This Week in Duval County History, September 9 — 15

 

POSTED BY: CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM SEPTEMBER 9, 2019

September 9

San Pedro del Charco Redondo grant

Field notes were taken for San Pedro del Charco Redondo grant owned by Rafael Ramirez. The surveyor was R.C. Trimble. Chain carriers were Crispin Gonzales and Segundo Garza. The Charco Redondo was a water hole shaped in a circle located in the Palo Blanco Creek which formed the southern boundary of the grant. The Charco Redondo was the starting point of the survey and ran up the middle of the creek for 5,290 varas. Los Olmos Creek nicked the top northwest corner of the grant.

General Land Office

September 10

Schools open

Public schools opened in San Diego on September 10, 1888. The male school was under the management of John T. Rossetti,  while the girls’ school was under Addie Feuille and Pragedes Garcia. 

Laredo Daily Times, September  19, 1888

September 11

Benavides News

Horse buyers were in town. Some were buying for the Mexican government; $20 horses all of a sudden were selling for $30. The color was what they were interested in, not size. They bought blacks and brown. Grays did not fare very well. Money was no object.

Several carloads of sheep sent to the New Orleans market.

M. French, a civil engineer of Bluff City, was resurveying the Benavides townsite. Half of the houses were built on streets by squatters. 

Twisted casing was finally taken out of Piedras Pintas oil well. Ketchum and Robbin reportedly would start cable car line from San Diego to oil fields. A branch telephone line from San Diego to Benavides and Piedras Pintas was being considered. Money had already been raised for it.

School opened in Benavides with 58 students and Miss V. Pye as principal.

Cotton pickers returned from the east poorer. Every cotton plant has a picker. 

Barton, pumper in Benavides for 16 years, would go on vacation for a month to visit parents in New Jersey.

Corpus Christi Caller, September 13, 1901

September 12

San Diego de Abajo y Arriba included eight leagues of land

On September 12, 1879, Encarnacion Garcia Perez and Trinidad Flores (sol femme) sold thirty-five acres of land, adjacent to the western boundary of the newly platted town of San Diego, to Pablo Perez for $35. 

Duval County Deed Records

September 13

Purchase of a note ranch, cotton sales, well news

John Ball bought the Agua Poquita Ranch in Duval County, consisting of 12,000 to 16,000 acres; one of the finest ranches in Duval County.

Wagon, upon wagon of cotton went through San Diego. Archer Parr had 200 acres of cotton and carted it all to San Diego. Others took the same road; San Diego was paying $2.60-$2.75 while Benavides only paid $2.50.

Southwest Texas Oil & Mineral Co. offered leases for Piedras Pintas land. Owners thinking about it. M. McDonough, who had been enjoying hot sulfur baths at Piedras Pintas, said he felt like a new man; had almost recovered from rhumeticism.

Andres Flores was bitten by a rattlesnake in Benavides. He had also been bitten 18 months earlier and had also been bitten by a mad dog. Lived a charmed life.

Corpus Christi Caller, September 14, 1900

September 14

From Duval’s Capitol

A German named Reiheart from San Antonio drowned in H.H. Delamer’s tank. First rains of the season fell. First wool of season was in. Parkham, Weidenmueler and Fred Frank clips arrived. 

Young men celebrated 16th by giving a dance. Baseball team manager Frank Feuille had not heard from Corpus Christi on a challenge. Lott and Nelson’s herd of 225 cattle went through on way to Beeville.

Corpus Christi Caller, September  17, 1887

September 15

Election and cotton pickers

The election between the Guaraches and Botas was the absorbing topic in San Diego. Also, a crowd of cotton pickers went through town on way to Eagle Lake via train.

Laredo Daily Times, September 18, 1888