Talk:Kemah, Texas

SOME HISTORICAL DATA FOR KEMAH, TEXAS
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NATIVE INHABITANTS
The history of Kemah, Texas goes back more than 180 years. The Karankawa Indians, a group of five nomadic, linguistically related groups including the Cocos, Cujanes, Karankawas proper, Coapites, and Copanos, occupied the area from Galveston Bay to Corpus Christi Bay during the late Spring and Summer months. Evidence of the Karankawas near present-day Kemah was discovered back in the 1890s. This discovery will be discussed later in the article. Indian inhabitants began to leave when European settlers arrived, and most had retreated from the area by 1850.

THE DISAPPEARING FOUNDER
The recorded history of Kemah began in the early 1800s, when Texas was still under the Mexican flag. On August 24, 1824, the Mexican government granted a labor (approx. 177 acres) of land to to a settler by the name of Michael Gouldrich. Gouldrich was listed as one of Stephen F. Austin’s first colonists in 1826, a widower over 50 years of age engaged in farming and stockraising. His land was located on the south bank of Clear Creek, where the creek flows into Galveston Bay. Oddly enough, Gouldrich disappeared from historical record after his recorded receipt of the land grant. No historical records or accounts identify him with any development of a settlement, homestead, or right of way at his claim location. Odder still, there is no record of his death.

"FLANDERS GROVE"
Sometime between 1826 and 1830, a man by the name of William Vince of Vince’s Bayou, Harrisburg County, acquired the Clear Creek land. On several early maps of Galveston Bay dating back to that time period, the name “Flanders Grove” or “Flanders Labor” appears in the vicinity of the present day town of Kemah, at the mouth of Clear Lake. The place-name has ties to a New Hampshire native by the name of John Flanders. John was the son of Levi and Mary (Sargent) Flanders and was born in Salisbury, Massachusetts. John had been in business with his father in New Hampshire. No record exists concerning the nature of business John and his father owned, although apparently at least a part of the business they conducted dealt in real estate. In the time immediately prior to John's move to the Texas territory, he and his father had a disagreement over a mortgage held by John on a piece of property owned by a widow. John wished to foreclose and his father opposed it. The disagreement developed into bad feelings and John left home, never communicating with his family thereafter.

John Flanders was issued a passport for six months on December 7, 1830, in Austin’s colony. A notation in Austin’s Register of Families reads, “Flanders is to be included as a colonist although he takes no land.” Flanders, a 32-year-old single farmer at the time, had arrived in the Galveston Bay region in mid to late December 1830. It is believed that his first place of residence was in Anahuac, Texas, on the northern tip of Galveston Bay. There, he acquired a house and a lot. However, he was not listed on the 1834 census of Anahuac and it is believed that somtime between early 1831 and the time of the 1834 census Flanders made the purchase of William Vince's land. Since the 1834 censuse does not record Flanders' name as a resident of Anahuac, it is reasonable to assume that he was probably living on his Clear Creek property by that time.

Sadly enough, John Flanders was listed among the dead at the Alamo. He was one of thirty-two men, commanded by Captain George Kimball, who entered the Alamo on March 1, from Gonzales. Why he was with the men from Gonzales is unknown. Flanders was a Private under Kimball, 36 years old at the time of the Alamo seige, and still unmarried.

THE MYSTERY HEIRS
With John Flander's death came some interesting and mysterious dealings concerning his estate that, of course, included the "Flanders Grove"/"Flanders Labor" tract. In 1841, Allen Vince, brother of the now-deceased William Vince and resident of Vince’s Bayou, Harris County, was named administrator of the John Flanders estate. The estate was said to consist of only the labor of land at the mouth of Clear Creek on the Southwest side. A petition for sale of the land, to satisfy debts, was requested May 28, 1844. The deceased Vince owed money for lawyer fees (in the case of Sawyer vs Vince in District Court). The land was appraised at $2.00 per acre and sold to Jonathan D. Waters on July 2, 1844 for $354.00. This transaction leaves open the questions of whether or not Flanders still owed William Vince any monies for the land purchase, and how much legal right Allen Vince had to sell the land and use the revenues to pay of a debt on behalf of his brother's estate, instead of keeping the Flanders estate intact.

