The Cast Iron Forest
The Cast Iron Forest

Author: Richard V. Francaviglia

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2010-06-28

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 0292789025

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“A thoughtful, thorough, and updated account of this bio-region” from the author of From Sail to Steam: Four Centuries of Texas Maritime History, 1500-1900 (Great Plains Research). Winner, Friends of the Dallas Public Library Award, Texas Institute of Letters, 2001 A complex mosaic of post oak and blackjack oak forests interspersed with prairies, the Cross Timbers cover large portions of southeastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma, and north central Texas. Home to indigenous peoples over several thousand years, the Cross Timbers were considered a barrier to westward expansion in the nineteenth century, until roads and railroads opened up the region to farmers, ranchers, coal miners, and modern city developers, all of whom changed its character in far-reaching ways. This landmark book describes the natural environment of the Cross Timbers and interprets the role that people have played in transforming the region. Richard Francaviglia opens with a natural history that discusses the region’s geography, geology, vegetation, and climate. He then traces the interaction of people and the landscape, from the earliest indigenous inhabitants and European explorers to the developers and residents of today’s ever-expanding cities and suburbs. Many historical and contemporary maps and photographs illustrate the text. “This is the most important, original, and comprehensive regional study yet to appear of the amazing Cross Timbers region in North America . . . It will likely be the standard benchmark survey of the region for quite some time.” —John Miller Morris, Assistant Professor of Geography, University of Texas at San Antonio

Descendants of William Cromartie and Ruhamah Doane
Descendants of William Cromartie and Ruhamah Doane

Author: Amanda Cook Gilbert

Publisher: WestBow Press

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 797

ISBN-13: 1490807756

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This ambitious work chronicles 250 years of the Cromartie family genealogical history. Included in the index of nearly fifty thousand names are the current generations, and all of those preceding, which trace ancestry to our family patriarch, William Cromartie, who was born in 1731 in Orkney, Scotland, and his second wife, Ruhamah Doane, who was born in 1745. Arriving in America in 1758, William Cromartie settled and developed a plantation on South River, a tributary of the Cape Fear near Wilmington, North Carolina. On April 2, 1766, William married Ruhamah Doane, a fifth-generation descendant of a Mayflower passenger to Plymouth, Stephen Hopkins. If Cromartie is your last name or that of one of your blood relatives, it is almost certain that you can trace your ancestry to one of the thirteen children of William Cromartie, his first wife, and Ruhamah Doane, who became the founding ancestors of our Cromartie family in America: William Jr., James, Thankful, Elizabeth, Hannah Ruhamah, Alexander, John, Margaret Nancy, Mary, Catherine, Jean, Peter Patrick, and Ann E. Cromartie. These four volumes hold an account of the descent of each of these first-generation Cromarties in America, including personal anecdotes, photographs, copies of family bibles, wills, and other historical documents. Their pages hold a personal record of our ancestors and where you belong in the Cromartie family tree.

John Wesley Hardin
John Wesley Hardin

Author: Leon Claire Metz

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 1998-03-01

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9780806129952

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Thus spoke one lawman about John Wesley Hardin, easily the most feared and fearless of all the gunfighters in the West. Nobody knows the exact number of his victims-perhaps as few as twenty or as many as fifty. In his way of thinking, Hardin never shot a man who did not deserve it. Seeking to gain insight into Hardin’s homicidal mind, Leon Metz describes how Hardin’s bloody career began in post-Civil War Central Texas, when lawlessness and killings were commonplace, and traces his life of violence until his capture and imprisonment in 1878. After numerous unsuccessful escape attempts, Hardin settled down and received a pardon years later in 1895. He wrote an autobiography but did not live to see it published. Within a few months of his release, John Selman gunned him down in an El Paso saloon.

Texas Place Names
Texas Place Names

Author: Edward Callary

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2020-06-02

Total Pages: 430

ISBN-13: 1477320644

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Was Gasoline, Texas, named in honor of a gas station? Nope, but the name does honor the town’s original claim to fame: a gasoline-powered cotton gin. Is Paris, Texas, a reference to Paris, France? Yes: Thomas Poteet, who donated land for the town site, thought it would be an improvement over “Pin Hook,” the original name of the Lamar County seat. Ding Dong’s story has a nice ring to it, derived from two store owners named Bell, who lived in Bell County, of course. Tracing the turning points, fascinating characters, and cultural crossroads that shaped Texas history, Texas Place Names provides the colorful stories behind these and more than three thousand other county, city, and community names. Drawing on in-depth research to present the facts behind the folklore, linguist Edward Callary also clarifies pronunciations (it’s NAY-chis for Neches, referring to a Caddoan people whose name was attached to the Neches River during a Spanish expedition). A great resource for road trippers and historians alike, Texas Place Names alphabetically charts centuries of humanity through the enduring words (and, occasionally, the fateful spelling gaffes) left behind by men and women from all walks of life.

Springs of Texas
Springs of Texas

Author: Gunnar M. Brune

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 616

ISBN-13: 9781585441969

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This text explores the natural history of Texas and more than 2900 springs in 183 Texas counties. It also includes an in-depth discussion of the general characteristics of springs - their physical and prehistoric settings, their historical significance, and their associated flora and fauna.