This Day In Texas History - August 7

[joe817]

1839 - The schooner San Antonio was commissioned into the Texas navy. The ship was armed with five cannons. She and her crew were lost at sea in 1842.

1852 - Alexander Cockrell paid $7,000 for the portion of the John Neely Bryan homestead that included the Dallas townsite and the Trinity River ferry concession. Bryan, a Tennessee native, had settled at a natural ford on the east bank of the Trinity in 1841. In 1844 he persuaded J. P. Dumas to survey and plat the site of Dallas; he was also instrumental in the organizing of Dallas County in 1846 and in the choosing of Dallas as its county seat in August 1850. Cockrell, born in Kentucky in 1820, first came to Texas in 1845 and later established a claim on 640 acres in the Peters colony, about ten miles west of Dallas. He and his wife moved to Dallas in 1853 and began operating a brick business, one of several Cockrell enterprises that established the main lines of trade and development in Dallas. Cockrell replaced the toll ferry with the first bridge across the Trinity River; to protect the toll bridge, Cockrell acquired hundreds of acres of land on the river. In 1858, Cockrell was killed in a gunfight with a city marshall. Bryan died in the State Asylum in 1877.

1854 - Lowry Scrutchfield was elected the first Bosque County judge. Scrutchfield was born in Nacogdoches in 1824. Some ten years later his widowed mother moved her family to Nashville-on-the-Brazos in Milam County, where they lived in the home of her oldest son, John C. Pool. Here Scrutchfield spent his late childhood and met Maj. George B. Erath, from whom he learned Indian scouting and surveying. He accompanied Erath in 1845 to the South Bosque valley, where he met the Neil McLennan family and moved into their home. Scrutchfield assisted Erath in laying out the townsite of Waco village. In 1851 Scrutchfield married Nancy Proffitt, and the couple moved to Bosque Territory, settling on the east side of the Bosque River several miles north of the site of present Valley Mills. One of the first original settlers in Bosque Territory, Lowry Hampton Scrutchfield emerged as the leader of the small group of pioneers who explored, settled, and organized Bosque County. He served as county judge until 1858. During the almost fifty years that he lived in Bosque County, Scrutchfield played a leading role in its political affairs. He died in 1900.

1883 - L. C. (Uncle Luke) Coleman officially registered the Shoe Bar brand on August 7, 1883. At its peak the Shoe Bar ranch covered 350,000 acres of leased land and 110,000 acres of land bought in Donley, Hall, and Briscoe counties. The cattle numbered around 50,000 head, with an annual calf crop of 14,000.

1935 – Members of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union in Dallas gained notoriety when they protested low wages by stripping 10 non-union dressmakers.

1954 - While in Air Force training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio during 1950, Johnny Cash met Vivian Liberto. On this date in 1954, just one month after his discharge from the Air Force, Johnny and Vivian were married in San Antonio. They soon moved to Memphis, Tennessee where Cash sold appliances. There he auditioned with Sam Phillips' Sun Records, and made his first recording.

1989 - A small plane carrying U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland, D-TX, and 15 others disappeared during a flight in Ethiopia. The wreckage of the plane was found six days later. There were no survivors. Terminal D at Houston Intercontinental Airport was named in Leland's honor.

2004 - Oil Well fire fighter, Red Adair died at a Houston hospital of natural causes. During his career, Adair fought hundreds of oil well fires, some which had burned out of control for months. Born in Houston, Adair also helped to put out the many fires set by Iraqi forces during the first Iraqi war. Anywhere in the world, under any conditions, where there was an oil well fire, Adair could expect a call. His life was depicted in a 1968 John Wayne movie called "Hellfighters".

[USA1]

1989 - A small plane carrying U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland, D-TX, and 15 others disappeared during a flight in Ethiopia. The wreckage of the plane was found six days later. There were no survivors. Terminal D at Houston Intercontinental Airport was named in Leland's honor.

I met Mr. Leland and shook his hand when I was a wee lad.
He was walking the neighborhood trying to get his name out and asking for votes.

2004 - Oil Well fire fighter, Red Adair died at a Houston hospital of natural causes. During his career, Adair fought hundreds of oil well fires, some which had burned out of control for months. Born in Houston, Adair also helped to put out the many fires set by Iraqi forces during the first Iraqi war. Anywhere in the world, under any conditions, where there was an oil well fire, Adair could expect a call. His life was depicted in a 1968 John Wayne movie called "Hellfighters".

Also met Red. I did some repair work on his luxury yacht once.

[Hoi Polloi]

1954 - While in Air Force training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio during 1950, Johnny Cash met Vivian Liberto. On this date in 1954, just one month after his discharge from the Air Force, Johnny and Vivian were married in San Antonio.

I was gonna do I Fought the Law for Cockrell and Scrutchfield, but once I saw that it was Johnny Cash's wedding day, it was a no-brainer!
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=gRlj5vjp3Ko[/youtube]

[WildBill]

1954 - While in Air Force training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio during 1950, Johnny Cash met Vivian Liberto. On this date in 1954, just one month after his discharge from the Air Force, Johnny and Vivian were married in San Antonio.

I was gonna do I Fought the Law for Cockrell and Scrutchfield, but once I saw that it was Johnny Cash's wedding day, it was a no-brainer!

Ring of Fire was written by Merle Kilgore and Cash's second wife, June Carter.

[joe817]

Wow USA1! You're famous! Was Red Adair as rough & tumble as John Wayne made him out to be?

Polloi, I love the Bobby Fuller 4! But I also love Johnny Cash. "Ring of Fire" was popular when I was a wee lad of 14. I memorized the lyrics and sang it to myself every time I had to go out and check the fences along the railroad right of way that cut through our place.

[WildBill]

Polloi, I love the Bobby Fuller 4!

Fuller was born in Baytown, Texas. But not today. Joe817, put that on your calendar for October 22.

[Oldgringo]

joe817 wrote:
....when I was a wee lad....

You were a wee lad in 1963?

[Hoi Polloi]

1954 - While in Air Force training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio during 1950, Johnny Cash met Vivian Liberto. On this date in 1954, just one month after his discharge from the Air Force, Johnny and Vivian were married in San Antonio.

I was gonna do I Fought the Law for Cockrell and Scrutchfield, but once I saw that it was Johnny Cash's wedding day, it was a no-brainer!

Ring of Fire was written by Merle Kilgore and Cash's second wife, June Carter.

Ha! That's a good dose of irony for the day!

[Pawpaw]

Was Red Adair as rough & tumble as John Wayne made him out to be?

I've read some of the excerpts of Red Adair's life. Comparatively, John Wayne was a wuss!

[joe817]

joe817 wrote:
....when I was a wee lad....

You were a wee lad in 1963?

Wellllll.....that might have been a stretch. I was 15.