Including the Col. W. H. Sinclair, Mary Upham, and Melissa White lines
WILLIAM SINCLAIR LINE REFERENCES
I. John William Sinclair b. Wick, Caithness, Scotland, March, 1777 d. Fayette Twp., Hillsdale Co., Mich. May 31, 1849. i. Sunset View Cemetery, Jonesville, Mich. m. Parish of Barony, City of Glasgow, County of Lanark, Scotland, Jan. 14, 1803, Mary Graham b. Bolton, Lancashire, England, July 21, 1781, d. New York Mills, N.Y. 1867. After the death of her husband, she went to live with her daughter Agnes in New York Mills. i. Glenside Cemetery, New York Mills, N.Y., on Samuel Campbell lot. Marker reads: Grandmother Sinclair. No record of death or burial date, except 1867 listed in cemetery records.
II. Children:
2. James b. Feb. 26, 1804. d. Oct., 1805
3. Jane 1806-1827 m. Charles McLean
4. Mary 1807-1879 m. John Whitten II
5. John 1809-1888 m. Elizabeth Chisholm
6. Agnes 1811-1905 m. Samuel Campbell
7. WILLIAM see below
8. Elizabeth 1815-1905 m. Noel M. Adams
9. Janet Feb. 17, 1817 d. Jan. 17, 1823
10. Margaret 1819-1896 m. Samuel R. Taylor
11. Charlotte 1822-1912 ffi. Silas W. Purdy
12. Jeannette 1826-1875 m. Simeon B. White
7
II. William Sinclair. Glasgow, Scotland Mar. 10, 1813. d. Jonesville, Mich. April 29, 1883 of typhoid. m. Akron, o. Melissa Van Hyning b. Akron, O. Mar. 8,1817. d. Jonesville, Mich. Mar. 23,1909. Both i. Sunset View Cemetery, Jonesville, Michigan.
III. Children:
13. Col. William Henry b. Oct. 31, 1838 V
14. John P. b. Sept. 8, 1840
15. Mary b. 1842
16. Melissa b.Nov.-30, 1847
JONESVILLE INDEPENDENT, March 14, 1907--"Dee-lighted!" President Roosevelt's favorite saying, would but faintly express the grateful pleasure enjoyed by Mrs. William Sinclair, Friday afternoon, March 8, when a number of lady friends took possession of her home on Maumee St. and made her the guest of honor at a formal recognition of her ninetieth birthday. It was no pretended "surprise" function, often practiced, of which the beneficiary is always cognizant and looking forward to for lo these many days, but an unsigned voluntary expression of the high esteem in which a worthy nonagenarian is regarded by a wide circle of friends. Cake and coffee were served, and the memorable occasion was a unique one for both the recipient and the participants, for such a distinction as ninety years is but seldom vouchsafed to individuals, and it is equally seldom that individuals are permitted the privilege of participating in an event of such a character.
About fifty friends, ladies and gentlemen, called to extend greetings to Mrs. Sinclair and express their congratulations and good wishes, which were sincere and cordial and afforded unbounded pleasure to all alike. Besides numerous gifts of choice fruits and rare blossoms the guests bestowed other and more enduring reminders of the occasion. Among the older friends who called were Mrs. A. J. Baker, aged 86, and Mrs. Geo. C. Munro, aged 81 years. Mr. and Mrs. Walter I. Owen (#24) of Detroit received a brief announcement the previous evening and the following morning took the first train for this place in order to be present. Mrs. Owen is a granddaughter of Mrs. Sinclair and was formerly Miss Minnie White of Wheatland, also formerly a resident of Hillsdale.
There was a pleasing incident of the day which Mrs. Sinclair related to a representative of the INDEPENDENT. When Mr. Ephraim Gregory and Mrs. Robert Gregory were here February (?) to attend the funeral services of their mother they brought their old friend, Mrs. Sinclair, whom they had not seen for many years, fifty beautiful carnations, the aged lady related and efforts to preserve the flowers for her natal day had been signally rewarded, as the carnations were as fresh as when brought.
Mrs. Sinclair is a remarkable woman for her years. She lives all alone and personally performs all her lighter household duties, getting about as readily as a great many women of fifty or sixty years. Her recollection of past events is surprising, which she relates in an interesting manner, and her mental faculties give but slight evidence of the lapse of nine decades.
Mrs. Sinclair was Miss Melissa Van Hyning previous to her marriage, and was born in Akron, Ohio. In company with her husband, who departed this life about 24 years ago, they came to Jonesville and lived upon what is now the A. H. Dudley farm, east of town, about fifty years since, and built the house which yet remains. Afterward Mr. Sinclair bought a farm west of town, in the A. J. Baker neighborhood, and here also built a fine house, where the family lived for a number of years.
With true mother pride Mrs. Sinclair takes pleasure in recalling incidents in the soldier record of her son, Colonel William H. Sinclair, afterwards of Galveston, Texas, who died ten years ago. "He enlisted as a fifer in the Seventh Michigan," she remarked, "and came out a colonel, which is good enough for almost anybody. Playing the fife caused bleeding at the nose, and he was transferred to the ranks as a private." She stated further that after her son had risen to the rank of major he was transferred to Gen. Stanley’s staff, commanding the fourth army corps, army of the Cumberland, and in the battle of Davenport's Valley, near the Alabama line, he had two horses shot from under him. In 1863, Maj. Sinclair was married to Miss Loraine Bartholomew of this village. Of their three sons, Stanley Sinclair, the youngest, was a soldier in the Spanish-American war, and is now a first lieutenant in the regular army. The other two sons are prominent in the business affairs of Galveston. The father at the time of his enlistment in the Seventh Michigan infantry was a clerk in the drug store of the late R. S. Varnum, in the same store now conducted by Mr. Varnum's three sons.
13
III. Col. William Henry Sinclair b. Akron, OH Oct. 31, 1838. d. Rochester, N.Y. on business trip, res. Galveston, Texas, Jan. 11, 1897; m. Jonesville, Mich. Dec. 23, 1863 Loraine Phoebe Bartholomew, dtr. of Orange Adams and Sarah (Chapin) Bartholomew of Whitehall, N.Y., b. Jonesville, Mich. Oct. 5,1840. d. Galveston, Tex. Aug. 15, 1895. Both int. Lakeview Cem., Galveston, Tex.
IV. Children:
17. Henry Bond b. July 5, 1870
18. Louis Durand b. Nov. 11, 1874
19. Col. William Stanley b. Sept. 27, 1877
III. John P. Sinclair b. Akron, OH Sept. 8, 1840. d. Long Lake Twp., Grand Traverse Co., Mich. on or about Oct. 27, 1913 (early November?) into Traverse City, Mich. Oakwood Cem. 1st Add. Block 241, Lot 4. Monument of Civil War soldier marked McPherson Post No. 18 G.A.R. No headstone but he is between those for Francis Borden and Lawrence Haynes. m. Hi11sda1e, Mich. May 15, 1867/8 Arabella Roberson b. _____ d. ____
Mr. Sinclair's pension papers show that he lived in the following places; Jonesville, Mich. 1862-1871; Galveston, Tex. 1872-1881; Jonesville, Mich. 1882-1889; Mayfield, Mich. 1890-1893; Monroe Co., Mich. 1893-1896; Rainey Lake, Grand Traverse Co., Mich. 1896-1899; Long Lake Twp., Grand Traverse Co., Mich. 1899-1913, P.O. address Interlochen.
News article, Traverse City Record-Eagle, Oct. 23, 1914, p.1—
The body of John Sinclair, the Civil War veteran who disappeared from his home at Long Lake in the early part of last November, was found Thursday afternoon by Peter Little and Frank Linderman of Interlochen, who were hunting on section five in Gren (sic) Lake township. When the men made the discovery they notified Jacob Witkop of Interlochen, who called up Sheriff Smith, who together with Coroner Minor, went to the spot, which is about midway between Cedar Hedge lake and Mud lake, and gathered up what remained of the body and brought it to the Gruber undertaking rooms, where friends of the man confirmed the identification through the watch and clothing that still remained. For the past year Sheriff Smith has been searching for a clue to the whereabouts of the body of the old man, but nothing was ever discovered to explain his fate until the location of the body yesterday.
At the time he disappeared he had been in Interlochen during the day, and when he started for home he had a bag with him in which he carried his purchases. This bag was found about eighty rods from his home the next day that he was missed and contained some newspapers, crackers and tomatoes. It is evident that after dropping the bag he proceeded in the opposite direction from his home, for the body was found about two miles away from this point.
When the body was found it lay about thirty feet on the road on dry land, and some time since his death forest fires had run through the brush and leaves, burning his clothing to a crisp so that the body looked just like the parts of burned logs that were located in the same vicinity. This fact was evidently the cause of the body not being found before. The remains were in a badly decomposed state, little remaining but the top of the skull and body bones. His watch, which he carried, was found under the body, and there was no money or other articles found.
Last year Sheriff Smith offered a reward of $25 for the discovery of Mr. Sinclair, dead or alive, and this morning he went before the board of supervisors and secured the approval of the claim and orders were drawn, giving each of the two men who made the discovery $12.50.
Mr. Sinclair was 73 years old and came to this region from Ohio many years ago, and for the past seventeen years had lived an isolated life at his Long Lake cabin. He served in the civil war and drew a pension. He was well known throughout the county and was a favorite with the resorters at Long Lake. He leaves a wife, who at present lives at Coldwater, and some nephews in Texas. The funeral will be held tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock from the Gruber undertaking rooms, Rev. A. A. Stevens officiating. Burial will be in the old soldiers' plot in Oakwood.
15
III. Mary Sinclair b. Akron, OH 1842/3. d. Jackson, Mich. Feb. 4, 1883. m. Jonesville (?), Mich. William W. Upham b. Hamilton, N.Y. 1827, son of Hiram and Delphia (Nash) Upham. Mary is into on her father's lot, Sunset View Cem., Jonesville, Mich.
IV. Children:
20. William
21. Frank S. b. Oct. , 1864
22. Ralph S. b. Apr. 16, 1872
News article, Jackson Daily Citizen, Thursday, January 18, 1883---
The accident which caused the alarm of fire yesterday afternoon, just as the Citizen was going to press, and reported in its columns, was more serious than at that time was supposed. It was the reservoire of a gasoline stove that Mrs. Upham was filling, instead of a lamp, as stated. She had drawn some of the stuff in a pitcher and set it on the stove, in which she supposed there was no light, but when a little was spilled out there as an instant explosion, and the lady's apparel and hair and everything in the room was in a blaze in less time than it takes to tell it. With rare presence of mind, Mrs. Upham rushed out and rolled in the snow, and with the assistance of Mr. Harry Hague, who happened to be in the neighborhood, the flames which almost enveloped her person was (sic) extinguished. The front part of her dress was burned to her corset, and the skirts nearly burned off, her hair was ruined, and her neck and arms to the elbows were badly burned, and also her limbs from ankles to hips. She partially protected her face, so that it is thought no scars will be left. Dr. W. A. Gibson was called, and the lady is in much better condition than could have been expected. It was a narrow escape from a most terrible death.
News article, Jackson Daily Citizen, Tuesday, January 30, 1883--
A vicious dog bit a child of W. W. Upham's on West Washington Street yesterday inflicting a severe wound. The animal was promptly killed.
Jackson Daily Citizen, Monday, February 5, 1883--
Mrs. W. W. Upham who was so severely burned by the explosion of gasoline while filling a gasoline stove on the 17th of Jan. died of her injuries yesterday morning at 6 o'clock. The immediate cause was blood poisoning, produced by excessive suppuration from the extensive burns which covered her entire body except the trunk. It was a sad and painful case, but everything was done that could be to alleviate her sufferings. She leaves a husband and two sons. The funeral will be held at half-past two o'clock tomorrow forenoon, at the residence on Washington street, and the remains will be taken to Jonesville for burial.
Hillsdale Standard, Tuesday, February 13, 1883--
Mrs. W. W. Upham, of Jackson, who was fatally burned by a gasoline stove, an account of which was published last week, died on the 4th inst. Her remains were brought to Jonesville, her home from childhood until a few months ago, for burial. She was a daughter of William Sinclair of that place.
16
III. Melissa Sinclair b. Akron, O. Nov. 30, 1847. d. Dec. 19, 1872. m. in her parents' home Jonesvi11e, Mich. (or at their farm northwest of town) Oct. 30, 1867 James H. C. White b. Hamburg, N.Y. 1844 son of James (b. England, 1817) and Jane (Williams) White. Birth rec. for dtr. Nina says James H. C. was a merchant in New York and Melvine, o. Melissa's name, age, and death date are on father's monument in Sunset View Cem. No head stone. Cemetery records in Hi11sda1e courthouse show she is buried on White lot in Oak Grove Cem., Hillsda1e. A head stone is there.
IV. Children:
23. Nina W. b. Aug. 3,1868
24. Minnie b. ca. 1872
17
IV. Henry Bond Sinclair b. Austin, Tex. July 5,1870. d. Galveston, Tex. Jan. 1, 1943. m. Galveston, Tex. Mary Louise Rice b. Galveston, Tex. June 21,1876, dtr. of Edwin Eldredge Rice. d. Galveston, Tex. Mar. 28, 1948. Henry int. on his father's lot Lakeview Cemetery, Galveston. Mary Louise's ashes scattered at Trinity Episcopal Church, Galveston.
V. Children:
25. Harry Bond, Jr. b. Jan. 9, 1909
IV. Louis Durand Sinclair b. Galveston, Tex. Nov. 11, 1874. d. Galveston, Tex. Feb. 25, 1942. m. Celeste H. ______ b. July 19, 1879 d. Galveston, Tex. Jan. 19, 1962. No issue. Both int. across the road from W. H. Sinclair lot, Lakeview Cemetery, Galveston, Tex. (note: Louis D. originally was buried in SINCLAIR lot, but his widow had a feud with SINCLAIRs and moved him across road in present location. asb)
19
IV. Col. William Stanley Sinclair, b. Galveston, Tex. Sept. 27,1877 d. Galveston, Tex. July 17, 1961. m. Galveston, Tex. Aug. 24, 1899 Mary Lufkin Van Alstyne b. Houston, Tex. July 17, 1878, dtr. of Albert A. and Catharine Stone (Lufkin) Van Alstyne d. Galveston, Tex. Apr. 21, 1963. Both into W. H. Sinclair lot, Lakeview Cem., Galveston.
V. Children:
26. Catherine b. 1900 d.a.b.
27. William Van Alstyne b. Mar. 16, 1901
28. Albert Henry b. May 7, 1905
29. Mary Loraine b.Nov.11, 1911
30. William Stanley, Jr. b. Feb. 4, 1913
20
IV. William S. Upham b. Mich 1863/4
The only two records I have seen for William S. Upham are: (1) in Aldous Hibner's manuscript (Utica Public Library) "Chisholm-Sinclair Genealogy," where he is listed as the first of three children of Mary Sinclair and W. W. Upham, with the notation that the father and three sons went to Montana in 1891 and engaged in ranching, and (2) in the Montana census of 1920 where he was listed as age 56, living alone in Flathead Co. and born in Michigan.
21
IV. Frank S. Upham b. Mich. Oct. 1864 m. Almyra _____ b. Penn. Jan. 1871.
V. Children
31. Helen H. b. Feb 1896 Montana
There are three records for Frank S. Upham that I know of: (1) the Hibner genealogy; (2) in the Jackson, Mich. City Directories for 1883 and 1884 where he is listed as a machinist for the Michigan Central R. R., and his father as a clerk for Tuomey Bros. Dry Goods; (3) the 1900 Montana census lists him as a resident of Butte, Silver Bow Co., age 35, b. Michigan, and his wife Almyra, born Pennsylvania Jan. 1871 29 y.o.a., and a daughter Helen H. born in Montana Feb. 1896 four y.o.a. The 1920 Montana census has him in Libby, Lincoln Co., age 55 b. in Michigan, and his wife Almyra. No children are listed.
22
IV. Ralph S. Upham b. Jonesville, Mich. Apr. 16, 1872.
Ralph S. Upham is the only one of the three brothers for whom I found a birth record, and his parents were listed as William and Mary. The Jackson (Mich.) Daily Citizen had an article in its Jan. 30, 1883 edition:
“A vicious dog bit a child of W. W. Upham's on West Washington St. (where they lived) yesterday inflicting a severe wound. The animal was promptly shot." Coincidentally, it was printed on the back of an article reporting a fire in the Upham home in which Mary Upham was burned so severely that she died a few days later. Ralph was also listed in the Hibner genealogy. There was no listing for him in the Montana census, either in 1900 or 1920.
23
IV. Nina W. White b. Hillsda1e, Mich. Aug. 3, 1868.
I ran across Nina W. White in the Hillsdale birth records while looking for other births. Her parents were listed as James H. C. and Melissa. I thought Minnie (below) was the only child. Later I found Maude White listed as the older daughter of James and Melissa in the Hibner genealogy. Still later I found her in the Marriage Records as Maude N. White, 22, who married in 1891 Charles L. Holland, 26, of Jackson, Mich. Are these two Maudes and Nina all the same person?
