Texas has a wonderful free database for newspapers from 150+ years ago. I hope you check out The Portal To Texas History at URL: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ A big fan of archives, I'm very grateful for this database.
My family once lived near Trinity Bay, Turtle Bayou and Double Bayou in southeast Texas. My 2xGreat-Grandmother received "bounty land" from her second husband's military service in the Battles of Bexar and San Jacinto. Several decades of Texas papers have brief mentions of Leaper or Leeper land transfers as the bounty land was sold off. Hannah and Sam Leeper were married but two years before he died in April of 1855. I have yet to find an obituary or a death notice for this veteran of Texas' early battles, but I've instead learned a bit about my ancestors' time. Please see a few peculiar examples below. Remember to click once to enlarge an image. Click once more to return to this page.
1. HERE'S THE MATTER WITH K-STATE: Kansas was in need of missionaries called "Divines."
2. Wife-swapping was a thing. You will recall that until recently wives were legally considered their husband's chattel. Oh good grief, was there no law to protect women from this bartering! My state of Oklahoma only nixed their barbaric chattel law in the late 1980s. I Kid You Not. I recall the week the legislature rescinded it, and the wailing from a certain Mr. Daniel against this perceived miscarriage of justice.
( Ahem. If I may, see my prior post on women as chattel: http://treepig.posthaven.com/when-women-were-chattel )
3. LOCK UP YOUR DAUGHTERS: Jews were referred to as "Israelites" in some articles. Respectable chattel--I mean, married females were called ladies, while citizens of ill repute were just "women." The evangelical movement of Mormonism was a popular topic. Non-Mormons were called Gentiles by Mormons. Some rural communities became ghost towns as people packed up and moved to Utah with like-minded brethren. Local ("Gentile") papers contained articles warning people against Mormons. This is one salacious piece. Creative license, much?
4. JOHN BROWN, ANYONE? Kansas was a hotbed in the 1850s as anti-abolitionists did real battle with those activists who took a stand against slavery. I found Gov. Reeder's statement chilling about the need for "domestic slavery" to help with Kansas' economy.
5. TO THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT US GUINNESS, WE SALUTE YOU: Back when America hated Irish immigrants, I find articles of their famed potato famine littered with anti-Catholic sentiment. My own paternal grandmother would speak disparagingly of her "papist" mother-in-law's French heritage. Apaches, papists, Mormons, Know-Nothings, abolitionists--there was much to fear in our nation according to early mainstream media. This article I call Brexit's Loss; America's Gain.
6. When time-traveling to Galveston, may I recommend a cozy B&B?
7. Interested in cotton futures?
