Bastrop Advertiser and Bastrop County News (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. [122], No. 50, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 12, 1976 Page: 9 of 12
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Bastrop (Texas) Advertiser, February 12. 197b
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HERITAGE "76
OUR PAST
BASTROP COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE
Ff
(The following article is
taken from the 1955 Bastrop
Advertiser publication. "In the
Shadow of the Lost Pines". Due
to the length of the article, it is
being carried in two parts. Part
I appeared in this column last
week and Part II appears
below. This column is being
provided by the Bastrop
Heritage "76" Committee.)
SAVEt) BY A DREAM
By J. O. Smith
PART II
In this condition he had a
remarkable vision of his sister.
The apparition said to him:
"Brother Josiah, you are too
weak to go any farther by
yourself. Stay here and help
will come before tomorrow's
setting of the sun." She spoke
other words of comfort and
then moved away in the
direction of the Hornsby home.
It was six weeks later that the
news was received in Texas
that his sister, Mrs. Margaret
Clifton, had died in St. Lewis
County, Missouri, a few hours
before Wilbarger was wounded
and scalped.
The two men who escaped
returned to the Hornsby home
and reported that they had
seen the Indians kill Wilbarger,
Strother and Christian as they
fled. A consultation was held
and it was decided not to go
after the bodies until the next
day as it was feared that the
Indians might be lurking in the
vicinity and they knew that
they did not have enough men
to cope with the large force of
Indians that had attacked the
surveying party.
During the night Mrs.
Hornsby had a dream. In her
dream she saw Wilbarger,
wounded and bleeding and
naked, but alive, leaning
against a tree beside Pecan
Spring. The dream was so vivid
and terrible that it awoke her.
She was so impressed and
disturbed that she awakened
her husband and told him of her
vision, begging him to take the
men and go after Wilbarger.
Mr. Hornsby assured her that it
could only be a dream, and they
would go next day in search of
the bodies.
But she would not be
convinced that it was not true
and was so persistant in her
argument that he called the
three men who had escaped and
told them about the incident.
They said it was hardly possible
that Wilbarger could be alive.
They had seen his neck pierced
thru and thru by the arrow and
had seen the Indians gather
around the three men and begin
cutting them with their knives.
They were so positive he was
dead that all went back to bed
and asleep.
Mrs. Hornsby again had the
same identical dream and again
near morning she had the vision
of the terrible plight of
Wilbarger the third time. She
arose then and prepared
breakfast before daylight and
awakened the men to eat so
they might go to the rescue of
Wilbarger whom she was
firmly convinced was alive.
She filled a Mexican gourd
with milk and sent it along, for
she said Wilbarger would be
hungry. She also sent two
sheets, one to cover the bodies
of Christian and Strother and
the other to wrap around
Wilbarger, whom she said had
been stripped by the Indians.
By daybreak the rescue
party was in saddle and on its
way. In the party, besides the
three men who were in the fatal
encounter the day before, were
Reuben Hornsby, his 16
year old son, William; a Mr.
Webber, Joseph Rogers and
John Walters. When the party
neared Pecan Springs they
were startled to see a naked,
blood - covered body rise from
sitting beside a large tree. Mr.
Rogers, thinking it was a
wounded Indian from the band
which killed the two w hite men
the day before, shouted, "Here
they are, boys!" and raised his
gun to fire.
Wilbarger, faint and in a
weak voice, raised his hands
and called, "Don't shoot, boys,
it's Wilbarger." The wounded
man was given the milk to
drink and, after the sheet had
been wrapped about his body,
he was lifted onto the horse in
front of William Hornsby and
taken to the Hornsby home.
Some of the others got the
other bodies and prepared
them for burial. Mrs. Wilbar-
ger, who was at home on
Barton's Prairie caring for the
children and looking after the
A Friendly Church With A Hearty Welcome
United Pentecostal Church
Loop 150 East, Bastrop, Texas
Sunday School __ __ __ __ __ 9:45 A. M.
Morning Worship __ __ II :00 A.M.
Sunday Evening __ __ __ __ __ 7:30 P. M.
Bible Study - Wednesday __ __ 7:30 P.M.
