by Karen Stein Daniel, C.G., August 1995
Those of us with early Texas roots are often intimidated at the prospect of having to search for our ancestors in unfamiliar records and perhaps even in a foreign language. After all, the first federal census for Texas did not occur until 1850, and census records are among the first items we have been taught to go to. According to Mary Barnett Curtis, “while research in Texas from the time of statehood is almost identical as to places where the records might be found as in any other state, the accessibility of the records of the Texas Colonial period to the end of the Republic is governed by Texas’ unique history.”
Anyone planning to undertake research into early Texas records must become thoroughly familiar with its unique history of French, Spanish, and Mexican rule, as well as its history as a Republic. Only then will one be able to chart a course through unfamiliar records and repositories that may best serve to assist our individual research goals.
The Clayton Library offers an impressive collection of early Texas sources, one of which is the Robert Bruce Blake Research Collection. This set of books is located in the Texas section of the open stacks on the first floor. The call number is 976.4 B636. The set consists of seventy-five original volumes and eighteen supplemental volumes and covers several shelves. We become even more impressed with this massive collection of early Texana when it is realized that one man devoted over thirty years to compiling these materials.
From the mid-1920s until 1955, Robert Bruce Blake resided in Nacogdoches and Austin where he became familiar with the archive records of both places. He came to understand that the history of Texas owed much to the 18th-century Spanish and Mexican settlements at San Antonio and Nacogdoches.
Knowing that voluminous collections of official and private documents and proceedings from these two settlements had been preserved and to some extent sorted and assembled, Mr. Blake realized that a careful selection and recording of these records in book form would greatly enhance their value to historians and researchers. Although it was a tremendous undertaking, he studied, translated, and classified the documents and records, and typed the 30,000 or more pages making up the original seventy-five volumes. He worked without publicity or compensation, other than an inward pleasure and satisfaction.
Mr. Blake translated and typed the Spanish documents and copied the old records, using his years of experience as a court reporter. After his death in 1955, Mrs. Blake, carrying out her husband’s wishes, turned over his work to the University of Texas to be made available to several Texas educational institutions, including the Houston Public Library system.
Dr. Charles A. Bacarisse of the Department of History at the University of Houston gave the following excellent description of the collection:
“...[T]he collection is made up of the following large sections:
“Nine volumes of official documents and personal letters from the Office of the County Clerk, Nacogdoches, dated between 1792 and 1837.
“Thirteen volumes of official documents, personal letters, and diaries all translated from the ‘Nacogdoches Archives’ now in the Texas State Archives. These date between 1792 and 1821. The Minutes of the Nacogdoches Ayuntamiento 1828-1835 are in this group also.
“Nine volumes from the Nacogdoches County Records and Archives which include translation of the correspondence of Governors Salcedo and Martinez, 1809-1819; Applications for Land Grants, Certificates of Entrance and Admission to Settle in Texas 1800-1835; Muster Rolls of Companies engaged in the Texas Revolution; and the records and papers of several prominent individuals.
“Twenty-one volumes of translations from the Nacogdoches Archives made up of documents dating between 1744 and 1836.
“Fourteen volumes from the Bexar Archives dating between 1745 and 1835 of official letters and personal letters relating to events in East Texas.
“Ten volumes of family histories compiled by R. B. Blake.
“Three volumes of place histories compiled by R. B. Blake.”
According to Dr. Bacarisse, “R. B. Blake...combined a rare fluency in Spanish with an unusual knowledge of legal terms and forms in Spanish. It takes a long time to learn to read 17th, 18th, and 19th century Spanish script, signs, and symbols, and Mr. Blake was an expert in the field.”
The last volume of the supplement is devoted to Masonic records of the DeWitt Clinton Lodge No. 29, A.F.&A.M. in Jasper, Texas, and the Nacogdoches Chapter and includes sketches of members. There is a separate book containing is a name index to volumes 16-17 and 21-28.