24
IV. Minnie White b. 1872 d. Houston, Tex. Apr. 2, 1968. Her ashes int. White lot #246 Sec. 15 in Oak Grove Cem., Hillsdale, Mich. under name Minnie Post. The owner of the lot was listed as Jane Cross. (See #32) 1.m. Hillsdale Co., Mich. Oct. 13, 1896 Walter I. Owen, son of Russell B. and Rose (Inghram) Owen, b. Cleveland, OH 1873. Issue?
2.m. _______ Post. No confirmation of this marriage, except wife’s burial name. Possibly Post adopted Jane.
V. Children:
32. Jane b. Nov. 12, 1907 (by 1st m.?)
It is possible that Minnie was orphaned. Her mother died in 1872, the year that Minnie was born. I find no record of her father after his marriage. He is not buried on the White lot at Oak Grove, and no death record. The 1894 census shows Minnie living with her White grandparents in Wheatland. The marriage record shows she married Walter I. Owen in 1896. In 1907 they were living in Detroit (see news article 7-7). The Detroit directories show separate addresses for them at that time. Were they divorced? By which marriage did she have Jane?
25
V. Harry Bond Sinclair, Jr. b. Galveston, Tex. Jan. 9, 1909. d. ____ Tucson, Ariz. Apr. 27, 1991. m. Austin, Tex. June 7, 1941 Annie Katherine Wells b. Jackson Co., Tex. July 7, 1914. d. Tucson, Ariz. Mar. 29,1977. Ashes of both int. Columbarium at St. Philips in the Hills Episcopal Church, Tucson, Ariz.
VI. Children:
33. Living
34. Living
26
V. Catherine Sinclair b. Galveston, Tex. 1900. d. at birth.
* See Jonesville INDEPENDENT article March 14, 1907, #7
27
V. William Van Alstyne Sinclair b. Galveston, Tex. Mar. 16, 1901. d. San Diego, Calif. May 26, 1983. m. Honolulu, Hawaii 1942 lone Hawks b. Kansas ca. 1905. d. San Diego, Calif. Feb. 24, 1988. Ashes of both on W. H. Sinclair lot, Lakeview Cem., Galveston, Tex. No markers. N.I.
28
V. Albert Henry Sinclair b. Plattsburg, N.Y. May 7, 1903. d. Oregon State Hospital, Salem, Ore. June 22, 1990. He never married. He was a school teacher in Oregon. His ashes are interred on W. H. Sinclair's lot, Lakeview Cem., Galveston, Tex.
29
V. Mary Loraine Sinclair b. Spokane, Wash. Nov. 11, 1911. d. Austin, Tex. Dec. 27,1975. m. Galveston, Tex. Oct. 8,1949 John Andrew Ford b. Boston, Mass. July 4,1908. d. Cape Cod, Mass. ca. Dec. 21,1981. Ashes of both int. W. H. Sinclair lot, Lakeview Cemetery, Galveston, Tex. No issue.
30
V. William Stanley Sinclair, Jr. b. Ft. Lawton, Seattle, Wash. Feb. 4, 1913, baptized Trinity Episcopal Church, Galveston. d. Houston, Tex. May 10, 1997, m. Trinity Episcopal Church, Galveston, Tex. Feb. 6,1937, Mary Kate Crow b. Galveston, Tex. Jan. 22, 1915 d. Houston, Tex. June 10, 2001. She was the daughter of Asa Lee Crow b. Charleston, Miss. Oct. 8, 1884, d. Galveston, Tex. Nov. 13, 1967, and Margaret Jeannetta Stafford b. Galveston, Tex. Oct. 26, 1889, d. Galveston, Tex. Apr. 30, 1973, who were married in Galveston Apr. 25, 1911. William S. Sinclair, Jr. and Mary Kate Crow int. Asa Lee Crow lot, Episcopal Cem., Galveston, Tex.
VI. Children:
35. Living
36. Living
37. Living
32
V. Jane Post b. Detroit, Mich. Nov. 12, 1907. d. Houston, Tex. May 24, 1976. m. Char1es A. Cross b. Nov. 20, 1910. d. Houston, Tex. Oct. 8, 1975. Ashes of both int. Memorial Oaks Cemetery, Houston, Tex. Mausoleum East Corridor #2; Jane - Niche 188, Charles - Niche 193. No known issue.
No information was forthcoming from her brother-in- law, William Cross. The records of the cemetery where she is buried gave her birth and death dates, her obituary gave the birthplace.
Mrs. Jane Post Cross, 68, of Houston, a retired Joske's Post Oak Store employee died May 24, 1976. Mrs. Cross had lived in Houston since 1940. Was born in Detroit, Michigan. Memorial Services 12 Noon Friday, at the Sage Rd. Chapel of George H. Lewis and Sons with Rev. John R. Bentley, Jr. officiating. Cremation. In lieu of usual remembrances, please give to your favorite charity. Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 2530 Sage Rd. at Westheimer.
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM H
1838-1897
from
Papers of W. S. Sinclair, Jr.
Letter of recommendation for employment
Executive Office
Austin, Texas 5 Feb. 1869
General U. S. Grant
Sir
I take pleasure in recommending the bearer of this letter, Col. W. H. Sinclair to your favorable consideration. Col. S. served with distinction in the army of the United States during the late Rebellion. He was mustered out of service in this state during the year 1865. Since which time he has occupied a prominent position in the Bureau of Refugees and (illegible) in this state. My official station for about eighteen months, has given me peculiar opportunities to become acquainted with the manner in which he has discharged the delicate and responsible duties that have devolved upon him, and I take pleasure in bearing testimony to his intelligence, firm business habits and capacity and strict integrity. These qualities, with his faithful service in the army, commend him to future employment by the government.
Very Respectfully,
Your obt Servt
E. M. Pease
I heartily concur in the above statements.
E. B. Turner
Atty Gen’l, Texas
I heartily endorse all that has been said in connection with my friend Col. Sinclair.
Jos.W Thomas
(On the back of this two-page document is written:)
Texas June 4, 1869, Special Agency, State of Texas.
W. H. Sinclair, Applicant. By Jos. W. Thomas
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM H.
1838-1897
letter
(testimonial)
HEADQUARTERS FORT WAYNE, MICHIGAN
September ________ 18___
Hon.D. D. Pratt
Commissioner Internal Revenue
I have the honor to address you, in order to give my testimony in behalf of Col. Wm. H. Sinclair who now holds the position of Collector of Internal Revenue in the lst Collection District of Texas. Col. Sinclair served on my personal staff during the entire war. He advanced by his own merits from a drummer boy, to be Adjutant General of a Corps. I know him well, and know him to be thoroughly honest, efficient, and scrupulously careful of the interests of the government. Col. Sinclair is well known in the late Army of the Cumberland, in which he has hosts of friends.
Very Respectfully
D. S. Stanley
Col. & Brvt. Maj. Gen’l.
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM H.
1838-1897
Army letter
Major Sinclair is an intelligent, efficient and competent officer. He has had much experience in the field, is brave and gallant in battle, and is in all respects a good soldier. He has been faithful and attentive to duty and has received the commendation of his superior commanders.
I have the honor to submit the foregoing recommendations for “promotion and appointment in the Army of the United States” for consideration, and would respectfully request such favorable action as may be deemed consistent with the requirements of the service.
(signed) George H. Thomas
Maj. Gen. U. S. Army
Comdg.
Bvt. Maj. Gen’l
L. Thomas
Adjt Gen’l U. S. Army
Washington, D.C.
A.G.O. Sept. 24th, 1886
Official Copy
(signed) J. C. Kelton
Asst. Adjt Gen’l
U. S. Army
SINCLAIR. COL. WILLIAM HENRY
d. January 11, 1897
Information furnished by Mary Kate (Crow) Sinclair
Bio
At the time of his enlistment in the Union Army in the Civil War, William Henry Sinclair was a clerk in the drug store of R. S. Varnum in Jonesville, Mich. Reenlisted as a fifer in the 7th Michigan Infantry and came out a Colonel. Playing the fife caused bleeding at the nose, and he was transferred to the ranks as a private. He rose to the rank of Major and was transferred as an aide to Gen. D. S. Stanley's staff (the commander of the 4th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland), and in the battle of Davenport Valley, near the Alabama line, he had two horses shot from under him. He was mustered out at San Antonio.
In 1863 he married Loraine Phoebe Bartholomew of Jonesville. He brought his bride and her brother, Eugene, and sister to Texas. Eugene was a banker in Austin, and his grandsons still live there. After the war William was with the Bureau of Refugees 1m Galveston, and in 1869 served as Clerk of the District Court of Galveston County, then County Treasurer, and later Collector of Internal Revenue. (Mary Kate found a paper testifying that he was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and which listed his vocation as carpet-bagger!
He became a prominent businessman. He was President of the City Railway, which were mule-drawn streetcars, and of the Light Plant, and as such was the promoter of several notable things, among which was the building of the Electric Pavilion, a beautiful resort building on the beach front in 1881. It had the first electric lights in it, but it burned down two years later. It was the first bath house built in Texas. In 1883 the Beach Hotel was built, a beautiful, huge elaborate hotel built on the beach. William Henry Sinclair and a group of other prominent citizens raised the money for this building. He was also president of the first professional baseball team in Galveston, the Galveston Giants. He evidently was well-to-do but lost most of his wealth in the depression of the '90s.
A hundred years ago Galveston was known as the Wall Street of the South, and it flourished in all ways, was the leading port and city. In 1885 there was a terrible fire that destroyed 40 blocks of businesses and homes, among them the Sinclair's.
("I asked several people about the board of refugees, and I suppose this bureau took care of displaced people. It was a terrible time for the South."—M.K.C.S.)
They moved to the Beach Hotel and stayed there until they died. Then in 1898 the Beach Hotel burned to the ground. Being on the beach, it probably would have been destroyed later in the 1900 storm, the worst national disaster in U.S. history. It claimed the lives of 6000 to 8000 people.
(“That terrible hurricane left so many bodies that they couldn't dispose of in a hurry, so they put them on barges and took them out in the gulf and dumped them, and they promptly floated into shore.”—MKCS Letter April 13, 1983)
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM H.
1838-1897
from
Houston Chronicle Rotogravure Magazine, Sunday, January 13, 1957
OLD BEACH HOTEL ** "FINEST IN THE SOUTH" by R. E. Connor
Out where the whitecaps come rolling into the Galveston seawall once stood the old Beach Hotel, regarded in its day as the South's finest.
The hotel of 4 1/2 stories, and with considerable gingerbread ornamentation, was a frame structure built in 1887 and 1888. For 10 years the Beach Hotel accommodated tourists from all parts of the world. Many Texans and other Southerners spent their vacations there.
When troops were in training at Galveston for the Spanish-American War, the hotel was a favorite hangout in off hours and officers and men of the volunteers encamped near the hotel. One of those volunteers who recalls the background of that experience was Capt. N. M. Allen, CO, of 310 Burr St.
Capt. Allen had volunteered at Palestine after the battleship Maine was blown up in Havana Harbor. The United States Volunteer Immunes, to which Capt. Allen belonged, was encamped for a time on a baseball park near the Beach Hotel. He was a corporal at the time, and was promoted to a captaincy in World War I.
Capt. Allen recalls there was a wide expanse of lawn in front of the hotel and extended down to the beach. A streetcar line ran in front of the hotel and the lawn was the scene of frequent band concerts. Nearby was a Ferris wheel and other entertainment devices, a domed bandstand, a plain wooden rectangular building, largely open on the sides and with storage rooms for supplies. Portable bathhouses only large enough for a person's change of clothing were available for rental.
Site of the hotel and ballpark would be, if the island were projected out into the Gulf somewhere off the projections of 23rd and 24th streets. These facilities existed before the 1900 storm took its toll of land and before the additional erosion prior to the building of The Galveston Seawall.
Capt. Allen said the Volunteer Immunes camped near the hotel for a relatively short time. The troops then were shifted to land back of Fort Crockett. Still, the volunteers kept the trail hot to the Beach Hotel. Finally came the time for the troops to entrain for New Orleans to board a troopship for the war in Cuba. First morning after arrival in New Orleans, the volunteers read in The New Orleans newspapers of the destruction by fire of the then famous Beach Hotel.
At New Orleans the troops waited for days to embark on the ship assigned to transport them to Cuba. First, cavalrymen and their horses and equipment were loaded on ship. Then came the word that if the volunteers went aboard, the ship would be overloaded.
Suddenly, the Spanish-American War ended. The volunteers, without ever having seen Cuba, entrained for a return to Galveston. On the island, sometime later, they were mustered out near the hotel ruins.
Capt. Allen returned to his Palestine home but was offered employment by the big Mistrot store in Galveston, returned there in 1899, rode through the Galveston storm, and was married later to Miss Ida Tischendorf, a Galveston native.
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM HENRY
1838-1897
from
Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas--Source Unknown*
During his military career Colonel Sinclair was engaged in the following skirmishes and battles, viz: Island No. 10, March and April, 1862; Corinth, May, 1862; Juka, September 19, 1862; Corinth, October 3 and 4, 1862; Stone River (at Murfreesboro, Tenn.) December 1862 and January 1863; Farmington, Miss., May 28, 1862; Franklin, Tenn., December 12, 1862.
Colonel Sinclair had many stirring escapes and adventures during his service in the war of the rebellion. Two horses were shot from under him while in battle. He was with Sherman during that valiant general's famous march to the sea, and at present holds recommendations from leading generals of his army for gallant and meritorious services whilst an officer. He is a member of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Army of the Cumberland, Grand Army of the Republic, Busch Zouaves of St. Louis (honorary), A.F. & A.M.
At the close of the war Col. Sinclair was, with his army corps, ordered to Texas, and filled positions of honor and influence up to the date of his muster out in 1867. He was pleased with Texas, and selected Galveston as his future home. Shortly after he represented his own and adjoining county in the Twelfth legislature of Texas, where his executive ability was so clearly demonstrated that he became a champion of his party, and was elected Speaker of the House. He was a warm, personal friend and confidant of Gov. Davis, the great Republican Texas governor, and at the conclusion of his term was appointed collector of internal revenues, which position he held from May 1st, 1873 up to the date of Cleveland's inauguration.**
His first interest in street railroads was at Galveston in 1878, he becoming a stockholder in the present company, which at that time controlled four miles of road and employed forty men. His confidence in the progress of the city and the development of this interest made him a prime mover in methods looking to improved service, and a better return than he or his associates were receiving, and he was" elected a director, and on January 8th, 1879, was elected president of the company, which position he has held continuously up to the present time. Success crowned his efforts from the date of his assuming the management, and today the records of said company show that where in the year 1878 the receipts were $52,000, they were for the year 1891 $180,000.
To attempt to enumerate the sterling qualities of Col. Sinclair from a personal point of view would be no easy task. He is generous to a fault, and, above all, supremely just, universally kind and always true, and holds the esteem and honor which but few men can command.
*The copy of this article seems to have started somewhere in the middle as the first paragraph at the top of the page is not indented. Neither does Sinclair's name head the article, nor does his picture appear, both of which occur in other articles included. It was verified with Rosenberg Library in Galveston, however, that this is the complete article that they have in their possession.
** March 4, 1885
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM HENRY
d. January 11, 1897
from
"Presiding Officers of The Texas Legislature,
1846-1982." Prepared by the Staff of the
Texas Legislative Council. Austin, Texas, 1982
William Henry Sinclair, a transplanted Northerner and radical Republican who replaced Ira H. Evans as Speaker during the reconstructionist 12th Legislature, was closely affiliated with the inauguration of professional baseball in Texas. Union soldiers occupying Galveston in 1865 popularized that game among residents, an interest that was heightened when General Abner Doubleday (generally credited with inventing baseball in the 1830s) took command of federal troops there the following year. Sinclair, a Union veteran who had been discharged from military service in Texas in 1866, moved south to the port city shortly after the Civil War. About 20 years later, after a team from Austin defeated the New York Giants and prompted baseball enthusiasts in this state to establish the Texas League, Sinclair was president (1888, President of baseball club in Galveston) of a group of stockholders that helped to organize the Galveston franchise. In April, 1888, the Galveston team played its first game, losing on the road to Houston, 4-1. During that inaugural Texas League season, Sinclair and his associates introduced to Galveston two modern baseball accoutrements: the promotion of a Ladies Day to increase attendance; and the use of an outfield tally board, supported by telegraph communication, to keep fans abreast of games being played elsewhere in the league.
Born in Jonesville, Michigan on October 31, 1838, Sinclair originally enlisted in the infantry in 1862 as a mere fife player. By war's end, however, he had risen to the rank of brevet colonel. Sinclair participated in several important Civil War engagements, including the Sieges of New Madrid and Corinth and the battles of Murfreesboro and Chickamauga. Interestingly, at Murfreesboro, he was on the opposite side of the fray from Matt F. Locke and George R. Reeves, the 9th and 22nd speakers, respectively, of the Texas House of Representatives.
Sinclair served a single term as state representative and did not seek reelection; The House chose him as its speaker on May 10, 1871 after Ira H. Evans was ousted from that office due to factional quarrel. The 12th Legislature, in which the two men served, passed a series of measures known collectively as the "Obnoxious Acts," that were anathema to most unreconstructed Texans. Of more lasting significance, however, the same legislature provided for compulsory education and established the state’s first genuine free public school system. It also chartered the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas.
