Monthly Archives: March 2013

Florence Stratton Mini Museum Exhibit @ the Jefferson County Courthouse

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Florence Stratton Mini Museum Exhibit

Florence Stratton was born in Brazoria, Texas, in March 1881, to Judge Asa Evan Stratton and Louisa Henrietta Waldman Stratton. Her parents moved to Alabama when she was a child. Educated through the Alabama public school system, she then attended “normal” college in Troy, Alabama, and was valedictorian of her 1900 graduating class.

Florence moved to Beaumont in 1903 and took a job as a member of the faculty of Miss Anne’s private school. She also taught at Central High School in 1904. During this time and throughout most of her early years in Beaumont, she lived with her sister and brother-in-law, Emily and W. H. Stevens.Stratton 1907 1

In 1907 Florence began her journalistic career at the Beaumont Journal. Apart from teaching literature at Belle Austin Instate in 1909, she continued at the Journal as society editor, and by some accounts, even helped with the printing of the newspaper.

In 1914 Florence started the Milk and Ice Fund to help provide poor families during the summer months with needed milk and ice. Six years later, while at the Beaumont Enterprise, she started the Empty Stocking Fund to, again, give relief to the poor but this time with food and monetary donations. This fund is still active today and provides assistance to the poor in Southeast Texas each Christmas.

From 1917 to 1921, Florence spent time with her good friend Willie Cooper at the Governor’s mansion in Austin. Willie was married to W. P. Hobby, who served as Governor of Texas for a five-year term ending in 1921.

In 1920 the Beaumont Enterprise bought the Beaumont Journal, and it was there that Florence enjoyed most of her success as a journalist. Her column, “Susie Spindletop’s Weekly Letter,” which began in 1926, drew more readers than any other column. Her popularity soared, and many relished reading each Sunday morning’s offering over the 12-year period it ran.

It was at the same time that her column started that Florence began, as she called it, “dabbling” in writing books. She compiled all of O. Henry’s articles, which were written while he was employed at the Houston Post, and published them in a book called Postscripts by O. Henry. She would also publish The White Plume in 1931, which was a short biography of O. Henry’s life.

Other books would follow, such as Favorite Recipes of Famous Women (1925),  and her most memorable literary contribution to Southeast Texas history, The Story of Beaumont (1925). This work delved into the early settlement of Beaumont, and to this day, is a reliable reference regarding the region’s past.

Yet another literary work, called When the Storm God Rides, was published in 1936. It was co-written with Bessie M. Reid and disclosed much-needed information about the Indians of East Texas.

Sadly in January of 1938, Florence died at Touro Infirmary in New Orleans, a day after she underwent surgery. Her death certificate states the cause of death as “Arterio Sclerotic heart disease.”

 

After five months of research into Florence Stratton’s life, I have found a lot of misinformation about her. I believe all the dates and other information used in this article to be true. It is amazing how much you can find out in a city directory and censuses. Florence was an amazing individual, and I hope to explore more of her life in the next year. I have also begun work to have a marker dedicated in her honor, possibly at the Beaumont Enterprise.

If anyone reading this has knowledge of Beaumont’s first historian, whether in the form of documents, letters, photos, memories, or any other stories, I would love to hear about them. It is my wish to give Florence the credit she deserves.

 

 

Living in Beauxart Gardens in the 1930’s

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I can vaguely remember my father telling stories of my family’s life in Beauxart Gardens where they lived for a short time before moving to 18th Street in Port Arthur. I particularly recall being told of an event in which my grandfather was bitten by a tarantula in the garden. But I really cannot confirm that tarantulas even existed in Southeast Texas in the 30s (most likely just big wolf spiders—but wolf spiders don’t make as good a story as a tarantula when you’re talking to a 10-year-old).

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The other day I heard it mentioned that the Beauxart Gardens marker had been knocked down. My first thought was to wonder why Beauxart Gardens had a marker to begin with. And so goes the journey. I was immediately given the answer to “why,” and this led to another interesting story that I had no idea existed.

Beauxart Gardens was one of five farm/homestead colonies in Texas, which were developed in 1934 as part as of the New Deal legislation. Under President Franklin Roosevelt, this piece of legislation, among other things, provided housing to displaced Americans who couldn’t meet their mortgage payments and had been foreclosed upon. Generally, such residents in Southeast Texas worked part-time at area refineries and also kept vegetable gardens and livestock. The Beauxart area included not only 50 homestead sites, but two park sites, the largest of which (nine acres) contained a community center and playground. (This is the park located between Central Drive and South Garden Drive.)

Having had family that lived there for a time, I thought it best to go to the source in order to find out more about the place. So I called my uncle for a firsthand view of life in Beauxart Gardens, and the conversation was priceless.

My family had lived there for about three years. It was a great place to live and certainly to raise kids, but it was, at the time, away from civilization. There was no town to speak of: no stores or no churches, just pasture lands and gardens. My grandmother, in particular, did not like living that far away from her church (St. James on 16th Street in Port Arthur), but you did what you had to do back then, I guess.

The children were bused to Nederland schools, which posed a problem if a child wanted to participate in after-school programs. This was the 30s, and unlike today, ownership of cars was not widespread.

My grandfather worked at the Texas Company. The hours after work and at off times were spent tending to the garden. The family also had cows. Those necessities and other groceries were purchased at the Texas Company store, which my grandfather would visit every Saturday. Learning about his Saturday trips resonates with me because my father would do the same, although I’m sure Howard’s on 9th Avenue had a bit more of a selection than the Texas Company store.

After speaking with my uncle, I felt that the memories of growing up in Beauxart Gardens were kindly, although I do know that times were hard, especially given that people were in the grasp of the Depression. But our family has never shied away from hard work, and my grandparents raised six great kids in the process.

If you or someone you know has a story about growing up in Beauxart Gardens, or Southeast Texas in general, I would love to hear it. You can contact me at rediscoveringsetx@gmail.com. Let’s not allow our history to disappear. It’s not about the big battles or the status. Our history comprises the lives of the ordinary people who made SETX interesting.

Rediscovering SETX Going Forward

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My absence from posting weekly blogs these past few months is not without cause. A few of you know I have finished my book, Blood of the Innocent, which is a fictional story that takes place here in Southeast Texas in 1875. I hope to release it in May this year. It is partially historic fiction. I say partially because, due to the nature of the story, I did not want to include actual people from early Beaumont history.

I have also been doing research about the historian, journalist, and author, Florence Stratton (1881–1938). Her contribution to this area is second to none, and I believe she deserves to be honored with a historical marker depicting her achievements. I have therefore started the process. It has been difficult to find accurate information about her in the months since I started this journey (I truly believe Florence likes her secrets), but as of this posting, I believe I have an accurate timeline of her life.

Accuracy resonates with me because I started this blog to share our rich history as precisely as possible, but that is hard to do on a weekly basis. Research needs to done on each subject, but even in-depth research can be wrong when a historic source is incorrect. Understandably, people make mistakes, but I want to provide as accurate an account as I can in my postings.

As my research is ongoing, I constantly discover more and more history from this area that few, including myself, have never heard of. This is what I feel is a priority to include on this blog. I do not call myself a historian. That is a label for people like Bill Quick (whose papers I have been honored to go through these past two Saturdays at the Sam Houston Regional Library), W. T. Block, Judith Linsley, and others who have documented our past.

As this blog goes forward, I want to promote more places, such as houses, museums, etc., by offering access for people to visit and learn about our past. I do have a few people whose history I want to delve into in the future. I will do this as accurately as possible.

I will say this however: my time spent in these places has been nothing less than awesome, and I am enjoying the ride.

Paul