Coming to the Texas coast in 1834 from Ireland, the leader of the settlers had a confrontation when the skipper of a small steamer taking them to Copano tried to wreck the boat on a sandbar. (This sketch and other pictures in this section are from a book of family history put together by Donald Priour.)

Everyone's ancestors lived through dramatic periods of history, but most of those people were too busy surviving to write down any accounts of their experiences. We are fortunate enough to have narratives from several family members, so that makes it easier to visualize what it was like to live in such unsettled and dangerous times.

Our ancestors came here when Texas was still part of Mexico and lived through those wild and dangerous years when Texas became the Republic of Texas and the settlers began to call themselves Texians. Indian raids, outlaw attacks, rattlesnakes, wild cattle, wild horses, bears, and panthers were a part of everyday life for those Texians. Since I (Cathie) have always been fascinated by the stories handed down through generations my aunts and uncles gave me all their books and manuscripts. Through autobiographies and assorted narratives I have a unique opportunity to re-live those early years.

On Roche's Point ruins mark the location of the castle where Tom Hart's family lived while he was captain of the Water Guard. The encroaching and relentless waves of the ocean have eaten away the foundations; only some outbuildings remain of the little castle that was built centuries ago to guard the entrance to Cork Harbor against pirates and invaders. Across a field is the Roche family's white house "embowed with greenery" that Rosalie remembered. As she said, on one side are the restless grey waves of the ocean; on the other side the fields where waves of golden grain rippled in the wind.

My father’s mother descended from Grandma Hart who came from Ireland and landed at Copano on the Texas coast in 1834. Her daughter Rosalie Hart wrote in detail about all the family’s story beginning in 1799 when her grandfather was killed by the English in Dublin because of his religion. She told about her father arresting smugglers at night on the Irish coast as captain of the Water Guard and the epidemics their family went through in Ireland before her parents came to Texas.

As soon as they landed at Copano Bay on the Texas coast their lives were filled with dramatic situations. She tells about her father’s death, the Runaway Scrape, the years of living in Texas as a Republic, on through the hardships and danger brought on by the Union blockade of the Texas coast. Grandma Hart was finally buried under an old liveoak tree on the ranch at Papalote Creek, and Rosalie’s sons (one of whom was Daddy’s grandfather) served in the Texas Rangers protecting settlers against Indians and outlaws who took refuge in the Nueces Strip.

My father was born in 1900 and from the time he was big enough to listen he was interested in old times and remembered all the stories he heard. He was a master storyteller. When he was in his eighties I persuaded Daddy to write down for me what he could remember of those accounts and of his own experiences. His life was filled with challenges. The family lived 40 miles from town with the only travel being by horseback, and the road crossed the Guadalupe River seventeen times. His father was in an Indian raid. His paternal grandfather was in the Cavalry and fought Commanches on a regular basis.

My mother’s family lived in Gonzales where the war for Texas Independence began. Since no one in that family wrote the kind of detailed history that Rosalie Hart did, the picture of the Greens and Nixons is less complete, but no less interesting. Her grandfather was a frontier doctor who was paid in chickens more often than in money. My mother’s father went on trail drives to the Kansas markets on the Chisholm trail which passes by Rancho where Honey (my mother) grew up, then he became a lawyer and a judge. I can remember going with him as a four-year-old when he was the speaker at an Old Trail Drivers Reunion.

The Family Storyteller

Gutherie Hodges is kin to both the Gonzales family and the Papalote family. The stories from the families and from nearby settlers fascinated Gutherie who turned them into adventure novels, trying to make the characters come alive for later generations.

I know that some of you have found this historical material as interesting as I have because I’ve shared bits and pieces of it with various friends. Since I have more time now I’ll make those stories available to the people who still like to read books and enjoy narratives set in the old West. In this day of hectic schedules and instant entertainment, both the desire and the leisure time to live adventures through reading have almost disappeared, however, some of us still enjoy that pastime. Since I have access to a treasure trove from the early days I intend to share the narratives with those of you who are interested