G. R. GOWIN, Pastor
Phone 321-3418
Franke - Sales & Service
SEPTIC SYSTEM INSTALLED
DRIVEWAY GRAVEL - FILL DIRT - LOAM
ALL SIZES WASHED GRAVEL
ALL GRADES WASHED SAND
BACK HOE SERVICE
M. J. FRANKE
Phone 321-5 38! Bastrop, Texas
2-tf
Antonio fuarvs. Maittr Uphol«t«rer
it CAMPC'I—Contract Work Only
S«ptic Systvms a Specialty—Dirt—Sand
Grcnrwi—Roads—Culvert*—Backha* Work
Lorenzo Juarez, Superintendent
* RIAL ESTATE
loe Echais. Broker
* PRO SHOP RECREATION
Dancing—Swimming—Pool Table*
Located Highway 95 Betw««n Bastrop and Elgin
Phone [oe Echols—321 3240—Pro Shop—321 3396
RUNKLE'S
Appliance Service
WASHERS, DRYERS, DISHWASHERS
REFRIGERATORS, FREEZERS &
ROOM AIR CONDITIONERS REPAIRED
321-2061 Bastrop, Texas
place while her husband was
away surveying, was notified
and rushed to the side of her
husband.
Medical aid was obtained for
Mr. Wilbarger as soon as
possible and his scalp soon
began to heal. Before long he
was able to be moved to his
home on Barton's Prairie.
A small place on the top of his
head never did Beal. The
scarfed scalp and open sore
were kept covered with a silk
cap. Silk was a scarce and
expensive article in Texas in
those days, so Mrs. Wilbarger
made the caps from her silk
dress which was a part of her
trousseau when she was
married in Missouri. The
wedding dress of a bride of
today would not furnish enough
material for very many caps,
but this dress provided cap
material for manv years.
Strange as this story may
seem the details were varified
in an interview a number of
years ago with Miss Fenora
Chambers, a daughter of Mrs.'
Margaret Chambers, whose
first husband was Josiah
Wilbarger.
In the interview. Miss
Chambers said: "Wilbarger's
vision of his sister and Mrs.
Hornsby's dream were talked
about far and wide throughout
Texas by the settlers and I
have heard the incident
discussed many times during
my childhood and younger days
while I lived in that part of the
state. Settlers marveled all the
more about a month after
Wilbarger was scalped when a
letter was received saying that
his sister had died in Florisant,
Missouri, on the same day that
she appeared to him in the
vision. It is just one of those
things which we do not expect
to understand on this earth."
Miss Chamber's mother died
at Bastrop at the age of 87
years in 1897. She was born in
1810 in Missouri and married
Josiah Wilbarger in 1827 in
Lincoln County, Missouri. She
was the only child of her
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lehman
Barker, and when she and her
husband decided to move to
Texas on their honeymoon and
carve out their fortunes in the
new country about which
Stephen F. Austin and his
father, Moses Austin, had
carried such wonderful stories
back to Missouri, her parents
decided to accompany them.
Soon after her seventeenth
birthday, the party of pioneers
set out for Texas, which they
regarded as the land of
opportunity. She and her
husband rode in a covered
wagon, while her parents rode
horseback. Her grandmother,
who also decided to accompany
them on the pioneer venture
drove a conveyance called a
covered carry all. The aged
grandmother drove her team of
horses all the way.
"My people were six weeks
on the road to Texas," Miss
Chambers said. "They lived
first at Matagorda, where Mr.
Wilbarger taught school for a
year. Meanwhile he and Mr.
Barker were looking about for a
suitable place to obtain a grant
of land from the Mexican
Government and to settle
permanently. They decided
they wanted a grant of land on
Barton's Prairie, near Bastrop,
about twenty five miles down
the Colorado River from
Austin. They obtained grants
from Stephen F. Austin and
became members of Austin's
second Colony. Austin had
settled 300 families of Ameri
can settlers under his first
contract, between 1821 and
1824, and then obtained his
second contract to settle 800
additional families in 1825."
DID YOU KNOW
That today, right is the Point
of Honor with our American
Flag at all times. It is to the
right of the Commander at a
meeting, to the right of a
speaker, on the right in a Color
Guard and in a parade. It's own
blue field is always to it's own
right.