Sinclair was a prominent citizen of postwar Galveston. He was district clerk of Galveston County, later held a position as collector of internal revenue, and during President Benjamin Harrison’s administration was appointed Galveston's postmaster. An energetic entrepreneur, Sinclair, in addition to molding a baseball team, established a local ice manufacturing firm, organized a city railway company, and founded an electric light utility. He also supervised construction of the Electric Pavilion, a Galveston beach house that was the first building in Texas to have electric lights, and built the Beach Hotel, an early resort of elaborate architecture that catered to the city’s growing recreational trade. Never one to retire, Sinclair died January 11, 1897, in Rochester, New York, while on a promotional business trip.
Professional Baseball Came to Galveston in 1888 as League Organized
Game First Brought Here by Federal Soldiers in 1865; Townball was Predecessor
by Albert Reese (newspaper and date unknown)
On motion, Galveston was admitted to the State League. There, modestly fueled between a story about a lost dog and a paragraph of cotton quotations on an inside page of the News, issue of Jan. 19, 1888 is the birth notice of professional baseball in Galveston.
By becoming the fourth member of the league in that historic meeting at Houston, Galveston was entering play-for-pay ball for the first time, but it was not the town=s initial experience with intercity league baseball and certainly this was not its introduction to the game itself.
Baseball came to Galveston and to Texas in 1865 and was immediately adopted by fun-loving Gelvestonians despite the fact it was brought here by "damyankee" soldiers in this last year of the civil war.
Site of the first game was just north of the Ursuline Convent in the open prairie, where also lay the parade grounds of the soldiers quartered there. According to Jesse A Ziegler's Wave of the Gulf, a large group of Galvestonians was on hand to watch the first match game, played between picked regimental teams. Shortly after the contest started the onlookers began to yell, "Oh, pshaw! They have stolen our old game of town ball." Town ball, the prececessor of baseball, was played much like the new game with three bases on the diamond and a pitcher and catcher.
However, the locals decided they liked the new pastime and soon it had replaced the old game. Diamonds were laid out here and there and it was common to see players clad in little more than moustaches whacking the old pill around the prairie.
Sights such as this must have been particularly pleasing to the general who came to Galveston the following year to take charge of the troops. His name was Abner Doubleday, generally conceded to be the father of baseball.
A year after Doubleday's arrival the new game had spread to Houston and on April 21 of that year there was played the first intercity match game in Texas of which any mention can be found in The News or which is noted in The History of the Texas League, written by Bill RUGGLES, a former sports editor of The News and until recently the Texas League....
First Pro Teams
It was ten years later that a professional team was seen in Texas and once again a Galveston club was involved. According to Ruggles' league history, "The first professional ball players to appear in Texas was the Indianapolis club which in 1877 played a local amateur nine in Galveston. Edward (The Only) Nolan worked for Indianapolis and his fast-breaking curve made the efforts of the amateurs ludicrous as he fanned 26 of them. Only one Galveston player hit the ball even to make a foul and he was promptly thrown out at first base by the shortstop. The game was played on a cold raw Sunday afternoon and the Indianapolis outfielders kept their ulsters on."
During this period, as in every period preceding the introduction of play-for-pay ball in Galveston, amateur games grew up on every vacant lot and there were literally dozens of teams here. Some of those most frequently mentioned in files of The News and the Evening Tribune at the time of Galveston's entry in the Texas League were the Island City's, apparently the town's top club, Drummers, Major Burbank's Artillery, The News, Turf Association, Galveston Stars, Santa Fe, Athletics, Island Juniors, Bricklayers, Cornice Makers, Invincibles, Western Union, Young Joplins and the Flyaways. The latter was a negro team of considerable reputation. The Flyaways won a negro state league title in the year of the Texas League's organization and as the summer of 1888 brought contempt and criticism of the Galveston white professionals, they repeatedly challenged the inept Texas Leaguers to a game at $500 a side. Later this challenge was enlarged to take.....
If there was organized an ill-fated semi-pro Texas League, fathered by S. L. Hain of Houston and aided by Alex Easton, of Galveston, credited with valuable assistance in the organization of the professional Texas League.
Clubs were located in Galveston, Houston, San Antonio, Waco, Fort Worth and Dallas. Each club had a few paid men on the roster--an arrangement which, if followed, might have saved the Texas League of 1888 from going onto the rocks, in which case, however, it would not have the distinction of being the Texas League as we now know it.
State Not Ready
As the trials of the league that first year clearly indicate, and as was stated by the Evening Tribune when the Galveston club went on the rocks, dooming the whole circuit, Texas was not ready for professional baseball in 1888. The Tribute said: "The fact is, professional baseball is a trifle too rich for Texas. The cities are all small, comparatively, and a long ways apart; the expenses of keeping up a high-salaried nine something enormous, and the patronage extended the game in most Texas cities is very limited."
The credit for the birth of the professional Texas League is given to John J. McCloskey and the blame for its untimely death that first year is also partly due him. This black-haired, hustling young Irishman who was identified with the loop as late as 1914, when he was manager at Beaumont, laid the ground work for the circuit in 1887. As he told the story to Ruggles, he had been playing at St. Joseph in the old Western League that year and after the season was over he gathered up a collection of all-stars and played a series with a team collected by Mike O'Connor, who had managed a team at Webb City, Mo. After the series was over McCloskey decided to keep his potent Joplin outfit together and barnstorm toward the Pacific Coast, where most of the players usually spent the winter in those days. Coming down through Texas, McCloskey's Joplins aroused considerable enthusiasm at Fort Worth and Waco, where they played independent teams and then landed in Austin. There they were met by Ed Bryne, a contractor, and Sam French a lumberman, a couple of fellows who liked to turn a fast dollar. French and Byrne reminded McCloskey...
Photo of Col. W. H. Sinclair with the following caption:
FIRST LEADER__First president of a Galveston professional baseball club was Col. W. H. Sinclair, above. Col. Sinclair guided the Galveston Giants through the first hectic Texas League season of 1888.
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM H.
d. January 1897
from
THE GALVESTON DAILY NEWS, Tuesday, January 12, 1897
COL. SINCLAIR DEAD
* * *
Found Dead in his Room yesterday
in a Rochester, N.Y. Hotel
* * *
WAS EVIDENTLY APOPLEXY
***
A Good Citizen Gone—Conspicuous in
the Civil War—Closely Identified
With this City’s Interests
* * *
Rochester, N.Y., Jan. 11--(Special)--Colonel William H. Sinclair of Galveston died alone in his room at the Powers Hotel, the principal hotel in the city, some time between noon and 3 o'clock, this afternoon. The cause of death is not known, but Coroner Kleindienst, who has charge of the case, believes that it was due to natural causes, probably heart disease.
Mr. Sinclair came to Rochester last Friday in the interests of Flynn & Co., New York capitalists to look over a proposed new suburban road from Windsor Beach to Sedus Bay, a distance of forty miles. He was greatly impressed with the worth of the scheme and so told Colonel Joseph Tone and George Wilson, the principal local men interested. Colonel Tone and Mr. Wilson were with Col. Sinclair all this morning at the Powers Hotel. Mr. Wilson told of Mr. Sinclair’s death to your correspondent as follows:
“Just before dinner Mr. Sinclair remarked that he had had a good deal of trouble with dyspepsia and he took some medicine, which he said usually brought him relief. We went upstairs, saying he would see us after dinner. We supposed he had gone to the dining room and and this afternoon we waited for some time for him to come down and talk with us. As he did not come and as it was getting along in the afternoon Colonel Tone and I went to his room to call him. The key was on the inside and the door was locked. I called to him, but received no reply. I called to the woman who was cleaning the furniture in the hall and she in turn called a boy, who brought a stepladder. He put the ladder to the transom and looked into the room. “The man is lying on the floor,” the lad exclaimed. We made the boy climb over into the room and turn the key to let us in. We found the man dead, and he had apparently been dead for some time. His glasses lay on the floor near him and his pen was in his hand. He had started a letter, addressing it, “My Dear General.” We do not know who he meant it for. It was a friendly letter and was only partly written. It referred to the death of a friend and expressed surprise that he died so soon. There was nothing in the room to indicate that death was other than natural. The only strange thing was that the door was locked."
The body is now at the morgue and the coroner has ordered an autopsy for tomorrow morning. The landlord at the hotel said that Mr. Sinclair had been there once or twice before. The man was in a happy mood this morning and he entertained his friends at story telling and relating reminiscences of life in the army.
One 1etter, sealed and addressed to a friend in Galveston, was found on the table in Mr. Sinclair’s room. He evidently wrote it this afternoon.
* * *
Associated Press Account
Rochester, New York, Jan. 11 –Colonel William H. Sinclair, a member of The firm of Flinn & Boland, brokers and contractors of New York, and formerly of Galveston, Tex., where he was president of a street railway, was found dead in his bedroom this morning at the Powers Hotel. He had an appointment with officials of a railroad, and when he did not keep it, investigation was made and he was found dead in his room.
SINCLAIR, COL. W. H.
The News in Galveston
About 11 p.m. last night the following dispatch relative to Colonel Sinclair’s death was received:
Rochester, N.Y.—William Sinclair found dead in room, evidently apoplexy.
FROUTH & BALT, Powers Hotel
* * *
Sketch of His Life
Colonel William H. Sinclair was born at Akron, Ohio, on October 31, 1839, and was therefore 57 years of age. He was educated in the public schools of Michigan, his parents residing at Jonesville, of that state, and on the 30th day of May, 1861, at the age of 21, he entered the federal army, enlisting as a private in Company C, Seventh Michigan Infantry. He was appointed corporal in the same company in July, 1861; appointed sergeant major of his regiment August 12, 1861; appointed second lieutenant and assigned to Third Michigan battery of artillery September 9, 1861; appointed aide de camp on the staff of Brigadier General Stanley (now major general), in May, 1862; appointed first lieutenant of Third Michigan infantry July 15, 1862; appointed major and assistant adjutant general of volunteers to date from May 8, and commissioned colonel by brevet to date from March 13, 1865. He was engaged in the following sieges, skirmishes and battles of the Civil War, viz:
Island No 10, March and April 1862
Corinth, May, 1862
Iuka, September 19, 1862
Corinth, October 3 and 4, 1862
Stone River (at Murfreesboro, Tenn.), December, 1862 and January, 1863
Farmington, Miss., May 28, 1862
Franklin, Tenn., December 12, 1862
Manchester Pike (near Murfreesboro), January 6, 1863
During two of these latter he enjoyed the sensation of having his horse shot from under him. He marched with Sherman to the sea. His bravery and ability won for him numerous recommendations from the leading generals of the army, for gallant and meritorious service while an officer.
At the close of the war he was ordered with his army corps to Texas, and there filled positions of honor and influence up to the date of his muster-out, which was in 1867. So well pleased was he with that state that he decided to make Galveston his future home, which intention was fully carried out.
His ability as a leader was soon felt in his district and he was elected as a member of the Twelfth Legislature of Texas, where his executive ability was so clearly demonstrated that he became the champion of his party, and was elected speaker of the house. He was a warm personal friend and confidant of Governor Davis, and at the conclusion of his term was appointed collector of internal revenues, which position he held from May 1, 1873 up to the date of Cleveland's inauguration.
His first interest in street railroads was at Galveston in 1876, he become a stockholder in the present company, which at that time controlled four miles of road and employed forty men. His confidence in the progress of the city and the development of this interest made him a prime mover in methods looking to improved service, and a better return than he or his associates were receiving, and he was elected a director, and on January 8, 1879, was elected president of the company, a position which he held continuously up to 1896. Success crowned his efforts.
Although required to travel further than any other regular attendant upon the meetings of the American Street Railway Association, he was always present, took an active part, and served as second vice president.
He was also a member of the Loyal Legion of the United States, the Army of the Cumberland, the Grand Army of the Republic; also an honorary member of the Busch Souaves of St. Louis, and was a .leading Mason.
Colonel Sinclair’s wife died in the summer of 1895, and a few months later he severed his connection with the street railway company and went east.
He first went to his old home in Jonesville, Mich., where his mother still resided. He spent about a month with her and then went to Colorado, where he remained the greater part of last winter. He paid two short visits to Galveston during the past year, but most of the time was spent in New York, Washington, and various cities of the north. He was in Galveston during the close of the campaign, and left for the east soon after the election. A few weeks ago he went to pay a visit to his old friend, Gen. D. S. Stanley, now commandant of the soldiers’ home at Washington, D.C., where he took Christmas dinner and remained until January 4. From Washington he went to Buffalo, N.Y. His son, Harry Sinclair, last heard from him on Wednesday, January 6, announcing the fact that he had arrived in New York.
Colonel Sinclair leaves three sons, Marry B., aged 27 years; Louis D., aged 22, and William Stanley, aged 19. The two former reside in Galveston. William Stanley is at present attending the law college at Ann Arbor, Mich. The news of his father's death was telegraphed him last night, with the request that he go to Rochester and return home with the body. The deceased has two sisters, by marriage, residing in Galveston. They are Mrs. F. W. BEISSNER and Mrs. Ella DURAND.
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM HENRY
1839-1897
from
The Galveston News, Tuesday, January 12, 1897
The older citizens of Galveston were shocked last night on receipt of the news of the sudden death of Colonel William H. Sinclair yesterday at Rochester, N.Y. Mr. Sinclair has been closely identified with the growth of Galveston since the civil war. In 1861, at the age of 21, he entered the federal service as a private and rose to the rank of colonel. He was throughout the war conspicuous because of his bravery and ability. Soon after the war he settled permanently at Galveston and became closely identified with the city’s interests. He was sent to the Twelfth Legislature, where he was elected speaker of the house. He later held the position of internal revenue collector and was postmaster at Galveston under President Harrison’s administration. Galveston’s fine system of street railway is in large measure the result of his energy. He was the organizer of the Brush Electric Light Company and the Island City Ice Company and was the founder of the Beach Hotel. He was a Mason, a Shriner, a Knight of Honor, a member of the Army of the Cumberland and of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was a loving husband and a good father. Since the death of his wife, in August, 1895, Colonel Sinclair had not been the same jovial spirit of former years. It was apparent to his closest friends that he never got over the terrible blow he suffered in the loss of the gentle helpmate of his maturer years. William Sinclair was one of the most enterprising citizens Galveston has ever had. To enumerate his sterling qualities, he was generous to a fault, always just, kind and true. He possessed the esteem and honor of all who came in contact with him. It is said by his friends that his mission to New York was to work on an enterprise to be started in Galveston.
In his death Galveston meets with a great loss.
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM HENRY
1839-1897
Military record
from
William Stanley and Mary Kate Sinclair, Jr.
1. Enlisted May 30, 1862, as fifer in Co. “C” 7th Michigan Infantry
2. Appointed 6th Corporal in same Co., and Reg. July 6, 1861
3. Appointed Sgt. Major in the 7th Michigan Infantry Aug. 12, 1861
4. Appointed 2nd Lieut., "Dees,” 3rd Michigan Battery, Sept. 7, 1861
5. Appointed "Aide-de-Camp" on the staff of Brig. Gen. Stanley May 10, 1862
6. Appointed 1st Lieut. “Dees,” 3rd Michigan Battery July 15, 1862
7. Appointed Capt. and Asst. Adjutant Gen. on staff of Brig. Gen. Stanley Sept. 5, 1862
8. Appointed Major to date from May 18, 1863, and A.A Gen. Col. by Brevet to date from March 13, 1865
9. Engaged in Siege of New Madrid and Island #10 in March and April 1862
10. In Siege of Corinth in May 1862
11. In Battle of “Iuka” Sept. 19, 1862
12. In Battle of Corinth Oct. 3. and 4, 1862
13. In Battle of Stone's River at Murfreesboro, Tenn. in Dec. 1862 and Jan. 1863
14. In skirmish at Farmington, Miss. May 24 and 28, 1862
15. At Franklin, Tenn. Dec. 12, 1862
16. On Manchester Pike near Murfreesboro Jan. 6, 1863
17. At Alpine in Georgia Sept. 8, 1863. Two horses shot at the McLemore Cove and Craw Fish Springs Sept. 16 and 17, 1863
18. At Chickamauga Sept. 17 and 20
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM HENRY
1839-1897
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
Know Ye, That William H. Sinclair Sgt. Major of the Seventh Regiment of Michigan Vols., who was enrolled on the twenty-second day of August one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one to serve three years, is hereby Discharged from the service of the United States, this Twelveth day of February, 1862, at Camp Pocahontas near Poolesville by reason of Circular from Adjt. General’s Office, date Feb. 7th, 1862. Discharged by order of Adt. Gen. for _________ without ________.
(No objection to his being re-enlisted is known to exist.*)
Said William H. Sinclair was born in S____t County in the State of Michigan, is twenty-two years of age, five feet seven inches high, light complexion, dark eyes, dark hair, and by occupation, when enrolled, a clerk.
Given at Camp Pocahontas near Poolsville, this Twelveth day of February, 1862.
*This sentence will be erased should there be any thing in the conduct
or physical condition of the soldier rendering him unfit for the Army. /s/ ?
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM HENRY
1839-1897
Grand Army of the Republic
Headquarters J. A. Mower, Post No. 10 (Seal) Department of Texas
TO ANY POST OF THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC, GREETING:
This Certifies that Comrade William H. Sinclair is a member in good standing of the Voleosu (?) Grade of this Post; and having paid all dues against him to the thirty-first day of March, 1870, we have granted him this TRANSFER CARD, and recommend him for admission in any Post of our Order.