Let's digress from the Kemah historical table a moment as we take a look at even more dubious dealings connected to the Flanders estate. Texas General Land Office records show a 1,476-acre land grant patented to the heirs of John Flanders (named as the original Grantee - deceased) under File number 144, Abstract 263, in Harris County, under the "Harris 1st District" on January 28, 1842. This was an expansion grant supporting growth in Harris County and then-growing Houston proper. Oddly enough, the land grant and patent BOTH were issued after Flander's death. Also, according to the Flanders estate probate, which was administered by Allen Vince in 1841, this land grant was not part of the Flanders estate at the time of his death.

Let's look even deeper into the Flanders estate. The estate of John Flanders received a land grant from the newly annexed State of Texas, totalling 2560 acres on April 25, 1851 under a series of land grants known as the Bexar Warrants, for his “having fallen with Travis in the Alamo.” According to Land Grant records filed in the Texas General Land Office, two land patents were filed to the "heirs" of John Flanders. File number 882, Abstract 60, patented 1920 acres in Dimmit County (West Texas) on October 17, 1851, issued under the Bexar Bounty Warrant/Certificate #810. File number 890, Abstract 61, patented an additional 640 acres in Dimmit County on October 16, 1851, issued under the Bexar Donation/Certificate #282. While this was a posthumous grant, once again we see the patent being issued to an unnamed "heir" of the Flanders estate.

Both the Harris 1st and Bexar Grants bring about the question of John Flanders' mystery heirs. What makes these patent claims even more puzzling is the lack of contact John Flanders maintained with his family back in New Hampshire, plus the fact that Flanders was unmarried and has no public record of children all the way up to the time of his death at the Alamo. Add to this mystery the fact that Allen Vince administered the Flanders estate and used revenue generated by the sale of Flanders' then-recorded land holdings (Flanders Labor/Flanders Grove/present-day Kemah, Texas) to pay of a legal debt incurred by his deceased brother, William Vince. Top that off with the fact that John Flanders received an expansion land grant in Harris County to encourage the growth of Houston proper...AFTER his death, and that the grant was again patented by the mystery heir. For more information, visit the Texas General Land Office - Land Grant Archives at: http://www.glo.state.tx.us/archives/landgrant.html

PRE-TOWNSHIP HOMESTEADERS
As mentioned earlier, Jonathan Dawson Waters purchased the "Flanders Grove"/"Flanders Labor" tract from Allen Vince, administrator of John Flanders' estate per his death at The Alamo. Jonathan Waters was a planter born in Newberry District, South Carolina. Waters arrived in Texas on March 1, 1840, at the age of 31. He immediately purchased a large plantation and named it Arcola, located near present-day Arcola in Fort Bend County, Texas. Waters sold 10 acres of the southeast end of the Flanders Labor on Clear Creek to Charles B. Underhill of Galveston on October 3, 1850. Underhill and wife, Martha Jane sold the same 10 acres to Mrs. Elizabeth S. Justice on June 3, 1853. The widow Justice married Abraham H. Kipp sometime after her husband, Stephen died in 1856. Kipp’s son, Henry, married Elizabeth’s daughter, Mary Elizabeth Justice. In 1875, Henry and Mary Kipp moved from Clear Creek to Cedar Bayou, near present-day Baytown in Harris County. There, Henry began a shipyard. The business prospered and the Kipp’s raised a family of 12 children there. A daughter, Jane Kipp married James Bradford of Cedar Bayou, who owned a large four masted schooner. Bradford ran his boat from Cedar Bayou along Galveston Bay freighting cordwood, brick, produce, or anything the customers wanted. In 1891 the Bradfords moved back to Clear Creek and lived in the house first built by Jane’s parents. The Kipps and Bradfords acquired the balance of the Gouldrich labor and part of the Muldoon league.

