Williams is a descendant of Nathaniel Felton Williams, the brother of Samuel May Williams, who was secretary to Stephen F. Austin. Born and raised in Houston, Williams, a graduate of the University of St. Thomas with a BA in chemistry, received a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Brown University in Providence, R.I. His career in chemistry included a postdoctoral fellowship at Rice University, a research position at Sandia Laboratory in Albuquerque and five years as an associate professor at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (State University at Campinas) in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Back in the United States, he spent 25 years as an environmental chemist with Radian Corporation in Austin. He retired in 2004 and moved to Bayside in 2007. Since then, he has been heavily involved in researching history of the Coastal Bend from the 1500s to about 1880. He writes a history column for several local newspapers, is working on a publication and currently holds the position of treasurer of the Bayside Historical Society.
During his presentation, Dr. Williams explained that many of the Irish colonists, who first landed in El Copano in the 1830s, later moved down the coast a short distance and built their homes and businesses in St. Mary’s, after its establishment in 1859. Because St. Marys had a deeper draft for ships, two piers were built out over the water from the shore and the Morgan Steamship Line regularly had ships calling at the port.
“Two to three thousand residents made up the settlement of St. Marys during the 1860s and about 50 businesses were listed in an 1869 business directory listed in Hobart Huson’s ‘History of Refugio County,’” Williams reported. For instance, seven attorneys and five medical doctors were listed in the town at that time. Following the hurricane of 1886 that wiped out the towns of St. Mary’s and Indianola, many of the survivors moved inland to settle in the areas of Refugio and Beeville.
Dr. Williams has done extensive research in order to map the town lots and find the exact locations of homes and businesses in the settlement. He has also prepared a listing of the names of owners of said properties and the type of business each owned from records on file at the Refugio County Courthouse. He used monopoly pieces on his model of the settlement to represent where homes and businesses were located within the town. It was evident that Williams had spent many hours of work in researching his subject and putting together the model. Attending the meeting with Dr. Williams was Linda Brinkley, his collaborator and editor.
During the business session of the meeting, my daughter, Frankie Ramirez, and I were introduced as the chapter’s newest members. Frankie’s application for membership was approved back in April after the family lineage had been proven through her father’s (John Kreis) family line back to her ancestor Susan Henrietta Elam, born near Matagorda in 1825, prior to the Revolution for the Independence of Texas. I, on the other hand, was approved for membership as recently as the Oct. 11, and had traced my mother’s (Bertie Cunningham Houck) family line back to George Damron, who arrived in the Republic of Texas in 1838, received a land grant and helped build a fort and roads in the area of Fannin County.
The DRT is an organization that focuses on preserving and promoting the history of Texas and its patriots. Any lady interested in becoming a member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas who can provide proof of family lineage (via public documents such as birth, death and marriage records) through direct blood line to an ancestor who was in Texas prior to its independence in 1836 or during the years of the Republic up to statehood in 1845 may apply for membership. For more information, contact Theresa Baucum by e-mail baucum387@aol.com or give her a call at 361-387-8428.
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