THE FOLLOWING IS A CORRECT TRANSCRIPT FROM THE RECORDS OF THE POST:
The Comrade is 32 years of age, was born in ____ State of Ohio and by occupation a carpetbagger entered the service on the ninth day of April 1867, as fifer, Co. C of Regiment ____, and was finally discharged on the thirtieth day of September 1866, as Major and Co. A.A.G. Regt. ______ by reason of G. O. A. G. O. W. A., having served five years five months 20 days. He was mustered into the Grand Army as a Recruit on March 1871; advanced to the Grade of a Soldier 21 March, 1871, and made a Veteran 25 April 1871.
Done at Austin, Texas, This twenty-third day of March 1872.
Robt. P. McKibbin, Adjutant L. DeVies (?), Commander
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM H.
1838-1897
Headquarters Military Division of the
Tennessee, Nashville. Tenn., Feb. 17, 1866
Recommendations for Promotion and Appointment in the Army of the United States
Name:
Wm. H. Sinclair
Asst Adjt. (Gen'l) of Vols.
Recommended for:
Captain U. S. Army
Reasons for Recommendation:
Entered the army in May 1861 in the 7th Reg't. Mich. Infantry, was commissioned Second Lieutenant in Third Mich. Battery in October 1861 and First Lieutenant in June 1862. In November 1862 was appointed A.A.G. of Vols. with the rank of Captain and promoted Major in May 1863. In May 1865 was assigned as A.A.G. of the 4th A. C. with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and promoted Colonel of Vols. by Brevet July 1865. Col. Sinclair served constantly in the field from entry into service, first, with the Army of the Potomac until after the Battle of Balls Bluff, then in the campaign against New Madrid and Island 10 and was at the Siege of Corinth and in the battles of Inka and Corinth--transferred to the Army of the Cumberland and served with that army from the time of the Battle of Stone River, in all the marches, battles, etc., until the close of the war. Accompanied the 4th A. C. to Texas and is now on duty as A. A. G. at headquarters 2nd Division 25th A.C.
Major Sinclair is an intelligent, efficient and competent officer. He has had much experience in the field, is brave and gallant in battle and is in all respects a good soldier. He has been faithful and attentive to duty and has received the commendation of his superior commanders.
I have the honor to submit the foregoing recommendations for "promotion and appointment in the Army of the United States" for consideration, and would respectfully request such favorable action as may be deemed consistent with the requirements of the service.
(signed) George H. Thomas
Maj. Gen. U. S. Army
Comdg.
Bvt. Maj. Gen’l.
L. Thomas
Adjt Gen'l. U. S. Army
Washington, D. C.
A. G. O. Sept. 24th 1886
Official copy
(signed) J. C. Kelton
Asst Adjt. Gen'l.
U.S.. Army
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM H.
1838-1897
THE FOURTH DECADE
Chapter XII
(The Twelfth Legislature, which chartered Texas A. and M. College, April 1871.)
The Legislature that had assembled in Austin in the first week of January, 1870, was known as the Twelfth Legislature of Texas. Each house was nearly two-thirds Republican and soon became two-thirds by Democrats being thrown out of their seats and Republicans substituted. There were two negroes in the Senate and about twelve in the house. Judge Edmund J. Davis was Governor. He was a Texan, but served in the army of the United States against his State. There were many men known as carpet baggers from the North, some of them very obnoxious, and some very clever gentlemen. Among the latter class, I recall Representatives Plumly, SINCLAIR, Evans and Schutze. They were able men and made good citizens. The first session lasted only about seventeen days, as we had to adopt the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments to the United States Constitution, pertaining, mainly, to slavery and the negro race, and elect United States Senators, and await the action of Congress.
The following session began the latter part of April, when the Governor was inaugurated, and lasted four or five months. My wife and baby went with me to Austin when I attended the second session, and, because of floods we were on the road in the hack eleven days, enduring great hardship and some danger. Up to this time the State was under military law, and General Reynolds, of the United States army, commanded in Texas. Now we commenced, under a new constitution, and under reconstruction laws passed by Congress, to organize a new government and make laws for the government of the State. The army, the carpet baggers, and the negroes, under Governor E. J. Davis, backed by the Congress, were in full power, and many oppressive, unjust laws were made, and civil laws suspended, and martial law proclaimed and the people were outraged in many ways, so that the years of this Legislature and the next, under Governor Davis, known as the Reconstructed period, have gone down in the history of the State as a disgrace to civilization. The Legislature, as a whole, was composed of an able body of men, and, of course, many of the laws enacted were good and necessary.
Source: "Supplement to First Five Administrators of Texas A&M College." By Cofer, David Brooks. College Station: Texas A&M College, 1955.
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM H.
1838-1897
“In 1883 William H. SINCLAIR bought and merged the Houston City Street Railway Company which had started in 1874 and the Bayou City Street Railway which had formed in 1881 (Houston Daily Post, Nov. 22, 1903; Houston Daily Telegraph, Jan. 11, 1876). In 1886 Sinclair’s Houston City Street Railway utilized 41 cars, 119 mules, and 60 employees. It operated six lines, five of which ran on a loop, thus obviating a turntable, and it encouraged the spread of the town (Houston Post, Sept. 19, 1886).
Source: McComb, David G. Houston: The Bayou City. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1969, page 106.
The New York of Texas
“…The streetcar company hoped to increase patronage by placing this two-story resort on the beach. Designed by Nicholas J. Clayton, the most important architect of the Island City, the Pavilion boasted sixteen thousand square feet of unobstructed floor space made possible by four steel arches which carried the load of the wooden structure. It was the first building in Texas to have electric lights, and it could accommodate five thousand people for dances and performances. In 1883, however, it burned to the ground in a twenty-five-minute fire. The fire engines had a hard time reaching it because of deep sand on the beach, and a musician who had been sleeping in the south tower was killed when he jumped from a window and landed on his back.
“The Pavilion lasted only two years, but this did not halt beach development. In 1878 the Galveston Daily News suggested the construction of a hotel on the Gulf side with galleries to take advantage of the sea breezes. In 1882, led by Colonel William H. Sinclair, president of the streetcar company, a public subscription financed the erection of the $260,000 Beach Hotel. Nicholas Clayton, the architect, placed it upon three hundred cedar piles driven into the sand. It was three stories high with two hundred rooms and eighteen-foot verandas. It was colorful: the building was mauve, the eaves were trimmed in a golden green, and the roof had an octagonal dome painted in large red and white stripes. It gave the impression of three pavilions with gables and ornate grillwork pushed together to form an enormous E configuration. It had a dining room, gentlemen's parlor and reading room, saloon, grand staircase, electric and gas lighting, and water tanks in the dome. It opened July 4, 1883, after a grand celebration the night before.
“The Beach Hotel became the focal point for social activity. The front lawn provided a site for summer entertainment-fireworks, high-wire walkers, and bands. It was unprofitable, however, except when the railroads offered special rates to the city. Sinclair commented that management had "shown a great deal more enterprise than sense in building it."" It was sold in 1889 and resold in 1894. In 1898 the city health officer blocked the seasonal opening because of an "absolutely disgusting and disgraceful" discovery. For at least a decade the hotel had collected the waste products of its sewers in cesspools. Each night around 3:00 a.m. it flushed these by steam pressure into the nearby Gulf. A broken pipe taken up for repair revealed the practice. The city forced the hotel to connect with the city sewer system. While this was being done, the hotel burned under mysterious circumstances.”
Source: Source: McComb, David G. Galveston: A History. Austin: University of Texas Press, page 64.
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM H.
1838-1897
HEADQUARTERS SEALY RIFLES
Galveston, Tex., Feb. 8, 1897--The following resolutions were adopted at a meeting held Monday, Feb. 8, 1897:
Resolved, that in the death of William H. SINCLAIR, for many years a citizen of the city of Galveston, his family has lost an affectionate father, the Sealy Rifles a warm and devoted friend and the community one of its truest and noblest citizens.
Resolved, that this organization will hold in lasting and kind remembrance the many favors conferred upon it, acts of substantial encouragement rendered it collectively and individually, by its patron and nature's model soldier, William H. SINCLAIR.
J. ZIEGLER, JR.
W. H. SEAMAN, JR.
MORGAN M. MANN,
Committee
SINCLAIR, PHOEBE LORAINE BARTHOLOMEW
October 5, 1840-August 15, 1895
from
Galveston Daily News, Friday, August 16, 1895, page 8
(also reprinted in Michigan newspaper*)
Mrs. Sinclair Dead
Death Comes After an Illness of Only Four Weeks
Mrs. Wm. H. Sinclair, wife of Colonel Sinclair, president of the Galveston City street railway company, died in the annex of the Beach hotel at 2 o'clock yesterday of Bright's disease. Mrs. Sinclair had been ill only about four weeks. About two months ago, she went to Orchard Lake, Mich., and returned with her son, who had been in attendance upon the military school there. She was apparently well at that time, but a month ago became ill and has gradually grown worse until she died.
Mrs. Sinclair was 54 years old. About 25 years ago she came from New York [sic]** to Galveston with her husband, and has been a true helpmeet to him in making the success which has attended his business ventures here. Their residence in Galveston has been continuous since their arrival here. During that time she has made many friends, and once having made a friendship, it was for life.
Mrs. Sinclair leaves three sons. The eldest, Harry, is employed in the United States engineer’s office in this city; the second, Louis, is connected with the street railway company; and the youngest, Stanley, has just returned from school. She also has two sisters living in the city, Mrs. Durant [sic]*** and Mrs. F. W. Beissner. The body was removed to the house of the latter, Seventeenth St. and Avenue H, yesterday afternoon.
The funeral will take place from Mrs. Beissner's residence at 4 o'clock this afternoon and will be private.
*Copied from obituary in Jonesville Independent, August 23, 1895, Michigan.
**Should say she came from Michigan
***Should be Durand
* * *
The Beach
Galveston, Texas
August 17, 1895
Mrs. O. A. Bartholomew Jonesville, Michigan
Dear Mother and Percy--
Mary has written you from day today of Loraine's illness and of the end which came day before yesterday. Yesterday we laid her away forever.
I wish you could have been with her in her last sickness and seen her as we saw her yesterday asleep in her coffin. As many said it was impossible to keep away from her as she looked so at rest. Not a wrinkle not a sign of the load she has carried her whole sickness. Not a word of the imaginary troubles that she had carried so long and had weighed so heavily upon her and us.
For 4 days before she died I was sitting by the bed holding her hands which I did almost by hours for days before she died. She said "Well I am going to die. I am so glad I went home and saw Mother. It did me and Mother so much good." I cannot tell you how sad and yet how happy the ending was. No suffering in the end and in death she looked as I never saw her before in life so at rest and in the...
These long years a burden to herself and those who loved her and whom she loved.
Mary has or will give you all the details. It seems like a dream to me. And until 10 days ago we never dreamed that the end had come. No doubt the disease was coming on for years and her mental condition was beyond her control. I am so glad that I waited (?) to the end and so glad that the end was peaceful and happy. She died without a struggle almost and during...
from Col. Wm. H. Sinclair (Need to find rest of letter)
E. C. BARTHOLOMEW
Room 5, Masonic Temple
Real Estate and Loans
Austin, Texas, Aug. 17, 1895
Dear Mother and Percie:
I have just returned from my second trip to Galveston and do not feel like writing but I suppose you will wish to hear regarding Loraine's death. Mary asked me to write. I am sorry you could not have been there, for the impression you would have received would have been so favorable. Although I have never before attended the funeral of a relative, I have seen many dead people, but never nothing like this. When I say her countenance was beautiful, as she lay in the coffin, I do not half express it. She looked from 20 to 25 years younger, not a wrinkle and a pleasanter expression you could not imagine. Her complexion was perfect, and with her eyes closed, she looked like a "sleeping beauty." You could not help thinking she was having the happiest dreams. There was nothing about her that looked like death save the coffin. It seemed impossible to believe she could even have had an unpleasant thought, or have spoken a harsh word. There was nothing that shone forth from her countenance except purity. I never before knew that she had such regular features. Mary had combed her hair in a very becoming, careless manner, and had not the gray hairs shown, she would have been taken for a girl. Her lips, chin, eyes and every part of her face seemed perfectly natural, and none of us could feel when looking upon her that she was dead. It was hard to believe that there was to be a funeral. We wanted to look at her all of the time, and it was hard to keep Mary away, which we didn't try to do. I am not writing my own thoughts only, but those of every one that saw her. Will Sinclair said it carried him back to the time they were married. She looked so much as she did at that time. The expression of a dead friend is usually disagreeable to remember. It is pleasant in the case of Loraine, and I do wish you could have seen her.
She requested to be buried in the dress she wore when Stanley graduated. Will had a magnificent casket, and her friends sent a large amount of beautiful flowers. Will advertised the funeral private, as he didn't wish a big display, still Mary's house was filled. The remains were taken from the Beach Hotel to her house as the hotel is such a public place. Rev. C. M. Beckwith, Rector of Trinity Church, officiated at the house and grave. He visited Loraine two or three times while she was sick. The funeral took place at 4 p.m. on yesterday, and it was about half past six when we returned from the cemetery. On our return I stopped at the Beach Hotel and took supper with Will and the boys. Afterwards all of us went to the room where Loraine was sick and spent the evening. Will spoke of her having so many scrap books and got out some of them to show me. In opening the first one it happened to be at one of Loraine's large photographs and to the bottom of the picture Will found pasted some pretty verses to her husband. It seemed singular that he should first open the book at that place one scrap book is filled with notices she has cut from papers regarding Will.
I dislike traveling very much, but I am glad I made both trips to Galveston. My first visit with her was very pleasant. She had told them she wanted to see me. My last visit--though sad--has impressed me more favorably than even before and I shall always remember her countenance as last I saw it. It was beautiful, grand, spiritual.
I have slept very little the past two nights--am tired--and have written hastily. I must let Mary tell the rest.
Yours affectionately,
Eugene
ORANGE A. BARTHOLOMEW
1815-1889
obit
from
JONESVILLE SCRAPBOOK NO.3
DIED
_________
At his home in Jonesville, on Sunday evening, August 11, Orange A. Bartholomew, aged 74 years.
Mr. Bartholomew was born in Whitehall, N.Y. on May 15, 1815. He carne to Michigan in 1837, first locating in Marshall. In 1838 he removed to Hanover, where he bought a large farm, raising wheat largely. In 1856 he came to Fayette township, settling on the farm now occupied by Erastus Dunham. He remained there two years, when he moved into the village and started a livery stable on the lot now occupied by J. W. Button as a residence. He ran stages to Marshall and Jackson, carrying passengers and mail, until the building of the Fort Wayne road, to which he donated ten acres of land, now occupied by the depots, stone yards, etc. Since that time he has been engaged in farming and the ice and livery business, with the exception of a few years.
He was married to Sarah Wright, who survives him, in 1837, and was the father of nine children, five daughters and four sons, seven of whom are still living.
His health has been failing him for the last three years, and for the past two years he has been confined to his house. The immediate cause of his death was heart trouble.
Mr. Bartholomew was, up to the time of his sickness, an active, successful business man, honorable in his dealings, and making many warm friends. He was a good citizen, and a man deserving and possessing the respect of the community with which he was long identified.
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM STANLEY
d. July 17, 1961
Information furnished by Mary Kate Crow Sinclair
William Stanley Sinclair was named for Gen. D. S. Stanley, under whom his father served in the Civil War. He was attending the University of Michigan when the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, joined the army as a Lieutenant and thereafter made it his career. He was in the Boxer Rebellion and received the Silver Star for gallantry in action. He was also in the Philippine Insurrection where his wife joined him in May, 1901 with their two-month-old baby, William Van Alstyne. She told Mary Kate of the hair-raising experiences she had there and wondered how she and her baby had lived through it. They were back in the United States in 1903 when Albert was born. The family moved around quite a bit and pretty much went wherever Col. Sinclair's work took him.
Col. Sinclair took a regiment to Hawaii in 1913 to build the Schofield Barracks there. He served in France in World War I and after the war was head of the Military Science Department at the University of Oregon.
He retired at the age of 51 (1929) and moved back to Galveston. Because of the 1929 depression, he didn't go into any business and hunted and fished the rest of his life, hardly ever leaving Galveston.
One of the most interesting medals Col. Sinclair received was the Military Order of the Dragon, which was given to those who served in the Boxer Rebellion, 1900-1901. It's a beautiful medal, bronze with a gold dragon on it. The troops in the Boxer War were made up of men from the U.S., England, France, Italy, Japan, Russia, Germany, and Austria. All had embassies in China. We don't know what he did to get the Silver Star during this service. These are the service medals he received. He was at other places for short times between these times of service:
Spanish-American War. Enlisted in 1898 as a 2nd Lieutenant. Never got to Cuba.
Boxer Rebellion, 1900-1901
Philippine Insurrection, 1899-1900, 1901, 1903
Cuban Pacification, 1905-1909. Was in Puerto Rico and Cuba
He and his family were at Ft. George Wright, Spokane, Wash., 1910, 1911, 1912
They were in Hawaii from 1913 to 1916
Mexican Border
World War I, 1917. Was at Chateau Neuf, France, never at the front.
