The paperback edition of my research, Brimstone and Butchery: The Parker Family’s Pilgrimage to Texas, is now available. There’s information in the book you won’t find published anywhere else, and I truly hope it exceeds your expectations. Here’s the link: amazon.com/Brimstone-Butcher… Drawing from family records, religious writings, and historical sources, the opening chapters trace our Parker family’s origins in Virginia and their migration across the early American frontier through Georgia, Tennessee, and Illinois. These chapters examine the religious convictions that shaped the family, with particular attention to the influence of Elder John Parker and the controversial theology of his son, Daniel, while placing their experiences within the broader expansion of American settlement. Subsequent chapters follow the Parkers into Mexican Texas and the turbulent years surrounding the Texas Revolution, culminating in the Comanche attack on Fort Parker in 1836. Particular attention is given to the captivity of Rachael Parker Plummer and the struggles of her father, James Parker, as he sought to reconcile the family's profound misfortunes. The final chapters explore the Parkers' long aftermath and the family's enduring legacy in Texas. I greatly appreciate your consideration in reading and sharing my research. God Bless Texas!

Have a nice afternoon, friends! Pic: Navasota, Texas (ca. 1919)

Have a great week, friends! Pic: San Augustine, Texas, in abt 1939 by Russell Lee

Have a blessed Sunday, friends. Pic: Weslaco, Texas, in abt 1939 by Russell Lee

FYI: The “Texas Monthly Presents” episode with some of our Parker descendants and a few of my SRT brothers will be airing on various Texas PBS stations: Waco PBS: today at 6pm Austin PBS: today at 6pm Dallas PBS: today at 11:29am and 10/24 at 6:30pm Houston PBS: today at 6:30pm; 10/19 at 10.45am; 10/22 at 5pm; and 10/23 at 11:30pm Midland/Odessa PBS: today at 6:30pm and 10/22 at 8pm San Antonio PBS: today at 4:30pm Amarillo PBS: today at 6:30pm and 10/22 at 8pm College Station PBS: today at 6pm and 10/22 at 8pm Lubbock PBS: today at 6:30pm and 10/22 at 8pm El Paso PBS: 10/22 at 8pm Corpus Christi PBS: today at 6:30pm

Happy Saturday afternoon, friends! Pic: Spur, Texas, in abt 1939 by Russell Lee

An evening at Lake Waco. God Bless Texas!

Good morning, friends! Pic: Columbus, Texas (ca. 1920)

Good morning, friends. God Bless Texas! Pic: Cisco, Texas [ca. 1880s]

Good morning, friends! Pic: Waco Hippodrome Theatre in abt 1925

Have a great day, friends! Pic: Sinton, Texas, in abt 1939 by Russell Lee

Have a great day, friends. Pic: Waco, Texas, in abt 1928

Have a blessed Sunday, friends. Pic: Paris, Texas (ca. 1909)

On this day in 1835, the Telegraph and Texas Register published its first issue at San Felipe de Austin. In 1838, it printed, “December 1837, Mrs. Plimmer [sic] from Robertson’s Colony, Texas, was lately purchased from Comanche Indians - she is at Independence, Missouri - the above named lady has red hair.” Her memoir, Rachael Plummer’s Narrative of Twenty-One Months Servitude as a Prisoner Among the Comanche Indians, was printed on the Telegraph Power Press in Houston. That mechanical press, used by the Telegraph and Texas Register, widely published news, laws, and public notices in the Republic of Texas. Thus, Rachael’s account of captivity emerged from a printing culture central to state formation, public discourse, and the preservation of frontier experience in early Texas. (Source: “Brimstone and Butchery” by Trevor P. Wardlaw)

Have a great Friday afternoon, friends! Pic: Sheriff Jim Halbert (San Augustine) in 1943 by John Vachon.

Good morning, friends. God Bless Texas! Pic: Amarillo, Texas, in abt 1942 by John Vachon

Have a great afternoon, friends! Pic: San Augustine, Texas, in abt 1939 by Russell Lee

On this day in 1839, Reuben Ross, standing in for Alonzo B. Sweitzer, seriously wounded Ben McCulloch in a duel. The encounter and its aftermath exemplify the persistence (and absurdity) of the Southern code duello tradition in the Republic of Texas and the ineffectiveness of the antidueling law passed by the Congress of the republic in 1836. The bad blood between McCulloch and Sweitzer began during their 1839 race for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives and intensified during their subsequent involvement in the pursuit of Indians who had raided Gonzales County. After a lengthy exchange of insults, Sweitzer's friend Ross delivered a formal challenge to McCulloch, who refused to accept on the grounds that Sweitzer was not a gentleman. Ross, however, was an acceptable substitute, and the two faced off with rifles at forty paces in a field two miles north of Gonzales. Ross, a trained duelist, shot McCulloch in the right arm, a wound that left him permanently crippled. With honor apparently satisfied, Ross sent his personal surgeon to tend to McCulloch and expressed his regret at having "to meet so brave a man in a private encounter." McCulloch was indicted for "setting at nought the quiet and good morals of this community" by "wickedly, willfully, and maliciously" accepting Ross's challenge, but the district attorney chose not to prosecute. The violence continued, however, as McCulloch's brother Henry shot and killed an obstreperous (and reportedly intoxicated) Ross a few months later, and the quarrelsome Sweitzer died in a pistol duel with Robert S. Neighbors in 1841. Ben McCulloch went on to serve as a Confederate general during the Civil War and was killed in the battle of Pea Ridge. Source: @TxStHistAssoc Pic: Ben McCulloch

Have a great week, friends. Pic: San Juan, Texas, in abt 1939 by Russell Lee

Have a blessed Sunday, friends. Pic: Renner, Texas, in abt 1913

Good morning, friends! God Bless Texas!