Industry & Science
Anahuac Oil and Gas Field
Although oil production of major value began in Chambers County in 1916, this prolific Anahuac field was discovered on March 3, 1935, with completion of Humble Oil & Refining Company's A. D. Middleton No. 1 (1.8 mi. SE). The camp which housed Humble crews who developed the field was adjacent to this site.
History
Barbers Hill Oil Field
While digging a 65-ft. water well near his home in 1889, Elmer W. Barber (1854-1935), whose father Amos Barber first settled this area, encountered inflammable gas near the top of the salt dome known as Barbers Hill. After the Spindletop discovery in 1901, prospectors sought leases here. In 1902 Pattillo Higgins (1863-1955), an early Spindletop promoter, drilled on the northwest slope of the hill.
History
Birthplace of Governor Ross Shaw Sterling
(1875-1949) Governor of Texas 1931-33, during critical years of the Depression. Born and reared on family farm here. As a youth hoeing these fields, learned to stay ahead by taking "3 or 4 licks" while others took 2. followed this vigorous philosophy throughout life. In 1898 he married Maud Abbie Gage; had 5 children.
History
Black Education in Chambers County
The Texas Legislature formed Chambers County in 1858, and Wallisville became the county's first seat of government. The 1869 Texas Constitution called for the creation of free public schools for white and black children to be partially funded by the state. That same year, the Freedmen's Bureau was instrumental in having a school for African Americans built in Wallisville.
History
Cedar Point
Near this site is an area of land known as Cedar Point that was known to some of the earliest settlers of the state. Located in Trinity Bay, Cedar Point was part of an 1824 Mexican land grant awarded to Ohio native John Ijams, who had come to Texas in 1822.
History
Chambers County
Formed from Jefferson and Liberty counties. Created February 12, 1858. Organized August 2, 1858. Named in honor of General Thomas Jefferson Chambers (1802-1865), the first and only superior judge of Texas before the revolution. Member of Secession Convention of 1861. County seat, Wallisville, 1858. Anahuac first known as Chambersea, since 1908.
Architecture
Chambers County Courthouse
Named after Texas pioneer Major General Thomas Jefferson Chambers, Chambers County was established in 1858. Until the early 20th century, Wallisville was the county seat and the location for the first three Chambers County courthouses. They were built in 1858, 1880 and 1887.
History
Chambers County Youth Project Show
On July 30, 1955, members of the East and West Chambers County Farm Bureaus and their families held a picnic in Fort Anahuac Park (4 mi. S) which included a variety of youth events and games. The success of the picnic resulted in a sense of unity, fellowship, and goodwill among county residents geographically separated by the Trinity River.
History
Chambersea
Built in 1845. Home of Thomas Jefferson Chambers, early civic and business leader whose love for Texas was proclaimed by the "Star" window in the west gable. The modest board-and-batten pioneer house has another unique feature in the graceful, spiral exterior stairway at the front.
History
Emily Brown Cemetery
In 1870, Elizabeth Barrow deeded a house and 198 acres of land to Thompson and Emily (Hulbert) Brown in exchange for their care of her in her old age. Both Thompson and Emily were born into slavery, and Emily served as midwife for many area families. The Browns gave land to the Old River Methodist Episcopal Church in 1881, and from that donation came this cemetery. Thompson (d.
History
Events at Anahuac Leading to the Texas Revolution
In the spring of 1832, Wm. B. Travis, Patrick C. Jack and other American settlers in Texas were unjustly imprisoned by Col. Juan Bradburn, commander of the Mexican garrison at Anahuac. Bradburn's refusal to deliver his prisoners for civil trial caused alarm throughout the American settlements, resulting in the organization of an armed force of citizens for intervention to save their friends from…
History
First United Methodist Church and Cemetery of Mont Belvieu
After Amos and Ann Barber settled in the vicinity in 1849, the village became known as Barbers Hill. Early preaching services were held in the Barbers' home. Captain Robert S. Dingham, a seaman, began a Sunday School and preached in the area. In 1877"Barbers Chapel" was officially organized as a Methodist Episcopal Church, south. The Barbers gave four acres for a church house and school building.
History
Fort Anahuac
Known as Perry's Point until 1825, Anahuac was a port of entry for early Texas colonists. In 1830 the Mexican government established a military post here to collect customs duties and to enforce the law of April 6, 1830, which curtailed further Anglo-American colonization. Situated on a high bluff at the mouth of the Trinity River, Fort Anahuac controlled access to East Texas settlements.