From 1922 to 1928 he and his family were at Eugene, Oregon, where he was head of the Dept. of Military Science and Tactics
Then they were at Ft. Francis E. Warren, Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he retired in 1929, a full colonel, and they moved to Galveston.
“I don’t know exactly what except that she never thought that her milk might dry up and then what would she have done? Also, cholera was rampant, and I think they slept in tents. If her husband had to go to fight the natives, one of his friends would guard her tent.” M.K.C.S.
“Medals were stolen from his “fishing camp,” West Galveston Island in the early to mid 1990’s.”—ASB
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM STANLEY
d. July 17, 1961
from
W. S. and Mary Kate Sinclair, Jr.
1. He attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and was on the football team
2. Enlisted in the Spanish-American War 1898—was in New Orleans—never got to Cuba—was a 2nd Lieutenant
3. Was in the Boxer Rebellion and was awarded the Silver Star
4. Philippino Insurrection—his wife went to the Philippines by boat with her 2-month-old baby in 1902 (Van) from Galveston
5. Plattsburg, N.Y. – Albert born there
6. Puerto Rico and Cuba
7. Spokane, Wash. In 1910, 1911, 1912 – Loraine born at Ft. George Wright, 1911
8. Hawaii—1913 to 1916—Buzz born in Seattle, Wash. At Ft. Lawton on the way to Hawaii
9. Ft. Bliss, Texas, El Paso—Infantry Officer
10. 1916—Recruiting officer at Austin, Texas
11. 1917—Camp Devons, Mass. (Fitchburg, Mass.)
12. 1917—went to Chateau Neuf, France—stayed with Loir family
13. After war, disbanded a division at New Orleans
14. Eagle Pass, Texas, six months
15. Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, 1921-1922—attended Command and General Staff School
16. Eugene, Oregon—University of Oregon, Professor of Military Science and Tactics, 1922-1928
17. Cheyene, Wyoming, Ft. Francis E. Warren—retired a full colonel, commander of the 20th Infantry Regiment—while there he took his regiment to Ft. Huachuca, Arizona, to repel Mexicans, spring of 1929. Retired in May 1929. Came to Galveston, July 1929
SINCLAIR, COL. WILLIAM STANLEY
1877-1961
from
The Galveston News, July 19, 1961
Funeral services for Col. William S. Sinclair, 83, of 3212 Avenue O, will be held at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, in J. Levy & Bro. funeral home, the Rev. Lionel DeForrest officiating.
Cremation will follow in Houston.
Colonel Sinclair was retired from the U.S. Army after 30 years of service. He was a son of William H. Sinclair, who owned the old Street Railway Co. in Galveston and the Beach Hotel.
Colonel Sinclair enlisted during the Spanish-American War and saw action in three continents. He was commissioned shortly before seeing action in the Boxer Rebellion, when he received the Silver Star for bravery in action.
He later fought in the Filippino Insurrection, the Cuban pacification, and World War I, in which he was a regimental commander in France. He retired May 15, 1929, after 30 years' service, and moved immediately back to Galveston.
He died Monday in U. S. Public Health Service hospital after a brief illness.
The family requests omission of flowers.
SINCLAIR, HARRY BOND
d. January 1, 1943
Information furnished by Mary Kate Crow Sinclair
Harry Bond and his brother Louis D. were both with the Corps of Engineers in Galveston. Harry was the chief clerk of the U.S. Corps of Engineers and Louis was the dredge boat captain for the Corps.
When Harry, as the family story goes, wanted to marry Miss Louise Rice, daughter of Col. Rice of the Confederate Army, he couldn't do so until Col. Rice died. The Col. wouldn’t allow his daughter to marry the son of a Yankee.
Here is a letter written by Harry's son, Harry, Jr., to Mary Kate, which sheds light on the Sinclair-Rice relationship.
“Dear Mary Kate:
“...My grandfather Rice's name was Edwin Eldredge Rice. He was not a colonel. I think he was a corporal, fought in the battle of Vicksburg.
“I do not know of any real story that he would not allow my mother to marry my dad. Neither my mother nor my dad ever said any such thing. Grandfather Rice came to lunch at our home almost every Sunday when he retired and I never heard him say such a thing. He and my dad seemed to get along all right. I suppose there were some raised eyebrows about the marriage but I never heard about it from anyone.
“I graduated from Cornell University in 1930. I attended prep school at Evans Ranch School in Tucson, Arizona, for one year after finishing at Ball High School." (Mary Kate inserts: ‘Owned his own advertising firm in Tucson—is retired.’)
“My dad did not go to college and I doubt that Uncle Louis did...
"Love,
“Harry
“Good luck to you and Mr. Oswald.”
SINCLAIR, HARRY BOND
d. January 1, 1943
from
A Government Publication, Galveston, Texas
(Photo with caption)
Henry B. Sinclair
Retiring Chief Clerk
After many years of faithful and efficient service, the award of retirement comes to another one of us.
Mr. Sinclair entered the Government Service in 1891 as Assistant Postmaster, in Galveston, serving in that department through 1893. On January 4, 1894, he was appointed Clerk in the U.S. Engineer Office, Galveston, Texas, and was made Chief Clerk December 1, 1897, which position he held until retired.
Mr. Sinclair has made many friends during his years of service, and the memory of “Henry” will linger long with us who have had the pleasure of serving with him.
To you, “Pop,” we wish the best of everything and a long life of leisure, and may your years of rest in some small way repay you for your enviable record made here.
SINCLAIR, HARRY BOND, JR.
1909-1991
from
Tucson Citizen, Monday, April 29, 1991
“Spirit” of St. Philip's Church,
Harry B. Sinclair, dies at 82
by Joseph Garcia, staff writer
Memorial. services for Harry B. Sinclair will be held Wednesday at St. Philip's Episcopal Church, where the former Tucson advertising executive volunteered his time.
Mr. Sinclair, 82, died Saturday of heart failure.
“He was St. Philip's, he was the spirit of St. Philip's,” said the Rev. Roger O. Douglas who will officiate at the services.
“Mr. Sinclair,” he said had held “most every position in the church.” He had served as church warden, vestryman and junior warden, as well as a delegate to the Arizona Diocesan Convention.
The services will begin at 4 p.m. at the church, on North Campbell Avenue at East River Road.
Mr. Sinclair founded and operated The Sinclair Advertising Agency, and was an active member of The Kiwanis Club, Skyline Country Club and Quail Valley Tennis Club.
“He was well known in the tennis world in Tucson,” Douglas said. “He was a magnificent (player) for his age.”
He frequently attended the tennis matches at Wimbledon and had reservations for the coming French Open, despite his poor health.
Mr. Sinclair was born in Galveston, Texas, and graduated from Cornell University at Ithaca, N.Y., in 1930.
An asthma and arthritis sufferer, he came to Tucson for health reasons in 1946 with his wife, Kay, who died in 1977.
He served in the Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1945, and was discharged as a lieutenant colonel.
“I'd say he was one of the more popular men in town," Douglas said. “He’s the kind of guy who in his 80s was taking courses at the university (of Arizona). He was the kind of person everybody looked toward as a friend. He was very, very special.”
Mr. Sinclair is survived by two sons, Donald of Tucson and Steve of Phoenix.
The family suggests contributions be made to The Harry Sinclair Memorial Fund, Arizona Arthritis Center, University Medical Center, 1501 N. Campbell Ave., Tucson 85726, or to St. Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church, P. O. Box 41028, Tucson 85717.
SINCLAIR, WILLIAM VAN ALSTYNE
SINCLAIR, ALBERT HENRY
SINCLAIR, MARY LORAINE
Information furnished by Mary Kate Crow Sinclair
#27 Buzz's brother, William Van Alstyne Sinclair, didn't go to co1lege. He worked for the government in armament repair, civil service until he retired. Married and lived in Hawaii for 14 years. He was there during the Pearl Harbor attack.
#28 Albert Henry Sinclair was a school teacher at the Klamath Falls, Oregon, high school. He taught math, physics, and chemistry. He graduated from the University of Oregon. He confided once that he had courted a woman who had a big house, a big tv set, some money, and he thought, "This is the one,” but she talked so much he couldn’t stand it!—M.K.C.S. letter, April 13, 1983.
Albert Henry "Al" Sinclair
Albert Henry "Al" Sinclair, 86, Salem, a former long-time Klamath Falls resident, died Friday, June 22, 1990, in Salem (OR).
Mr. Sinclair was born May 9, 1904, at Camp Plattsburg, NY, to Col. William S. and Mary Van Alstyne Sinclair and grew up at various army posts where his father was stationed.
He attended the University of Oregon and was an honor student, captain of the football team and a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.
Upon his graduation, he became football coach at Klamath Union High School. He also coached the tennis team for many years and taught physics, chemistry, general science and math until his retirement in 1959.
During World War II, he served overseas with the Army Signal Corps.
He loved the outdoors and was an avid hunter, fisherman and backpacker. He enjoyed experimenting and tinkering with mechanical and electrical objects.
Survivors include his brother, William S. Sinclair, Jr., Houston, Texas, nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by another brother, Van Alstyne Sinclair, and a sister, Mary L. Sinclair Ford.
Interment of his cremated remains will be in the Sinclair family plot in Galveston, Texas.
Memorial donations may be made to Klamath Union High School for use by its student body.
#29 Mary Loraine Sinclair Ford attended College of Industrial Arts for Women at Denton, Texas. She was talented in music and needlework. After being a secretary for many years, she opened a needlework shop and taught knitting, crocheting, and needlepoint. Her husband, John Ford, was a seaman for many years, having come from Cape Cod, Mass. He joined her in her shop upon his retirement and taught needlepoint.
Mrs. John Ford
(from a Galveston newspaper)
Arrangements for private graveside services are pending for Mrs. John (Loraine Sinclair) Ford, 64, former Galveston resident who died Saturday in Austin after a short illness.
She was the daughter of the late Col. and Mrs. William S. Sinclair, pioneer Galveston residents.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by three brothers, Van Sinclair of San Diego, Calif., Albert Sinclair of Klamath Falls, Ore., and William S. Sinclair, Jr., of Houston, and other relatives.
SINCLAIR, WILLIAM ("BUZZ") STANLEY, JR.
At A Glance
1893 W.S.S., Sr., entered service - went to New Orleans
1900 June, went to China, Boxer Rebellion
1901 Went to Philippines, uprising. March - Van born
1902 Went to Plattsburg, Albert born 1905
1904-1909 ? Cuba, Puerto Rico?
1910 to Spokane, William "Buzz" Jr. born Feb. 4, 1913 near Seattle
1913 to Hawaii, built Schofield Barracks
1917 to El Paso and Ft. Devons, Mass.
1917-1919 to France
1918 to New Orleans
1919-1921 Eagle Pass
1921-1922 Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas
1922-1923 Eugene, Oregon, University of Oregon
1928 to Ft. Warren, Wyoming
1929 to Corpus Christi (6 weeks) and Galveston
1931 Buzz freshman at Texas A&M
1935 Graduated
1936 Went to work for Pollock Paper, Dallas, Texas
Feb. 1937 Married Mary Kate Crow in Galveston, Texas
1939 Moved to Houston to build plant for Pollock
1940 Built house on Locke Lane
Aug. 1941 Buzz entered service, Ft. Benning and Camp Walters
1942 Buzz to Camp Van Dorn, Miss.
1943-1945 Ft. Benning
1945 Buzz retired to Houston, worked as a builder and spent leisure hours fishing and hunting as his father did
1947-1950 Buzz entered Natl. Guard, Ellington Air Force Base, Texas
1950-1953 Civil Service La Porte GEIA/EIAS, National Guard
1953-1971 ??? AF National Guard, Ellington A.F.B
1971-1973 Red Horse, Ellington A.F.B.
1973-1978 Civil Service Engineer, Ellington
1978 Buzz retired
1978 Fishing. Buzz did not move to Galveston until he started building beach houses in 1965
SINCLAIR, WILLIAM STANLEY, JR.
1913-1997
Furnished by youngest child
My father was ever the kidder. Never afraid to talk to strangers—especially as he got older—he would strike up a conversation and tell them all sorts of stories about himself, his fishing, his family.
Just days before he died on May 10, 1997, he heard my mother telling someone about her bird feeding table in the backyard and how much she was enjoying watching the wild birds. Daddy quipped, "Married to an Old Crow for 60 years, and here I am feeding birds.”
SINCLAIR, WILLIAM STANLEY, JR.
1913-1997
Houston Chronicle, Tuesday, May 13, 1997
SINCLAIR
WILLIAM S. (Buzz) SINCLAIR, JR. of Houston died Saturday May 10, 1997. He was born February 4, 1913, at Ft. Lawton, Seattle, Washington, to Col. and Mrs. William S. Sinclair, Sr. Buzz's grandparents and great-grand parents were early residents of Houston and Galveston. As a teenager, he lived in Galveston, where he graduated from Ball High School. He attended Texas A & M University where he was prominent in numerous school activities. He graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1935.
He was a veteran of World War II, and was a home builder in Galveston, Houston, and parts of Louisiana. Buzz loved the outdoors with a passion, and was an ardent fisherman and hunter. Every creature imaginable was placed on his dinner table. He is survived by his wife of sixty years, Mary Kate Crow Sinclair; their three children,...two grandchildren: ...and was preceded in death by Matthew Sinclair Carter...
Interment of ashes will be at Episcopal Cemetery, Galveston.
CONVERSATION WITH W. S. "BUZZ" SINCLAIR
HOUSTON, TEXAS APRIL, 1991
1898
Dad went into the service in 1898. He was on the way to Cuba because of the Cuban Insurrection, but when he got to New Orleans, I think the thing was more or less settled, so he came back to Galveston. Then he went overseas to China and was in the Boxer Rebellion until around 1901. He received a Silver Star for gallantry in action over there, but it wasn't sent to him until 1960, about a year before he died.
1901
When he came back from China, he came to Galveston for a short time, and then they sent him to the Philippines because of the Philippine Insurrection. While he was over there, our mother was in Galveston when my oldest brother, Van, was born in March of 1901 at the Van Alstyne home. When he was scout a month old they went over to the Philippines and lived in a tent with Dad. It was in the jungle and they were fighting the Igarotes over there- the Philippine Igarotes-and they never knew but some of them might come in and attack the tents. He had one of his officers guarding the tent when held leave Mom there alone. They got a young Philippine girl named Saba who stayed with them until I was four years old and they left the Hawaiian Islands.
1903
Now, from the Philippines I'm not too sure where he went. But I know he was involved several times in Cuba and Mexico. He went to Plattsburg, N.Y. and he was there in 1903 when Albert was born. Gen. Mark Clark and Albert were born about five days apart. Gen. Clark's father and my father lived next door to each other and were very good friends. Dad always kept in contact with Gen. Mark Clark.
1910
From there they went to Puerto Rico and Cuba and of course Saba, the Philippine girl, was with them all this time as a nurse. They were in Spokane, Washington, at Fort George Wright during 1910, 1911, and 1912. Loraine was born at Ft. George Wright on November 11, 1911.
Dad was with the 25th Infantry there when the troops were sent to Hawaii in 1913. Mom decided that they would stop at Ft. Lawton, Seattle and have me because she didn't want to have me on a boat. And there was a whole-they said it looked like a-regular caravan going across the desert in Africa with this bunch of wives and nurses and servants and children and all their luggage and everything they were dragging around with them, waiting to get on these boats to take them to Hawaii. Meantime, the troops and the officers had gone ahead. They sent the 25th Infantry over there in 1913 to build Schofield barracks.
I was born at Ft. Lawton on Puget Sound near Seattle on February 4th, 1913. And after I was born my mother went on to the Hawaiian Islands with all these wives and nurses and all that stuff. I think they made two return trips to the United States between that time and 1917, but those trips were made back to San Francisco. We made two or three trips back to the United States on various assignments, but they always sent Dad back to Schofield Barracks-until 1917. Saba at that time had married my Dad's First sergeant, Sgt. Eckles at Schofield Barracks.
In 1917, World War I was breaking out, and Dad got orders to go to Ft. Bliss in El Paso. In Austin, Texas, as Recruiting Officer for one year, we lived next door to the Bartholomews whom my grandfather brought down from Jonesville, Michigan, when he came back to Galveston after he married Phoebe Bartholomew (his wife's brother Eugene). Her sister came as well and married Mr. Beissner in Galveston. From Ft. Bliss he was sent to Camp Devons, Mass., which was close to Fitchburg, a big army place for shipping the soldiers overseas. He stayed there training a group of soldiers, then went over to France where he was housed at Chateau Neuf with a very wonderful French family. My mother and sister and I came back to Galveston. During the time at Camp Devons, my older brothers, Van and Albert were left with my Uncle Harry in Galveston. And they were going to school there, but Loraine and I were too young. In 1917, we were not going to school at the time.
Dad did not do any—as far as I know—combat work in World War but they had a revolt of a Negro Division on the shore of the Mediterranean. They were ahead of the German Division and were in trenches facing one another. Suddenly, the Germans started retreating back to Germany. The Negro Division refused to follow them, threw down their weapons and ammunition and lay down in the trenches. Dad was sent down to the Mediterranean, got them out of the trenches, put them on ships, and sent them back to the United States.
1918
When Dad came back from Europe at the end of World War I, he came to Galveston and his family. I attended kindergarten in Galveston in 1918. Then he was ordered to New Orleans to disband a division there. We lived there a little over a year. I attended first grade In New Orleans in 1919.