SIX SITES
More than 60 percent of all
cancer cases in the United
States and over half the deaths
begin with malignancies at six
sites: breast, colon rectum,
lung, mouth, skin and uterus,
the American Cancer Society
says. Thousands of lives could
be saved each year if more
people would learn early
warning signs of these cancers
and have regular checkups.
Sam Reed
attends Nat'l
Convention
Sam G. Reed. Republican
Party Chairman of Bastrop
County, met with President
Ford and an impressive array
of administration, congres-
sional and party leaders at the
Young Republican National
Leadership Conference in
Washington last week.
The four - day conclave drew
some 1000 YR leaders from
across the country to the
Capital's Shoreham Americana
Hotel in the heart of the city.
Highlight of the conference
was a January 29 White House
reception. President Ford met
personally with Reed and other
delegates to review his national
program and discuss priorities
for the coming year.
Reed arrived in Washington
January 28 and began the
conference agenda with a
Congressional reception hosted
by South Carolina Senator
Strom Thurmond at the
Dirksen Senate Office Building.
New York Congressman Jack
Kemp key noted the Thursday
morning session, followed by a
seminar on foreign policy and
national defense. Former
Ambassador to Great Britain
Elliot Richardson, in his first
major public speech since his
appointment as Secretary of
Commerce, addressed a
luncheon session the same day.
A jam packed reception for
the President's son, Jack Ford,
climaxed what was perhaps the
most exciting day for the
delegates.
A parade of national lumin-
aries continued Friday with a
briefing on the economy by
Treasury Secretary William E.
Simon. Senator Jack Garn of
Utah presented overviews of
social issues. Reed also heard
from Representative Paul
McCloskey of California during
the long day of work sessions.
Capping the Conference was
the Bicentennial Banquet Jan-
uary 31 in the impressive
Regency Room. The speakers
included Senator Jesse Helms
of North Carolina and Senator
Paul Laxalt of Nevada.
Reed, who also serves as
National Committeeman from
Texas, attended the National
Committee meeting held Sat-
urday, January 31, where the
1977 Young Republican Na-
tional Convention was awarded
to Memphis, Tennessee.
Fire Truck
Restoration
in Progress
Texas Educational Commis-
sion member, Jim Badjet, was
accompanied by Charlie Lun-
day and Leon Grohman to the
Rio Grande Valley on January
30th.
Mr. Badjet is also an
instructor of Fire Protection
and Technology courses at
Austin Community College.
Some of the courses offered are
Fundamentals of F "e Protec-
tion, Industrial Fire Protection
I&II, Fire Protection Systems,
Fire Prevention, Fire Admin-
istration I&II. Hazardous
Materials I&II, Building Codes
and Construction, Fire and
Arson Investigation, Fire
Fighting Tactics and Strategy,
and Legal Aspects of Fire
Protection.
The purpose of the trip was
to pick up and return to Austin
a 1927 American LaFrance
Hosewagon Fire Truck. The
truck will be restored to its
original condition by Jim
Badjet and students of Fire
Protection and Technology
classes.
The 1927 American LaFrance
Hosewagon will be displayed
across the state of Texas in
numerous parades and conven
tions. This truck will be
displayed at the Texas State
Fireman and Fire Marshall
Convention in Austin in June.
At the convention there will be
approximately 4000 firemen
from all over the state
displaying their knowledge and
skills.
Charlie Lunday is employed
with the City of Austin as a
firefighter and holds the rank of
Lieutenant. Mr. Lunday is
enrolled at Austin Community
College, working toward an
Associate of Applied Science
degree He is also a Fire Chief
of the Five Points Volunteer
Fire Department.
Leon Grohman. also a mem-
ber of Five Points Vol. Fire
Dept. furnished his pickup and
flatbed trailer to haul the fire
truck back to Austin. Mr.
Grohman is a rancher and is
currently seeking the position
of Commissioner for Precinct
Fame at best is fleeting, but it
lives longest on psrsonality.
"YANKEE DOODLE" TOUR - Vignettes of American history will be given • lively recreation
by a touring company from The University of Texas Drama Department, which will present the
musical revue "Yankee Doodle" in more than 30 Texas cities between February and May.