History
Graydon
The farming community of Graydon flourished along the west fork of Double Bayou at the turn of the century. Benjamin F. Sterling (1831-1917), one of the earliest settlers in the area, brought his family here in 1869. He is credited with starting a school as early as 1877. A one-room schoolhouse was erected in 1893 on land provided by Jacob Carl Johnson.
Industry & Science
Harmon Saddle Shop
The Harmon family began making saddles in East Texas before the beginning of the Civil War. As early as 1856, Joshua Harmon (1821-1896) engaged in saddlery on a part-time basis in the city of Orange. By the 1870s, when he and his wife, Cleonize (Peveto), moved to Chambers County, Joshua had a well-established reputation for saddlemaking among cowboys and ranchers along the Texas Gulf Coast.
History
Hartman Cemetery
Robert Wiseman immigrated to Texas in 1825 and received a land grant in 1831 on the banks of Old River in what is now Chambers County. Wiseman sold his land in 1853 to Dr. Edward G. Hartman. Dr. Hartman's wife, Mary Francis Hartman, died about 1853 after giving birth and was probably the first person buried in the family cemetery. Dr.
History
Henry and Amelia Griffith
The son of Joshua and Jemimah (Hazelton) Griffith, Pennsylvania native Henry Griffith (c. 1797-1869) moved to Johnson's Bayou near Opelousas, Louisiana, about 1819-20. There he met and married Amelia "Milly" Barrow (c. 1802 -?), daughter of Reuben and Mary Jane (Johnson) Barrow, in 1824. Two years later they moved to this area, which was still under Mexican rule at that time.
History
Home of Thomas Jefferson Chambers
(1802 - 1865) Surveyor general of Texas, 1829; sole superior judge of Texas before 1836; active in the cause of independence; member of Secession Convention, 1861. Chambersea, later Anahuac, and a Texas county were named in his honor.
History
James Taylor White
A veteran of the War of 1812, James Taylor White (b.1789) migrated to this area from Louisiana in 1828. As a rancher, he developed one of the largest herds of Longhorn cattle in southeast Texas. On White's ranch in June 1832, area colonists signed the Turtle Bayou Resolutions. Written to protest the actions of Captain Juan Davis Bradburn, commander of Mexican troops at Anahuac (9 mi.
History
Joseph Blancpain's French Trading Post
French trader Joseph Blancpain established a trading post in this vicinity in August 1754. He had been living in Natchitoches, Louisiana, where he was the owner of a mercantile store. With a small group of men, Blancpain arrived in August and soon opened trade with the Atakapan and related Indian tribes of this region.
History
Juan Davis Bradburn
Adventurer from Kentucky who first came to Texas in 1817 with an expedition seeking to expel Spain from North America. Bradburn served in the Army of the Republic of Mexico in the 1820s, and in 1830 was sent to establish a military post at the mouth of the Trinity.
History
Lone Star Canal
Berriman Richard Garland (1840-1918), a native of Indiana, saw the need for fresh water for rice crops in east Chambers County. Garland and A. L. Williams began in 1902 acquiring land and constructing this irrigation canal. It started at the mouth of Turtle Bay, now known as Lake Anahuac. In 1904, "Lone Star Canal Company" was incorporated. E. O. Emerson and Burt H.
History
McNeir Cemetery
Also known as McNeir Family Cemetery, this burial ground is the final resting place for Sarah Ridge Paschal Pix and her descendants. Her father, known as Major Ridge, was a Cherokee chief in Georgia. He and others were assassinated in 1839 over a controversial treaty. Sarah came to Texas in 1848 with her husband George Washington Paschal and settled in Galveston.
History
Mission Nuestra Senora de la Luz del Orcoquisac and Presidio San Agustin de Ahumada
Two of the most misfortune-ridden outposts of Spain in texas, "Our Lady of the Light" mission and its auxiliary fort, were founded near here in 1756 to guard against French encroachment from the east. The two friars who were to minister to members of the Orcoquisac tribe arrived shortly after the 30 soldiers who were to man the fort. Soon, however, the elder friar died.
History
Near Site of the Signing of Turtle Bayou Resolutions
Drafted and signed at Turtle Bayou on June 13, 1832, this first formal protest of Texas colonists against Mexican tyranny formed an early step in events that led eventually to the Texas Revolution of 1836. The settlers were protesting recent restrictive laws of Mexico designed to limit immigration and trade between the United States and Texas, passed because Mexico feared losing Texas to the U.S.
Elsewhere in Texas
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