1920
Then he was ordered I'm not sure, but I believe it was Ft. D. A. Russell at Eagle Pass, Texas, which was a battalion outpost. He was a Company Commander. We stayed there one year where I went to the second grade of grade school in 1920.
1921
From Eagle Pass Dad was ordered to Ft Leavenworth, Kansas, to command a general staff school because he had made Major.
Mary Kate remarked, "Not the prison?"
"What?" said Buzz.
"Wasn't the prison?" she asked again.
"Yeah" Buzz laughed. "Dad was in the prison...I'm hoping this goes on the tape," and he laughed again. "But anyway..." And he continued his story.
We were there for one year, and I went to the third grade. Van and Albert graduated from high school. We went there in the summer of 1921 and left there in the summer of 1922.
1922 Summer to 1927
From there Dad was ordered to Eugene, Oregon as the head of the military at the University of Oregon for four years. Van and Albert enrolled in the University as students. One of the first weeks there they both went out for football team. This freshman coach took a look at Van's size 13 triple E feet and said they couldn't furnish anything like that, that his feet were too big. Van got mad and left the school and went and enlisted in the army. But Albert stayed on and graduated in 1927. He lost a couple of years due to a confrontation with some federal agents who tried to arrest him and a friend up to Oregon for drinking whiskey. Albert hit one of them and had to leave for a while until Dad settled the deal with the Federal Government. Albert went up to Camp Lewis Washington up near Mt. Rainier and stayed up there for about a half a year until Dad got it straightened out to where he could come back and finish his education.
We went out there on a train except Van and Albert drove this old Model T Ford sedan that Dad had. They had some wild experiences, I'll tell you, coming across the mountains. Model T Fords didn't go up those mountain roads they had back in those days. They had to get a big tractor-trailer job and put a rope on them and drag them up the mountains. We had a Graham-Page Jewett when we left Eugene, Oregon. Dad was waiting for the Model A Fords to come out and kept putting it off. I think the Graham-Page people were going under, and they sold these Graham-Page Jewetts.
I guess we had ours for a year while we were in Eugene because we used to go down the coast and Dad would fish in the Sy-use-law (phonetic spelling) River and go down and fish on the beach down there. Almost the entire Pacific coast is rock ledges and the mountains go right down into the water. In building the roads along the coast they have to take notches out of the sides of the mountains. We would go down the coast, take a little stove, and sleep in the car. It made down into a double bed. Of course, Mom had Loraine to take care of, and Dad and I would go fishing all down there for salmon and sea trout, sea perch. We would dig razor clams, and get all kinds of seafood. That Graham-Page finally broke down.
In Galveston, after 1929, I can't remember what Dad bought, but he drove it down there to the land where our camp was, pulled it out on the sand and it finally rusted out.
1925
At the end of the third year, the University of Oregon asked the military to let Dad stay on two more years, which they did. So we actually stayed there for six years. While we were there they built junior high schools, and I graduated from junior high in 1928.
1928
Then Dad received his full Colonel’s rank, and that was above the rank allowed to stay at a school in the R.O. T.C., so he was ordered to Ft. Warren in Cheyenne. It had been Ft. D. A. Russell, but Sen. Warren of Wyoming died and they renamed the fort as Fort Warren while we were on the way there. So his orders didn't exactly agree with where we went.
We stayed at Ft. Warren for one year. The Commanding General of the fort was changed, and the new Commanding General was a very obnoxious individual. Dad decided that since he'd been in the service for thirty-two years life was too short to put up with what he was having to take off this Commanding General. So he retired in June of 1929, and we came back to Galveston.
1929
We first went to Corpus Christi to settle because of the friction between my family and my mother's family. They didn't want to be in such close contact with the Van Alstynes and so forth. But the city was having a boom. Corpus was made a port and everything was just going whole hog and real estate had gone out of sight. So, after staying down there for almost six weeks—we stayed in a trailer court—Dad called one of his old friends in Galveston. They said they had this house that the Trinity Church had bought for Rev. Gibson and were trying to get rid of because it was too small for Rev. Gibson and his family. They had bought a big house down on Broadway to fit them. So they gave Dad one good price on the cost of the house, and Dad took it. So we drove up and settled in Galveston. And we've been there ever since.
In 1931, I was a freshman at A&M, and Dad told me that if I wanted to be an officer, since I was raised in the military for sixteen years, to go to West Point. So he got this appointment with Sen. Claystone Briggs from Galveston, and I came down from school, and we asked him for his Senatorial appointment to West Point. There are several ways you can go in. The Representatives can appoint people, the U.S. Senators can appoint people, and they have competitive exams for the jobs. But my particular learning was not such that I would be able to take a general exam. So we asked him for his senatorial appointment. Sen. Claystone Briggs told me that he remembered my grandfather, that he was an officer in the Union Army, and if I was the last man in Texas he would not give me his appointment to West Point. Well, it didn't make that much difference. I graduated from A&M with a primary degree in power plant engineering and a secondary degree in automotive engineering.
1941
They called me into the service in August of 1941, and I went to Ft. Benning officers training for three months. Then I was sent to Camp Wa1ters at Mineral Wells, Texas, just west of Ft. Worth, which was a training camp for infantrymen. Then they built Camp Van Dorn, Miss., which is south of Natchez, and put in an infantry division there.
1942
I was sent over as a service company commander (393 Info Regt. 99th Div).
Mary Kate hated it, hated the service. (Mary Kate says, "I did NOT hate the service! I had a good life once I settled down in each place! She just didn't fit into that dragging the kids around, going from one place to another. If you get used to it, we, as kids, loved it when we were children in the service. Every time you moved, you met a new bunch of kids, all your neighbors, went to a different school and everything. That's the military life and the military kids love it. She had a great time while I was stationed in Camp Van Dorn because she lived at Natchez. Of course her dad was originally from Mississippi. But she got to know a lot of the old timers up in Natchez and was busy raising the kids and seeing the country. But the people up there at Natchez hated the people at Camp Van Dorn because most of them came from Pennsylvania—damn Yankees.
1942
While we were there, it was the cadre that came in for the 99th Division that came from Indiana Gap, Pa. It was a Pennsylvania National Guard. Of course, most of the soldiers and practically all of the officers were National Guard and reserve. And they shipped the fillers in from Ohio and Michigan, up in that area. It was pretty close to a million men they shipped in there to be trained by this cadre and the filler officers that they sent in from all over the United States.
1943
We had been there almost a year when they sent this Negro supply battalion in there and they didn't like the way they were getting treated in Mississippi. So they revolted and burned down—I believe it was—three base exchanges and two recreation halls. So they hauled them down to New Orleans and put them on a ship and sent them around South America—didn't send them through the Panama Canal, they sent them around South America—and up to Adak, Alaska, in their summer uniforms, and that's where they stayed until the war was over.
1943
They sent a new Commanding General into the 99th Division after I had been there, I guess, about a year, and he called all the officers together and informed them to go find another job unless they were a West Pointer. He didn’t want any officers in his division that had not been to West Point. That 99th Division was the one that was practically wiped out by the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge because they didn’t have their guns clean or their ammunition out of the boxes when the Germans attacked them. Almost two-thirds of the personnel in the 99th were killed. So, when he told the men this, there was a mad scramble to get out of the organization.
Dart called Gen. Mark Clark—as I said, he always kept in touch with Gen. Clark since Plattsburg, N.Y.—and Gen. Clark told him that they needed a motor officer for testing automotive equipment with the infantry board which was stationed at Ft. Benning, Ga. That was a group of men that were designated as experts to test all phases of infantry equipment and to make recommendations for improvements. They had junior officers that did the testing and senior officers that wrote the reports. In other words, it was a stepped up process where they had Lieutenants doing the testing and Majors and Lt. Colonels writing these analyses and recommending things to the Chiefs of Staff of the Infantry at Infantry Headquarters at Washington, D.C., but it was a very nice operation. I mean, they needed it because they were developing all these new weapons and vehicles. We never did test poisonous gases or anything, but it was a very advanced phase there.
Mary Kate says, "The test officers and their wives were a wonderful group."
So we went to Ft. Benning, Ga., in 1943, where I was a test officer, and stayed there until December of 1945. Adrian was born at Ft. Benning 1 June 1945.
World War II was over by then, and I returned to civilian life.
The man who hired me at Pollock Paper Company in 1936 died while I was in the service. He promised me a job in Houston as long as I wanted it (nothing in writing). The wheels started demanding that I move to other plants and then fired me before my 15-year retirement plan came in.
I built homes in Houston, Galveston, etc., from 1947 to 1971 (contractor).
They asked me to resign my commission about the first of 1947 because I had not been making reserve officers meetings. So I resigned my commission in the infantry in which I had gotten the rank of Major Permanent Grade in 1945, and that was my rank when I retired. Then I started going to National Guard Organizations meetings at Ellington Air Force Base and I stayed with the 147th Fighter Group there as a motor sergeant for about three years.
Then they opened up a job for a motor sergeant at a GEIA organization at La Porte, Texas, which was a Ground Electronics Installation Agency for the Air Force. Took care of all of their electrical needs—communications, or power supply, or anything of that sort. Most of the people involved were power company, telephone company people. It was a very small but compact organization. I was there about three years, and during that time they changed it from a GEIA to an EIAS-the same organization, just a different name. It was under the Texas National Guard. In the Texas National Guard you get military credit, but you are not a Civil Service employee. At any time you are in the U.S. Government combat group, you are given credit for Civil Service on your permanent grade, and if you are in a reserve unit, you are given credit for your time toward Civil Service. This was a weekend job.
In 1971 they put a Red Horse unit in at Ellington Air Force Base. Red Horse is to the Air Force as the SeaBees are to the Navy. In other words their job was to take care of any construction or rebuilding of Air Force grounds and equipment in case of combat or beginning organization. The Red Horse unit was a reserve unit and they needed a motor sergeant so I went over there and got the job. At that point I was getting credit for Civil Service.
Another thing was that since I was Civil Service and with a reserve unit the regulations at that time said that when I retired the base where I was working had to give me a Civil Service job if I wanted it. So in February of 1973, when I was 60 years old, I retired from the military; and the base engineers at Ellington, which was a Civil Service organization, gave me a job as a construction inspector where I stayed for five more years as a Civil Service employee.
I used to get about three hours sleep at night. I'd go down to Galveston and catch bait, go down to my camp, go out and bait my lines, go back to my house, eat supper about ten o'clock and I'd get up about two o'clock in the morning and go out and run my lines, and get my fish off the lines and take them to the fish market, and then go up and report to Ellington Air Force Base. Honestly, I don't know how I lived through some of that stuff. But that was the end of my working career. After that, I just went fishing.
SINCLAIR, ALBERT HENRY
Albert Henry “Al” Sinclair
Albert Henry “Al” Sinclair, 86, Salem, a former long-time Klamath Falls resident, died Friday, June 22, 1990, in Salem.
Mr. Sinclair was born May 9, 1904, at Camp Plattsburg, N.Y., to Col. William S. and Mary Van Alstyne Sinclair and grew up at various Army posts where his father was stationed.
He attended the University of Oregon and was an honor student, captain of the football team and a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.
Upon his graduation, he became football coach at Klamath Union high School. He also coached the tennis team for many years and taught physics, chemistry, general science and math until his retirement in 1959.
During World War II, he served overseas with the Army Signal Corps.
He loved the outdoors and was an avid hunter, fisherman and backpacker. He enjoyed experimenting and tinkering with mechanical and electrical objects.
Survivors include his brother, William S. Sinclair Jr., Houston, Texas, nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by another brother, Van Alstyne Sinclair, and a sister, Mary L. Sinclair Ford.
Interment of his cremated remains will be in the Sinclair family plot in Galveston, Texas.
Memorial donations may be made to Klamath Union High School for use by its student body.
FORD, MARY LORAINE SINCLAIR
CONVERSATION WITH MARY KATE SINCLAIR
HOUSTON, TEXAS APRIL, 1991
Loraine went to a woman's college that was strict about boys. Buzz even had a hard time seeing her when he went up there to see her. That was years ago of course. I think it's co-ed now. North Texas-I don't know what they call that college up there now—North Texas Teacher's College, or something like that.
Loraine was a secretary to two of our very fine doctors there, a father and son, Drs. Randall. Then she was a secretary down at the Stewart Title Company. And then this little shop which had been in existence for years, sold embroidery sets, and crocheting and knitting, and yarn-she bought that little shop because the old lady who'd been running it so many years wanted to go out of business. Loraine could do anything in that way, just like Mrs. Sinclair could.
So she opened that shop, and then she moved from the downtown location, which was sort of dead at the time, out more toward the beach, more in the residential area and she put in a large round table so people could come and get instruction with whatever they were doing. Some of these women were friends, and they got so they were having such a good time visiting, that they would come and practically spend the day, bring a sandwich, and drink coffee, and drive Loraine crazy.
So as soon as her mother died, she and john Ford, her husband, closed the shop and packed up and moved to Austin to get out of Galveston. I think she probably would have sooner. Everybody loves to live in Austin. It's just so pretty and hilly, so many trees. It's such a contrast to Galveston which is so flat. She had this nice shop and john was out of the Merchant Marine by then, and he had been doing needlepoint on board ship, which she had taught him to do. So many of the sailors have crafts. So he was going to the shop in the morning, and taking care of selling the wools and things to the ladies, and also teaching needlepoint. Loraine would do a lot of work around the house. She would work on sweaters at the house. A lot of times she would block them out for people or sew up the seams. At noon she would take over the shop, and I guess John would go to some bar and spend the afternoon. So they had got it all worked out, that's what they did. They loved it up there in Austin.
They bought an old house in a very nice location near the University of Texas campus on a sort of little mill stream. And she had a garden and was very happy. Then she got to retirement age and was on social security. She would cut the grass and raise flowers. We went there to see her and she said how hard she'd been working around the place and John had just been sitting all day.
Then she got sick and thought she had the flu. She went to see her doctor, and he must have found something that alarmed him, because he sent her to a specialist, and she didn't know why she was going to this specialist, and the man came into the office after she'd taken these tests and said you have cancer of the liver and you're going to die. He was that blunt. She was totally taken by surprise. And sure enough, she was dead in, I guess, two month's time.
But this other doctor said I don't believe in ever being that hopeless with anyone, and I'm going to give you chemotherapy, which he did. And I'm rather sorry he did, because she was so sick those two months. We went to see her, and we just had to leave she was so sick. But Daddy had it and they didn't have chemotherapy then and, while he was weak and had no appetite, he never had a pain pill or sleeping pill. You know, it made his life much more pleasant.
I guess she loved to ride horses, but in Galveston there's just no place to ride. She'd stayed at a guest ranch at Bandera, which is up in the Hill Country near Kerrville. Many people go there. They have guest ranches there. But she loved good music and loved to have a good time. She'd go to concerts with this man I told you about.
John didn't care for music. He came from a seafaring family from Cape Cod, up in that area. His father had gone to sea before him. He was not a cultured person like Loraine was. But they had things they enjoyed in common. He wasn't home that much until he retired. He got this back trouble. He would be gone for nine months at a time. He'd been in the Merchant Marine for I don't know how many years, and was still an ordinary seaman because he just never cared about going any higher. He was in the Merchant Marine during World War II and had to go into a lot of dangerous areas taking cargoes and things. I thought he was a very likeable fellow.
He was down here on a ship when he and Loraine met. He was out on the beach, and Loraine was out there with her little dog and they started talking. You know, a dog introduced many people. I guess he started patting the dog and that was the start of it all. He was good natured, and he would always jolly Mrs. Sinclair and was nice to her and she liked him very much. Buzz's Daddy couldn't stand him. I guess he felt he wasn't good enough for Loraine. Loraine was very highly respected in Galveston. She had a lot of friends. Children loved her, she was good to them. I certainly always was very devoted to her. So I guess they had a good life together. Of course he wasn't home that much, but they had a couple of years, maybe longer than that.
After Loraine died, John Ford destroyed all of the Sinclair photo albums and memorabilia. John's sister sent us Dad's swagger stick and a picture of Wm. H. Sinclair (Buzz's grandfather).
SINCLAIR, WILLIAM STANLEY, JR.
1913-1997
HEADQUARTERS 393d INFANTRY
Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi
29 July 1943
Capt. Wm. S. Sinclair, Jr.
15th Company, 1st S.T.R.
Fort Benning, Georgia
Dear Captain Sinclair,
I received your letter today dated July 28th, and as much as I hate to see you lost from the Regiment I feel that the opportunity offered to you as a Member of the Inf. Board at Fort Benning is a real opportunity. It is definitely the most pleasant type of detail for your family. I will certainly not stand in your way, and any calls for you will be approved at this end.
I will miss the fish and the frog legs and also the ducks, but maybe you can put some on ice and ship them to me.
Give my best wishes to Mary Kate and the best of luck to you.
Sincerely yours,
WM. B. YANCEY
Colonel, 393d Infantry
COMMANDING
SINCLAIR, WILLIAM STANLEY, JR.
1913-1997
July 18, 1945
Major General John W. O’Daniel, Commandant
The Infantry School
Fort Benning, Georgia
Dear General O’Daniel:
First this is to introduce TIME, Inc., its Southern Bureau and myself. We frequently get some good stories from Benning and always enjoy coming there. See page #25 of the July 23d issue of TIME for a story on the Army’s recoilless weapons.