The following is a partial list of the types of records this writer found in the collection: marriage contract, sale of Negroes, sale of lot, certificate of indebtedness, note, receipt, bond, sale of land, contract, lease of rancho, mortgage, transfer of land, application for guardianship, power of attorney, advertisement, rent, agreement, will, acknowledgment, grant, letter, petition, affidavit, resolution, enfranchisement, and list of jurors.
A representative list of examples of documents from the original Archives of the County Clerk, Nacogdoches, Texas, which are to be found in Volume 1, include:
“Thurmond, Alfred Sturgis - Born in 1816 in Tennessee, a son of John G. Thurmond and Ann Louisa (Sturgis) Thurmond. The children of this couple in order of birth were Erasmus, Darwin, John Hermodius, Orville, Mary Jane, Pulaski Adolphus, Tobias, Alfred Sturgis and Columbus Lafayette Thurmond. In Second Class Headright Certificate No. 521 for 640 acres of land it is stated that Mr. Thurmond came to Texas after March 2, 1836 and prior to October 1, 1937....”
The narrative regarding Alfred Thurmond continues on for a page.
“Vansickle, Benjamin A. - Born in about 1817 and came to Texas with his mother, Louise or Leah Vansickle and her five children during the 1820s, and soon afterwards his mother married Daniel Clark, as stated under sketch of Elijah J. De Bard....”
The above narrative likewise continues on for a page.
“...Franklin Whitaker came to Texas from Tennessee about 1835, was a farmer and slave owner.... Three sons were in the Civil War. Franklin [was a] veteran of Texas Revolution [and was] buried in North Church Cemetery.”
The above narrative includes lists of family members, burial places, and ages at death.
“Whitaker, Madison G. - Born in Lincoln County, Tennessee, April 4, 1811, and came to Texas in the fall of 1834.... Mr. Whitaker is shown on a muster roll in the Land Office as having enlisted in Captain Hayden Arnold’s Company, in which he fought at San Jacinto, March 6, 1836.... The Marriage Records of Nacogdoches County show that Captain Whitaker and Henrietta M. Fitts were married at Nacogdoches, August 25, 1841. Mrs. Whitaker died May 12, 1862. Captain Whitaker died January 23, 1893...and was buried in the old North Church Cemetery...beside the remains of his wife. Their graves are marked.”
Likewise, individual sketches appear in the volume devoted to Masons. The following excerpts are representative:
“Abner J. Rogers - Brother Abner J. Rogers seems to have been one of the original members of DeWitt Clinton Lodge...was born in Talliaferro County, Georgia, on December 17, 1817. He was made a Mason in Washington Lodge No. 2, in Florida, about 1844; soon after which time he came to Jasper County, where he died on December 11, 1864....”
“Patrick Hussey -...Brother Hussey was a native of Massachusetts, he leaving there about 1826....he was in Natchitoches, Louisiana, in 1841 and 1842... Upon the discovery of gold in California in 1849, he was one of a company of men who left Jasper in search for the precious metal...about January, 1850....”
“Wyatt Hanks - Wyatt Hanks, a pioneer farmer and miller, came to Texas from Indiana county, Kentucky, through Arkansas, on March 20, 1826. Wyatt Hanks first settled in the Ayish Bayou settlement, now San Augustine.... He later moved to Tyler county, where he died.”
For many, the major problem with using this massive set of books will be the lack of a comprehensive index. However, that is certainly not a reason to avoid this valuable tool. Be prepared to spend the additional time it will take to study its contents. You may be rewarded by the discovery of a record pertaining to your early Texas ancestor during a period when records are sketchy at best. This source may thus lead you to an actual original document or series of documents and may identify other family members, friends, relatives, and associates of your ancestor. During this early period of Texas history, one cannot afford to neglect any source, particularly one such as the Blake Collection, which brings together thousands of documents in its pages. The Clayton Library is fortunate to house this important source of early Texana.