Presenting highlights of American history through song, dance, mime and humor will be a
12 - member cast, almost all of whom are either recent graduates or students of the Drama
Department. The cast includes [front) Scott Hard of Richardson and Deborah Malone of San
Antonio, a Texas Lutheran College graduate; [center| Dock Jackson of Bastrop, Bunny Dees of
Texarkana, Erie Henshaw of Austin, Sherry Bashaw of Fort Worth, and David Huffman of New
Eagle, Pa., and [back] Brian Carpenter of Brownsville, Mark Rodgers of Tyler, Richard Craig of
Austin and Port Arthur. Daniel Jones of Dickinson and Richard Porter of Houston.
Leaves From A Preacher's
Notebook By J. Troy Hickman
"SURRENDERING"
TO THE MINISTRY
I have heard pastors talk standably slow to trust
mv
about having "surrendered" to
the ministry. It is becoming an
outmoded term, and I think
deservedly so. It suggests that
the Lord laid special siege to
the man (an ego - gratifying
notion), that the besieged one
for a time fled, evaded,. or
resisted, then reluctantly gave
in. For all I know, it may have
happened that way to many
men.
We all tend to bring our
person."' experiences"within the
bounds ot accepted prototype
events, especially when it
seems gratifying, romantic, or
advantageous so to do. After
all, wasn't St. Paul struck down
on the Damascus Road, and
wasn't that a dramatic way to
be called?
In my boyhood we often
attended rural revivals held
under brush arbors. Saint after
saint would rise up and testify
about having been struck by
the Spirit while in a brush
arbor meeting, and having
resisted for a while, despite
prayerful efforts made in his
behalf at the mourners bench;
and finally how he capitulated
to the Lord while he was
plowing a field; whereupon he
stopped the mule, wrapped the
line around the plow handle,
got down on his knees, and
became a new creature.
I do not doubt the
authenticity or value of such
religious experiences for those
who have them. It is just that I
somehow in childhood got the
idea that one had to get religion
that way, or not at all; and not
everyone had a plow, a mule,
and a field to use that way.
My decision to enter the
ministry happened about like
this. I was at the time a law
student at The University of
Texas, in the middle of a
three year course. To answer
your question: "Yes, I was
doing well enough in my
courses".
There was something here
purely human and prudential;
but there was more. What that
"more" was, I cannot say now.
It was not an irresistable
compulsion, neither was it just
a notion. I heard no Voice; no
lightning struck me. The
desire began on a low note and
slowly grew more clear and
persuasive.
Perhaps the package which
made up my thrust toward the
ministry included such factors
as my ancestry and family
history. We were always
church people, no better or
worse than others. We were,
socially and economically,
average people of the middle
class.
My interest was not from
piety alone. We were about like
most of our neighbors and
friends. It probably wasn't due
to the mood of the times or the
place where I was. A state
university campus, or the one I
knew then, was by no means a
monastery My friends there
were, for the most part, of the
earth earthy, and few of them
attended church regularly or
had much use at that time for
organized religion.
My parents, who had already
financed my education toward
two professions, were under
Each year the Veterans
Administration provides some
training for about half of the
nation's 9,000 new physicians,
medical residents and medical
students.
Cancer Fund
Raising Drive
Kicks Off
Barbara Lewis, Chairman of
the American Cancer Society's
Educational and Fund Raising
Drive for Area II. cnallenged
over 40 volunteers of the
Society's District 7 to "work
within their communities to
help wipe out Cancer in our
lifetimes." With this challenge,
the District, encompassing 13
Central Texas Counties kick-
ed off the 1976 Educational
and Fund Raising Crusade to
conquer Cancer.
The volunteers attended
workshops led by Rev. Orion
Lewis of Smithville, Billy
Evans of Taylor and Mrs. B. A.
Hollan of Georgetown, in which
they discussed various aspects
of the Crusade.
Awards for Crusade ex-
cellence were given by Mrs.
Edmund A. Arning to the
Bastrop. Hays, Fayette, Llano
and East Williamson Units. The
East Williamson award was for
23 consecutive years of
exceeding their assigned quota,
which is the 2nd longest string
in the State of Texas.