I am writing this letter expressly to tell you of the great help given to LIFE photographer Gabriel Benzur and to me during two days there last week for a story and pictures on the new weapons.
Lieutenant Don Bishop, your P.R.O., promptly tipped me on the story and arranged special set-ups for us so that we could do a heavily documented layout for LIFE. We wish the Army had more P.R.O.’s like Bishop and I am sorry to learn that he is on the verge of a much deserved shot at overseas duty.
Please thank especially for me Major Edward E. Crossman, Chief of the test section, The Infantry Board, and Major William S. SINCLAIR, test officer of The Infantry Board. These gentlemen went to extreme efforts to carefully set up the layouts we needed to properly tell the story of the 57 and the 75. It was, of course, invaluable to have the assistance of experts but I have worked with other experts who became impatient. Majors Crossman and SINCLAIR were unusually patient and most helpful.
I hope to come down to meet you sometime in early August. Please give my regards to General Weems who is an old favorite of TIME Inc.’s Atlanta Bureau.
Cordially,
Ed. L. Bridges
Acting Chief, Southern Bureau
TIME and LIFE Magazines
Elb/mf
cc: Lieut. Don Bishop
Major Crossman
Major Sinclair
FORD, MARY LORAINE SINCLAIR
From Galveston Paper
Mrs. John Ford
Arrangements for private gravesite services are pending for Mrs. John (Loraine Sinclair) Ford, 64, former Galveston resident who died Saturday in Austin after a short illness.
She was the daughter of the late Col. and Mrs. William S. Sinclair, pioneer Galveston residents.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by three brothers, Van Sinclair of San Diego, Calif., Albert Sinclair of Klamath Falls, Ore., and William S. Sinclair Jr. of Houston, and other relatives.
CROW, ASA LEE
1884-1967
from
Mary Kate Crow Sinclair
Asa Lee Crow, 83, of 5209 Ave 0, Galveston, died at 1 a.m., Monday, Nov. 13, in St. Mary’s Hospital. Funeral services will be held at 4 p.m. today at Trinity Episcopal Church with the Rev. Roger Cilley and the Rev. Edmund H. Gibson officiating. Burial will be in the Episcopal Cemetery under the direction of J. Levy & Bro. Funeral Home.
Mr. Crow was born Oct. 8, 1884, in Charleston, Miss. He moved to Texas when he was 14 and settled in Dallas where he was employed by the M K and T Railroad. He moved to Galveston in 1915 and entered the lumber business with B. W. Key, and founded The Gulf Lumber Co. and subsequently became the owner. He was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church and for 18 years was a member of the Vestry and served as junior and senior warden. He served also as a member of the Selective Service Board; was active in American Red Cross work; and was a past treasurer of the Galveston County Chapter; and was a member of the board of the Galveston Orphans Home.
Mr. Crow was a member of Tucker Lodge 297 A F & M, the Scottish Rite and El Mina Shrine Temple.
Survivors include his wife, the former Margaret Stafford of Galveston; a daughter, Mrs. W. S. Sinclair of Houston; a son, Asa Lee Crow, Jr., of Corpus Christi; seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
SINCLAIR, MARY KATE CROW
b. Jan, 22, 1915
Information furnished by Mary Kate Sinclair
Mary Kate (Crow) Sinclair is a fourth generation Galvestonian who has lived in Houston for years but maintained a life in Galveston also. Her family are all from the South except for a Betts line from Connecticut and a Vedder line from New York. She attended Sweet Briar College, Virginia, for two years, then the University of Texas, where she graduated with honors and was, and is, a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority. She is also a member of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America and has been on the state board.
Her parents were Asa Lee Crow, son of Asa Lafayette and Mary Foree (Betts) Crow of Charleston, Mississippi; and Margaret Jeannette Stafford, daughter of Col. William Maner and Kate Eleanor (Vedder) Stafford of Galveston.
Her father was a lumberman in Galveston for over fifty years, and he and his wife, Margaret were among the most prominent and popular citizens of Galveston. Her paternal grandfather, Asa Lafayette Crow, was a plantation and general mercantile store owner in Charleston, Mississippi.
On the maternal side, the Staffords and the Vedders were early settlers of Galveston and Houston. Col. William Maner Stafford fought in the Civil War on the Southern side. He was in the Battle of Galveston as a Lieutenant at the age of 18 and then entered the Arkansas campaign and was a captain when the war ended. During Gov. Richard Bennett Hubbard’s term as Governor of Texas, 1876-1879, Stafford was named as his aide de camp and given the rank of Colonel. He was a cotton broker in Galveston. A cousin in Louisiana was the author of a family book of Stafford.
CROW, MARY KATE CROW
b. Jan. 22, 1915
from
Mary Kate Crow Sinclair
Mary Kate was a junior at University of Texas when she was chosen Galveston's Mardi Gras Queen of 1935:
Rulers Crowned at Galveston Mardi Gras Fete:
Miss Mary Kate CROW and Louis J. DIBRELL Named at Celebration
Source: The Houston Post, March 5, 1935
GALVESTON, March 5--(Sp)--Society girls from all parts of Texas played a prominent part in the 1935 Mardi Gras coronation ceremonies Monday night at the city auditorium when Miss Mary Kate CROW, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. L. CROW, was crowned queen in an elaborate stage setting. Louis DIBRELL, son of Judge and Mrs. C. G. DIBRELL, was king.
"Thousands of Galvestonians jammed the building to witness the event. The stage setting presented the interior of a cathedral in Naples in the year 1808. The participants were clad in the rich and colorful costumes of the period.
Ball Tonight
The final event of the Mardi Gras celebration will be at the auditorium Tuesday night, when the annual fancy dress and masquerade ball will be staged. A street frolic is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
Despite lowering skies and rain squalls the downtown sidewalks were crowded with spectators Monday morning when a big military parade was staged as a welcome to King Frivolous on his arrival for the final two days of the fete. The king received the keys of the city from Mayor Pro Tem A. J. PETERSON on the steps of the city hall. Soldiers from Fort Crockett, bluejackets and marines from the cruiser Trenton and other units took part in the parade.
The coronation at the auditorium Monday night was presented in lavish style.
Gown of White Velvet
The queen wore a handsome gown of white panne velvet. It was made in the empire fashion with a square neckline with a wired collar of lace studded with turquoise and rose colored stones. The bottom of her skirt, which extended to form a train, was colored with a gold trellis of sequin and bugle beads on which pink and silver roses bloomed. Her long court train, which was fastened by a jeweled belt about her waist, was also covered by a gold trellis and pink rosebuds of large rose-colored stones.
Duchesses were:
San Antonio: Bollie Bond HAYES, and her lady-in-waiting, Betsy EWING Oklahoma: Glynna Fay COLWICK and her lady-in-waiting, Mary Elizabeth TRAPP Fort Worth: Lucy Stripling RYAN and her lady-in-waiting, Sue ROSS Dallas: Virginia MARVIN and her lady-in-waiting, Lillian Earle WILSON Rice Institute: Ray WATKIN and her lady-in-waiting, Dorothy WEISER Corpus Christi: Annie Blake MORGAN and her lady-in-waiting, Bettie TOWNSEND S.M.U.: Mary KNOWLES and her lady-in-waiting, Ruth ALLEN Waco: Martha EDMOND and her lady-in-waiting, Winifred CRAWFORD University of Texas: Floy ROBINSON and her lady-in-waiting, Velma SEALY Louisiana: Lucille WATKINS and her lady-in-waiting, Lenora ARMSTRONG A. and M.: Eleanor CHANCE and her lady-in-waiting, Sue WRIGHT Houston: Joan CHAMBERS and her lady-in-waiting, Lois BUTE San Angelo: Mildred WARING and her lady-in-waiting, Mary Wilson RUSSELL Arkansas: Mary MOSES and her lady-in-waiting, Mary Elizabeth BATEMAN Grand duchess of Texas: Adonell MASSIE and her lady-in-waiting, Dorothy NEWSOME
Princesses Listed
Galveston princesses were Misses Elizabeth WILSON, Beth BUTLER, Hetta JOCKUSCH, Elizabeth WANSLEY, Betsy ADRIANCE. Miss Katherine CAMPBELL was made of honor to the queen.
Children of the court included Elaine MOORE and Selwyn HUDDLESTON, trumpeters; Horval HUDDLESTON, Marian TEMPLIN, Betty Sue GOOLSBY and Elizabeth HUGHES, heralds; Emil KLATT, Jr., Carl SAPPER, Jr., Lee Clifford WATKINS, Jr., Jack McKENZIE, Jr., acolytes; Jeannine VANDERPOOL and Betty SPOOR, pages to the king; Ellen Wayne ORMOND, crown bearer; Jacqueline KING, Patricia HERZOG, trainbearers to the queen.
Coronation at Galveston is Elaborate:
King Frivolous is Louis DIBRELL and Queen is Mary Kate CROW;
Ball to be Held Tonight
Source: The Houston Chronicle, March 5, 1935
Special to the Chronicle
GALVESTON, March 5--Caroline, Duchess of Berg, youngest and most beautiful of the sisters of the great Napoleon Bonaparte, was crowned queen of Naples by King Joachim Napoleon Mural, in a setting of lavish splendor at the City Auditorium last night, when the Mardi Gras coronation ceremonies were held.
Queen Caroline proved to be Mary Kate CROW, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Asa Lee CROW, and granddaughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. William Maner STAFFORD. The role of King Joachim was assumed for the occasion by no less a personage than his royal majesty, King Frivolous XVIII, mighty ruler of Mardi Gras, who, in private life is Louis DIBRELL, son of Judge and Mrs. C. G. DIBRELL.
Separate Event
The coronation was held as a separate event. In past years the investiture has been staged in connection with the masquerade ball, the culminating episode of the carnival, which will be held at the auditorium tonight. The reign of King Frivolous concludes with this evening's ball.
The ceremonies opened with a group of Neapolitans making merry in the courtyard of the palace. A group of Capri fishermen in holiday attire, strolled through the streets singing familiar strains, with Richard BOVIO as soloist, when a distant trumpet heralded the approach of the royal party.
The approach of King Joachim was heralded by the grand marshall, E. L. WALL. George D. FLOOD, Jr., performed the ecclesiastical duties. The king wore an elaborate costume of velvet and satin. His crown was traditional of that time in Naples, being a wreath of gold laurel leaves.
The queen, resplendent in her royal robes, was given a great ovation. Her robes were of white chiffon velvet. An outstanding model of the empire period, the skirt was embroidered down the length of the front in an intricate pattern of gold bugle beads and silver sequins. The five-yard train was caught at the waist by an elaborate girdle of aquamarine metal cloth.
A sparkling tiara of rhinestones was worn as Queen Mary entered the hall. The crown was of gold sequins heavily designed in rose and aquamarine jewels. Her scepter was also of the gold sequins.
Preceding the queen and following the princesses was the maid of honor to her majesty, Lady Catherine of the House of CAMPBELL, who was garbed in a stunning court dress of poppy glow velvet ornamented with silver and a brilliant hue of blue spangles and glittering sequins.
Court Attendants
The gowns of the court ladies represented masterpieces of designing, permitting a glimpse of the influence of the foreign countries on the modestes of that time and the rustle of the lovely silks, the lustrous velvets and gleaming satins will not be forgotten.
Included in the court were 30 young ladies from other states and cities and seven from Galveston.
The court was entertained with a group of Dorothy Brown dancers in ballet numbers, and vocal selections by the Goudge Choral Club.
A street frolic this afternoon, tea for the royal party at the quarantine station, the masquerade ball tonight to be followed by the king's party at the Country Club comprise the program of the final day of the carnival.
The ball tonight will be featured by an elaborate floor show.
Costumes Capture Mardi Gras Magic:
Historic gowns restored as Galveston
prepared revival of a festive tradition
Source: The Houston Chronicle, February 3, 1985
by Nancy STANLEY, Houston Chronicle Fashion Writer
Galveston--Queen Kate PAULS had to climb onto a chair and jump down into her opulent Court of Napoleon costume for her 1930 coronation...
When Queen Libby Moody THOMPON made her grand entrance for her crowning in 1939...
When Queen Lucille HANCOCK's flapper-style...gown--complete with a 27-foot train--cost $3,500 in 1927...
Queen Sally TRUEHEART's velvet, brocade and marabou gown...in 1891...
Galveston's Mardi Gras once was second only to New Orleans' celebration in the country. During the 19th century and the early part of this century, visiting dignitaries from all over the state thronged to Galveston for the festivities, as did correspondents from the Chronicle and the New York Times.
But after World War II, the celebration waned. "It was costly. The gowns were hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars," says Edna Seinsheimer LEVIN, a Mardi Gras princess in 1940 and a second generation Galvestonian...
"I couldn't tell anyone about it," recalls Mary Kate CROW SINCLAIR, the Mardi Gras Queen in 1935. "I was given a design for my dress by the coordinator of the pageant, Faye MILLER. We (my mother and I) took it to Madame LOGUE in San Antonio, and she made it. All the beading was hand-done," SINCLAIR says as she points to a photograph of her dress.
That year's Mardi Gras had a Napoleonic theme, so SINCLAIR's dress had an empire waist and puff sleeves. Her dress and train--fashioned from white silk chiffon (velvet!)--had beaded flowers and scrolls worked onto it. "My train was long, but it had been scaled to me because I'm so short." says the 5-foot-2-inch fourth-generation Galvestonian. She recalls worry about maneuvering the heavy train.
"The hall was so dark, and there was one spotlight on me. I couldn't see a thing."
SINCLAIR still has her gown, but it has yellowed with time. "I let a friend, Dorothy DOW, use the ornaments from my train for a later court."
...Sinclair says in agreement: "The whole celebration surrounding the Mardi Gras was wonderful. There were parties and teas. We did have the most wonderful parties.
Mardi Gras Memories
by Ken Lanterman, Post Reporter
Source: The Houston Post, January 22, 1986
Robert Nesbitt remembers Galveston’s Mardi Gras as that time of the year he would make his annual trip to the cleaners with his $15 tuxedo.
For Mary Kate Crow Sinclair, Mardi Gras was fox-trotting to the swinging tunes of the Benny Paskowitz Orchestra while in the arms of a handsome medical student or Naval officer.
Edna LEVIN remembers the Mardi Gras as one long week of parties, luncheons, afternoon teas and formal receptions.
But above all, this former duke, queen and princess of the late '30s and early '40s Mardi Gras, remember it as one heck of a party, one that showed the rest of the world Galveston Really was the Grand Old Dame of the Gulf Coast.
"It was in all the papers," says the 71-year-old Sinclair, daughter of the founder of Galveston’s Gulf Coast Lumber Company, Asa Lee Crow, and 1935’s Mardi Gras queen. "I even had my picture in the New York Times," says Sinclair, who now lives in Houston.
The queen’s expenses didn’t stop with her dress. Her parents also had to foot the entire bill for the queen’s ball and breakfast following the coronation.’
"I guess that’s one reason I was chosen," Sinclair says.
Sinclair doesn’t remember what the affair cost her parents, but she does remember that the more than 300 people, including members of the court, their family and friends who attended were entertained by a full-sized big band and served all the shrimp and steak they could eat-not to mention the champagne and other beverages.
I think the thing I remember liking the most about my ball was dancing with all the handsome men,” Sinclair says. “That was back before the jitterbug, when you danced close. You did things like the fox-trot, the waltz and tango. The dip was big in those days, too. And the men, they were true gentlemen.
Last year, all three attended Galveston’s first Mardi Gras in 44 years. (The event had been discontinued in 1941 due to the outbreak of World War II. Following the war, interest had waned and the Mardi Gras wasn’t revived). But they say nothing can compare to the memories they have of the Mardi Gras of their youth.
"I don’t know," Nesbit says, “I just didn’t have the fun I had when I was young and single. But, now, if I was 40 years younger...”
* * *
Letter, June 26, 1986—…I too have Dutch in me. My maternal grandmother was Kate Vedder. The Vedders settled in the Mohawk valley in the 1600s. I don't have any facts about the Ball family except that my great-great-grandmother on my father's side was Judith Steptoe Ball, married to Charles C. Marshall, descended from Thomas Marshall. I know nothing about the Lee connection. My aunt had a notebook with all the research she had done in it, and it was lost somewhere! Daddy's relatives are mostly in Mississippi (the ones who would know something) and I don't even know their names. His generation has died out.
Letter, May 19, 1986—No Winthrop in my family. Some kin to Mary Ball (Washington's mother) she or maybe her brother direct descendant from Thomas Marshall (John Marshall's father). Some kin to Robert E. Lee's family. (Direct descendant from first Huguenot minister to the Colonies, Rev. Pierre Robert, S. C. 1686 arrival). These all on father's side (not Huguenot) but no dates, names, etc. I know the Marshall line has been traced, for an elderly cousin of Daddy's sent me the names but no dates, etc. She was in the D.A. R. on it—also a friend wanted to put me up for the Huguenot Society, for I have that line in the Stafford book (Mother's side). I have a book of the Dutch who settled in the Mohawk Valley, "Centennial Address relating to the Early History of Schenectady and its First Settlers: Delivered at Schenectady, July 4th, 1876 (Author: Hon. John SANDERS; Albany, NY: Van Benthuysen Printing House, 1879)," showing the first Vedders came over in the 1600s (also Mother's side). It would be interesting to bring all these lines down but gosh, what work!
