveston, Texas.  Hurricane.

I'll share the life of one of my great-great aunts who raised my great grandmother.

Elizabeth Pulsifer Granger Sweet was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1833.  She was the sister of my great-great grandmother Mary Granger Phillips who died just as the Civil War broke out.

Elizabeth was called Lizzy in Mary's letters from Beaumont, Texas to her, telling of her children's births, and various domestic interests, while Lizzy was living in Galveston, Texas.  I think she also raised Mary's daughters, Zulie and Ada Phillips, after she married Sidney Sweet, from New York.  They had 2 children and by the time the oldest was around 10, Elizabeth (Lizzy) was widowed (1875.)

Elizabeth Sweet (age 69) was living at 1709 Winnie St. in Galveston, as of the June 7, 1900 census, with her son Chauncey Sweet, (age 37) his wife Ada Phillips Sweet, (age 34), nephew Lucian Chamberlain, (3) nieces Ada Swasey (14) and Stella Swasey (12).
(NOTE: Ada Phillips Sweet will be honored on her birthday Sept. 15 here on my blog.)

Sept. 8-9, 1900 was the worst storm to hit that island within recorded history.  This was before storms were given names, but it was known by my grandmother, Ada Swasey Rogers and her family as the Storm of 1900.   And they would say, "Nineteen Ought."

There's a book that I was given by my grandmother about the storm, about some of the people and about the buildings, A Weekend in September by John Edward Weems (1957.)  What is interesting is the difference from today's vacation town and the city of Galveston that was then a boom town, that had become a major port connecting the western US by rail and shipping with the East.

So when a storm killed 6000 people (estimated, there were 4200 listed names) and the rail was knocked out by the storm, the survivors had to deal with the same lack of food, transportation, sanitation, and clean water that all storm survivors deal with, as well as disposal of the bodies of the dead on an island.  Horses and wagons were the standard mode of travel following the storm. The book isn't particularly enjoyable reading, and I had to steel my guts to approach it, and read it through as fast as I could.

My father's parent's families all lived through the storm.  I never heard them say a word about it.  When I asked my grandmother, she just gave me the book.  She married 5 years after the storm, so was a teen during it...(she's listed as Ada Swasey (14) in the 1900 census).  All these people that survived such an event probably had great respect for survivors of other major storms.  But they had already faced their own fears, hadn't they?

I'm sharing today's story with others on Sepia Saturday this week.  Come over there to see many other interesting photos which are sepia (or not.)

Annie Lou's skiff

(Author's note.  I've since this post found more information which changes that below.  My grandfather and Annie Lou were not orphaned nor raised by their aunt and uncle.  And the middle name of Elmore refers to a distant relation of their uncle, named Elmore Ross, from the Revolutionary War. See newer posts about Annie Lou Rogers Wilson. Note date: May 9,  2015)

Remember there were pirates active in the Gulf of Mexico still at the turn of that century.

Annie Lou Gibbs Rogers Wilson was my father's father's sister, born March 10,1879 in Huntsville, TX, died July 11, 1956 in Hitchcock, TX.  She and my grandfather (2 years older) were orphaned the year she was born and then raised in the home of their father's sister, Alice Luella Rogers Ross and John Elmore Ross.  They might have been their god-parents, because my grandfather and my father's middle names were also Elmore, or maybe there was someone else named Elmore that I have yet to learn about.  Whoever Elmore was will have to be another story.  But perhaps Annie Lou brought Alice Luella's middle name forward also?

Though Great-Aunt Annie Lou was alive in my lifetime, I don't remember ever meeting her.  It's probably because I was just a child, and only interested in childish things.

I found some interesting photos - of her "skiff" and/or a sailboat in Galveston, TX.  They look like they've been in a fire. (My father's family had a house fire in Fort Worth in the 30s). This is the condition in which they came down to me.

October 30, 1904

10-30-1904

Annie Lou's Skiff

10-30-1904

on

Hannas reef

Galveston Bay

In none of these photos do I see anyone resembling a woman of 1904.  But it's  possible.  Maybe the shorter person on the end of the fish display could be a woman dressed as a man.

Who are the other men?
I wonder if Great-Uncle Chauncey is one of them, perhaps the one with mustache and bowler hat, since he owned the bank in Galveston. (He was my grandmother's uncle).

I wonder if my grandfather, George Elmore Rogers is one of them, probably a rather short man, because I do remember that he wasn't very tall.

Incidentally, George Elmore Rogers married Ada Phillips Swasey in June 1905, (my grandparents).  Aunt Annie Lou married Patrick Henry Wilson the next year, 1906, and then they had 3 children.

So this is a glimpse of the life of my great-aunt as a young woman, or at least the men who went fishing with her.

I love that it was called Annie Lou's skiff, meaning probably the rowboat. 

I'm submitting this post to Sepia Saturday this week.
It's about boats after all!