THE RAILROAD
Among his numerous business ventures and transactions, Waters was major stockholder and, eventually, President of the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos, and Colorado Railway, which was incorporated in 1850. Decades later, after several mergers, acquisitions, and incarnations of the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos, and Colorado Railways, and after Waters' death in 1871, railway assets were bought out by Southern Pacific Railways, including the Galveston, Houston & Henderson line (completed 1853), which runs parallel to the present-day State Highway 3 corridor. The North Galveston, Houston & Kansas City line, completed in 1891, ran parallel to present-day Highway 146 from ??? Point to Texas City, and on to Seabrook, where it split into two lines, one going toward Barbours Cut near present-day LaPorte and one going toward Buffalo Bayou near present-day Jacinto City. The North Galveston, Houston & Kansas City line is no longer in operation from the Red Bluff Road Crossing in Seabrook to the Attwater Avenue Crossing near Highway 146, approximately 5 miles north of Texas City. Although no precise records of the Waters holdings are on hand, it is possible that the "Flanders Grove" parcel that Waters had owned was obtained by Southern Pacific sometime in the late 1800s to allow passage of the North Galveston, Houston & Kansas City line through the south shore of Clear Creek.

EARLY ORGANIZED SETTLEMENT
Although the South Shore of the Clear Creek outlet to Galveston Bay had seen a somewhat shaky early history of entitlements, buyouts, probates, and even abandonments, growth was afoot. It is possible that we can thank John Flanders for first settling the area. With that came a few more homesteaders, including

Along the shoreline of the village was a shell reef some 20 to 30 feet deep in places. During the 1890’s James Bradford sold the shell to the railroad for seventy-five cents a rail car. A spur tract was built from Dickinson to haul away the shell. During the excavation of the shell some twenty-five Indian skeletons were unearthed also lithic debris (arrow points, stone tools, etc.), pottery and fire hearths were found. A Southern Pacific railroad line was built and passed through the area bringing more people, so the Bradford and Kipp families subdivided the land they owned into town lots in 1898 and established the township of Evergreen. The village was basically a summer resort. The hurricane of 1900 flattened the town and in 1901 Henry Kipp and his wife moved back to Evergreen and built a lovely two-story home with wrap-around porches that is till standing today on 10th Street. Jane and James Bradford also built a similar two-story home facing the bay not too far from the Kipp home.

Johnathan D. Waters of Fort Bend County sold 10 acres of the southeast end of the Gouldrich labor on Clear Creek to Charles B. Underhill of Galveston on October 3, 1850. Underhill and wife, Martha Jane sold the same 10 acres to Mrs. Elizabeth S. Justice on June 3, 1853. The widow Justice married Abraham H. Kipp sometime after her husband, Stephen died in 1856. Kipp’s son Henry married Elizabeth’s daughter, Mary Elizabeth Justice. In 1875 they moved from Clear Creek to Cedar Bayou, Harris County where Henry began a shipyard. The business prospered and the Kipp’s raised a family of nine children there. A daughter, Jane Kipp married James Bradford of Cedar Bayou, who owned a large four masted schooner. Bradford ran his boat from Cedar Bayou along Galveston Bay freighting cordwood, brick, produce, or anything the customers wanted. In 1891 the Bradfords moved back to Clear Creek and lived in the house first built by Jane’s parents. The Kipps and Bradfords acquired the balance of the Gouldrich labor and part of the Muldoon league. The Kemah post office was established November 12, 1907 by John H. Kipp, Sr. The name of the town was changed to Kemah because there was already an Evergreen. Kemah, an Indian word meaning “Wind in the Face”, was chosen by residents. Most families on the bay had boats for transportation, therefore one of the first businesses in Kemah was the Platzer Boatyard. Owned and operated by Herman Platzer the yard was located on Clear Creek, which afforded deep water for docking while the shallow bay did not. New boats were built and old boats repaired and refinished. With the advent of Prohibition in 1920 and the tolerance of Galveston County officials to alcohol and games of chance, Kemah became Houston’s playground with wide-open gambling and drinking. During the 1950’s the Clear Creek Channel was opened and a large shrimp fleet was based at Kemah. Carla, the 1961 hurricane devastated the city and virtually destroyed it. Recovery from the massive storm was slow but the fishing industry returned and grew in strength. Marine storage facilities for pleasure craft in the city and surrounding areas during the 1970’s and 1980’s added greatly to the economy. Kemah was incorporated as a village on March 22, 1965. The first mayor was Dr. R. B. Estes and the first Aldermen were John J. Dewey, F. W. Bertram, J. J. McCabe, Lee Hart, and Frank O Mabry. The first Police Chief was Kenneth Hanson. On October 22, 1966 the Village of Kemah adopted Chapters 1 through 10, Title 28 of Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes becoming a General Law City. In 1992 the city encompassed two square miles with a population of 1,300.

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