Ed Arning, District Chair-
man of the Crusade challenged
each volunteer to do his or her
best to meet the District's
of (81.000.00 and help the
Texas Division raise the needed
$5 million to continue its
programs of Research, Educa-
tion and Service in the
continuing fight against Can-
cer.
purpose in enterprising yet a
third career. They gave me all
reasonable freedom in such
matters, but they were not
positively overjoyed at my
decision to be a minister. So far
as I know, no one in recent
generations on either side of
my ancestry had been preach
ers, or wanted to be.
On the campus and in college
community churches nearby, I
met and heard ministers who
appealed to me as men whom I
could know, like, and admire,
first as men and then as
preachers. Before that, many of
the rural parsons I had known
in the little villages where we
lived had preached a lot of
hellfire, were stern and
strictured men, with messages
that scared me, and ways.of life
which turned me off. I had been
in colleges for about six years
when the turn in my feelings
began.
My clerical heroes at that
time included a Presbyterian
pastor and the minister of the
campus Methodist Church.
After dealing alone for some
time with my strange new
aspiration, I went to the latter
for a talk and some questions.
With his encouragement and
help, I eventually made my first
silent and private commitment
to the ministry. During the
years that followed I went on
through the various steps
which in our denomination
make a clergyman out of a
layman.
My advisor had said, "Stay
with your law to the end of the
line. Graduate and get your
degree. Then go the Seminary.
Who knows what the future
will hold?" I have never
regretted taking his good
counsel. The day after my
sweetheart I who is now my
wife) pinned the law graduation
sunflower on my lapel, I took
the train -for the seminary at
S.M.U.
My own story is no more
typical than is any other story.
There art no "typical" stories in
real life. God is a tremendously
versatile Creator. 1 can see how
some preachers could interpret
their own experiences of
responding to the ministerial
impulse in the dramatic terms
of a "call'' which was like a siege
and surrender. I -can see how
the concept of a surrender to
the ministry would offer the
psychological advantage of
emboldening its owner to
expect certain compensatory
goodies or fringe benefits in
return for his self sacrifice.
My decision to try for the
ministry came fifty years ago
this July. I feel that if there was
any surrendering done, it was
the church who did it. I knocked
at the door of a church which
had long since proven itself It
took me on faith, for I was not
yet proven.
The church owes me nothing.
It gave me a chance to employ
whatever abilities 1 might come
to have in a constructive,
organized. sustained group
effort for the good. It was I who
was the asker It was the
church which was the accepter
I am grateful also to the people
of the various congregations I
have served, and for the same
reason.
YOUR VOTE AND INFLUENCE WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED
VOTE FOR #
DONALD G. REID
CANDIDATE FOR
COMMISSIONER,
PRECINCT 3
BASTROP COUNTY
SUBJECT TO DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY MAY 1, 1976
POL. ADV PAID BY DONALD Q. RClD
Calvary Baptist Church
I 104 Church Street
Bastrop, Texas
Sunday School 9:30
Morning Worship 10:45
BAPTISMAL SF.RVICES
Evening Worship 6:00
Mid-week service Wednesday 7:0G
(The Sunday evening and Wednesday evening
services are conducted in the Calvary House,
I 106 Church Street)
Nursery available at all services
You are invited to worship Christ wit a us.
Austin Savings Stands
Ready
To Serve You First
With New. Higher Interest Rates
At Their Bastrop Office
% Rate
% Yield
Minimum
Duration
Amount
For Savings Certificates of $100,000 Sss One
Of Our Officers.
7 50
7.79
1.000
4 Years
fv75
6 98
1,000
2 x/i Years
6 50
6 72
1.000
2 Years
6 50
6 72
1.000
1 Year
5 75
5 92
1.000
3 Months
5 75
5 92
none
90 Day Passbook
5 25
5 39
none
Passbook*
"No time limit day
in-da^-out.
Ask About Membership On The No 1
Team
Get more lor your money with new higher
rates on Austin Savings Certificates . . .
compounded daily for greater returns.
Open or add to your account now!
The >o. 1 Association In
Central Texas
AUSTIN SAVINGS
BASTROP OFFICE
11W M n SM. — «1
HILLY M\YN*KD. Manager
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Standifer, Amy S. Bastrop Advertiser and Bastrop County News (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. [122], No. 50, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 12, 1976, newspaper, February 12, 1976; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth391072/m1/9/: accessed July 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Bastrop Public Library.