(Note: Mary Kate Crow Sinclair is descended from William Ball, uncle of Mary Ball (Washington’s mother). The Marshall’s married into Mary Kate’s Ball line. Claim to be directly related to Mary Ball is false—ASB.)
SINCLAIR, MARY KATE CROW
1915-2001
from
“The Houston Chronicle”
SINCLAIR
MARY KATE CROW SINCLAIR passed away Sunday, June 10, 2001, in her home, after a brief battle with cancer. She was preceded in death by her husband Buzz Sinclair and grandson Matthew Sinclair Carter…Born in Galveston, Texas, January 22, 1915, to Asa Lee Crow, Sr., and Margaret Jeannetta Stafford. She graduated from Ball High School as valedictorian. After attending Sweet Briar College for two years, she transferred to the University of Texas, where she graduated magna cum laude in 1935, and was a member of Mortar Board, Cap and Gown, and Kappa Kappa Gamma. She was a member of the Colonial Dames. She was Queen of the Mardi Gras, Galveston, in 1935. Friends are invited to come to The Settegast-Kopf Co., 3320 Kirby Drive, where she will lie in state Thursday evening from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Funeral services will be held 10:00 a.m. Friday morning, June 15, 2001, in the chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive, with interment to follow at 2:00 p.m. Friday in Galveston Episcopal Cemetery, 40th and Broadway in Galveston. Those wishing to make donations in her memory are requested to make them to The American Cancer Society or to the Arthritis Foundation,
STAFFORD, WILLIAM MANER, COL.
1843-1930
from
Galveston Daily News, Saturday, November 22, 1930, p. 1
BUSINESS MAN AND
CIVIL WAR VETERAN
IS TAKEN BY DEATH
* * *
Col. Stafford, 87 dies;
Served in Confederate
Army and was long
Prominent here
* * *
After a career marking by service in the confederate army and long years of prominence in the cotton brokerage business, Col. William Manor [sic] Stafford died at the home of his daughter here, Mrs. Asa L. Crow, of 2700 Broadway, at the age of 87 years.
During the Civil war, Stafford rose to the rank of Captain in the 17th Texas battery of light artillery, and afterwards was appointed a colonel in the Texas Militia, serving as aide-de-camp on the staff of Gov. Hubbard. He was one of the original members of the Galveston Cotton Exchange and the Board of Trade, and for more than 30 years he was the representative here of Inman Nelms and Company, Houston cotton firm.
Funeral services will be held at 2 o’clock this afternoon from the residence. Rev. E. H. Gibson of Trinity Episcopal Church will officiate, and interment will be in the Episcopal Cemetery here. The funeral will be private.
Col. Stafford is survived by two sons, Dr. Earl J. Stafford and J. S. Stafford of San Antonio; two daughters, Mrs. J. D. Featherstone and Mrs. Crow of Galveston; and six grandchildren.
Pallbearers will be A. J. Dow, John Mills, Cortes Pauls, Henry Adriance, C. J. Sweeney, and Dr. R. Reid Robinson.
Born in Rapides Parish, La., April 25, 1843, Col. Stafford came to Texas with his parents when he was two years old and spent his boyhood in Galveston and Houston. When the Civil War broke out, Col. Stafford enlisted with the Confederate forces at Houston on Sept. 17, 1861, holding the rank of second lieutenant of artillery. He was made first lieutenant in 1862 and in 1864 he was made captain.
Col. Stafford was the last surviving Captain of the old Galveston Artillery Company, and was a former commander of Camp Magruder, United Confederate Veterans. In his younger days he was an active member of the Knights of Pythias, and was at one time grand chancellor of the organization in Texas.
Col. Stafford came to Galveston to live shortly after the Civil War. In 1868 he was married at Trinity Church here to Miss Kate Vedder, daughter of the late Col. and Mrs. Jacob Suydam Vedder, pioneer Galvestonians.
During the greater part of his active business life, Col. Stafford was engaged in the cotton business here. One of the original members of the Galveston Cotton Exchange and Board of Trade, he served on the committee that drafted plans and saw to the completion of the Exchange building here.
STAFFORD, WILLIAM MANOR, COL.
1843-1930
from
Galveston Daily News, Saturday, November 22, 1930, p. l
Col. William Manor Stafford
Age 87 D. Nov. 22, 1930
During the Civil war, Stafford rose to the rank of Captain in the 17th Texas battery of light artillery, and afterwards was appointed a colonel in the Texas Militia, serving as aide-de-camp on the staff of Col. Hubbard. He was one of the original members of the Galveston Cotton Exchange and the Board of Trade, and for more than 30 years was representative here of Inman Nelms and Co., Houston cotton firm.
b. Rapids Parish, La. April 25, 1843
Col. Stafford came to Texas with his parents when two years of age and spent his boyhood in Galveston and Houston. When the Civil War broke out, Col. Stafford enlisted with the Confederate forces at Houston, Sept. 7, 1861, holding the rank of second lieutenant of artillery. He made first lieutenant in 1862 and in 1864 was made Captain.
Col. Stafford was the last surviving Captain of the old Galveston Artillery Company, and was a former commander of Camp Magruder, United Confederate Veterans. In his younger days he was an active member of the Knights of Pythias and was at one time grand chancellor of the organization in Texas.
Col. Stafford came to Galveston to live shortly after the Civil War. In 1868 he was married at Trinity Church here to Miss Kate Vedder, daughter of the late Col. and Mrs. Jacob Suydam Vedder, pioneer Galvestonians.
During the greater part of his active business life, Stafford was engaged in the cotton business here. One of the original members of the Galveston Cotton Exchange and Board of Trade,…
CROW ASA LEE
1884-1967
from
Galveston Newspaper
THIS IS GALVESTON—By Lillian E. Herz
ASA L. CROW LOYALLY INTERESTED IN CITY’S WELFARE
Asa L. Crow, prominent Galveston businessman, may not have been born on the is1and, but there isn't a more loyal or interested citizen in the city's welfare and prosperity than is he.
In fact, he says he has been here so long—since 1915—that he seems to be grounded to the island.
Successful in his business undertakings, sympathetic to the needs of the community, and eager to serve in his more than 40 years association in commercial and civic activities, he has been looked upon by his fellow citizens as one of the city's staunchest assets.
As the active head and principal owner of the Gulf Lumber Company, one of the business
landmarks of the city, he has followed its fortunes in prosperity and adversity.
Mr. Crow was born in Charleston, Miss., the son of Asa L. and Mary Marshall (error—should be Betts—ASB) Crow.
He was educated in the country schools of Mississippi and early in life decided to enter the railroad field. He was employed by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad for more than 12 years and in 1915 he decided to come to Galveston. (actually, he was in Galveston prior to 1915 when he met his wife. He returned to Galveston after the birth of his first child in 1915—ASB)
He joined the Gulf Lumber Co. here—the largest establishment of its type in the city, and soon became its executive head. It was during the war years that the company had its busiest times. For the most part he directed its endeavors largely to the war efforts.
Mr. Crow also lent his assistance in other wartime endeavors and served for a long time as a member of the Selective Service Board. He also aided in war loan campaigns and served as treasurer of Galveston Chapter, American Red Cross.
He married the former Margaret Stafford, daughter of the Col. and Mrs. William Maner Stafford, pioneer Galvestonians. Mrs. Crow, like her husband, was representative of the Old South, with its traditions, and its high sense of values.
Her father, Col. Stafford, was a veteran of the Confederate Army and was a member of a company which was ordered to Galveston early in the conflict. He took part in the Battle of Galveston and later saw active service in Arkansas and the Indian Territory. After the end of the war, Col. Stafford came to Galveston to make his home. He was a prominent figure of the Galveston Cotton Exchange and in the civic activities of that period.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Crow have been affiliated with Trinity Episcopal Church throughout the years. He has served as a member of the vestry and in other important posts. Their main interests are centered in their family, and they maintain a close interest in their son and daughter, who reside elsewhere, and their grandchildren. Two children were born to the union, Asa Lee Crow and Mary Kate, the wife of William S. Sinclair, Jr.
Mr. Crow never sought public Office, but he was interested in the political life of the city and frequently helped out old friends by serving in city and county elections.
Over the years he has maintained his friendships here and he has never been too busy, no matter how pressing the needs, to help a friend or vouchsafe a word of counsel.
He is modest in accepting any acclaim for his business and civic achievements yet proud of the distinctive place his company has had in the history of Galveston.
CARTER, MATTHEW SINCLAIR
1968-1990
VICTIM'S DREAMS TO LIVE ON
The Arizona Republic, Monday, October 1, 1990
Matthew Carter's life was unexpected and violent. Death came in a hail of shotgun pellets at 4 a.m. at a central Phoenix gas station. The July slaying stunned the friends and family of the 22-year-old college freshman.
“He was not an aggressive or hostile young man. I can’t imagine why anyone wanted to kill him,” said his father, William Carter, an attorney with the Maricopa County Public Defender’s Office.
The slaying cut short the younger Carter's plans to become a child psychologist and work with troubled young people. But now his friends are rallying behind his cause. In memory of Carter, they are sponsoring a benefit rock concert Saturday to raise money for Rainbows Way Inn or Mesa, a non-profit organization that hopes to build a home for troubled teen-age girls. The concert, featuring four Valley bands, is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Caravan Convention Centre, 3335 E. Van Buren St. Tickets are $5.
“We wanted to fulfill his dreams," said Sarina Morrison, 18, who had been Carter's girlfriend. “We wanted to do something that he wanted, to help troubled teen-age girls."
Joyce Rarti, executive director of Rainbows Way Inn, a small therapeutic foster home for emotionally handicapped children, said the home would be called Matthew's House.
Morrison said Carter's own difficulty as a child in relating to other children prompted his interest in child psychology.
Three months after the slaying, nobody understands the soft-spoken Carter's death, including Phoenix police Detective Mike Chambers. “We don't have much to go on,” he said last week. The detective said he does not have enough evidence to develop a motive for the shooting, saying it may have been a case of random violence or the result of a traffic dispute.
William Carter said he is “very touched” that his son’s friends cared enough about Matthew Carter to sponsor the concert. “It’s gratifying to think that something he was trying to do may be carried on,” the elder Carter said.
* * *
Matthew Sinclair Carter graduated in 1986 from Central High School in Phoenix, and was currently majoring in psychology at Glendale Community College, Phoenix. From October to December, 1985, he was a cook at McDonald’s Restaurant. From September, 1986 to September, 1989 he was an Operations and Intelligence Assistant in the Air Defense Artillery and was Unit Mail Clerk.
On July 28, 1990, he had pulled into a filling station for a bottle of pop and was sitting in his truck when a car drove in behind him. The occupant of the car fired once at him with a shotgun and sped off. Matthew was wounded in the side and chest. He died two days later in the hospital from internal bleeding.
CONVERSATION WITH W. S. "BUZZ" SINCLAIR
HOUSTON, TEXAS APRIL, 1991
1898 Dad went into the service in 1898. He was on the way to Cuba because of the Cuban Insurrection, but when he got to New Orleans, I think the thing was more or less settled, so he came back to Galveston. Then he went overseas to China and was in the Boxer Rebellion until around 1901. He received a Silver Star for gallantry in action over there, but it wasn't sent to him until 1960, about a year before he died. (The Silver Star and other awards were stolen from Buzz’s fishing camp in the 1990’s—ASB)
1901 When he came back from China, he came to Galveston for a short time, and then they sent him to the Philippines because of the Philippine Insurrection. While he was over there, our mother was in Galveston when my oldest brother, Van, was born in March of 1901 at the Van Alstyne home. When he was scout a month old they went over to the Philippines and lived in a tent with Dad. It was in the jungle and they were fighting the Igarotes over there--the Philippine Igarotes--and they never knew but some of them might come in and attack the tents. He had one of his officers guarding the tent when held leave Mom there alone. They got a young Philippine girl named Saba who stayed with them until I was four years old and they left the Hawaiian Islands.
1903 Now, from the Philippines I'm not too sure where he went. But I know he was involved several times in Cuba and Mexico. He went to Plattsburg, N.Y. and he was there in 1903 when Albert was born. Gen. Mark Clark and Albert were born about five days apart. Gen. Clark's father and my father lived next door to each other and were very good friends. Dad always kept in contact with Gen. Mark Clark.
1910 From there they went t6Puerto Rico and Cuba and of course Saba, the Philippine girl, was with them all this time as a nurse. They were in Spokane, Washington, at Fort George Wright during 1910, 1911, and 1912. Loraine was born at Ft. George Wright on November 11, 1911.
1913 Dad was with the 25th infantry there when the troops were sent to Hawaii in 1913. Mom decided that they would stop at Ft. Lawton, Seattle and have me because she didn't want to have me on a boat. And there was a whole-they said it looked like a-regular caravan going across the desert in Africa with this bunch of wives and nurses and servants and children and all their luggage and everything they were dragging around with them, waiting to get on these boats to take them to Hawaii. Meantime, the troops and the officers had gone ahead. They sent the 25th Infantry over there in 1913 to build Schofield barracks.
I was born at Ft. Lawton on Puget Sound near Seattle on February 4th, 1913. And after I was born my mother went on to the Hawaiian Islands with all these wives and nurses and all that stuff. I think they made two return trips to the United States between that time and 1917, but those trips were made back to San Francisco. We made two or three trips back to the United States on various assignments, but they always sent Dad back to Schofield Barracks--until 1917. Saba at that time had married my Dad's First sergeant, Sgt. Eckles at Schofield Barracks.
1917 In 1917, World War I was breaking out, and Dad got orders to go to Ft. Bliss in El Paso. In Austin, Texas, as Recruiting Officer for one year, we lived next door to the Bartholomews whom my grandfather brought down from Jonesville, Michigan, when he came back to Galveston after he married Phoebe Bartholomew (his wife's brother Eugene). Her sister came as well and married Mr. Beissner in Galveston. From Ft. Bliss he was sent to Camp Devons, Mass., which was close to Fitchburg, a big army place for shipping the soldiers overseas. He stayed there training a group of soldiers, then went over to France where he was housed at Chateau Neuf with a very wonderful French family. My mother and sister and I came back to Galveston. During the time at Camp Devons, my older brothers Van and Albert were left with my Uncle Harry in Galveston. And they were going to school there, but Loraine and I were too young. In 1917, we were not going to school at that time.
Dad did not do any--as far as I know--combat work in World War, but they had a revolt of a Negro Division on the shore of the Mediterranean. They were ahead of the German Division and were in trenches facing one another. Suddenly, the Germans started retreating back to Germany. The Negro Division refused to follow them, threw down their weapons and ammunition and lay down in the trenches. Dad was sent down to the Mediterranean, got them out of the trenches, put them on ships, and sent them back to the United States.
1918 When Dad came back from Europe at the end of World War I, he came to Galveston and his family. I attended kindergarten in Galveston in 1918. Then he was ordered to New Orleans to disband a division there. We lived there a little over a year. I attended first grade in New Orleans in 1919.
1920 Then he was ordered I'm not sure, but I believe it was Ft. D. A. Russell at Eagle Pass, Texas, which was a battalion outpost. He was a Company Commander. We stayed there one year where I went to the second grade of grade school in 1920.
Summer 1921
From Eagle Pass Dad was ordered to Ft Leavenworth, Kansas to command a general staff school because he had made Major.
Mary Kate remarked, "Not the prison?"
"What?" said Buzz.
"Wasn't the prison?" she asked again.
"Yeah" Buzz laughed. "Dad was in the prison...I'm hoping this goes on the tape," and he laughed again. "But anyway..." And he continued his story.
We were there for one year, and I went to the third grade. Van and Albert graduated from high school. We went there in the summer of 1921 and left there in the summer of 1922.
1922 Summer to 1927
From there Dad was ordered to Eugene, Oregon as the head of the military at the University of Oregon for four years. Van and Albert enrolled in the University as students. One of the first weeks there they both went out for football team. This freshman coach took a look at Van's size 13 triple E feet and said they couldn't furnish anything like that, that his feet were too big. Van got mad and left the school and went and enlisted in the army. But Albert stayed on and graduated in 1927. He lost a couple of years due to a confrontation with some federal agents who tried to arrest him and a friend up to Oregon for drinking whiskey. Albert hit one of them and had to leave for a while until Dad settled the deal with the Federal Government. Albert went up to Camp Lewis Washington up near Mt. Rainier and stayed up there for about a half a year until Dad got it straightened out to where he could come back and finish his education.
We went out there on a train except Van and Albert drove this old Model T Ford sedan that Dad had. They had some wild experiences, I'll tell you, coming across the mountains. Model T Fords didn't go up those mountain roads they had back in those days. They had to get a big tractor-trailer job and put a rope on them and drag them up the mountains. We had a Graham-Page Jewett when we left Eugene, Oregon. Dad was waiting for the Model A Fords to come out and kept putting it off. I think the Graham-Page people were going under, and they sold these Graham-Page Jewetts.
I guess we had ours for a year while we were in Eugene because we used to go down the coast and Dad would fish in the Sy-use-law River and go down and fish on the beach down there. Almost the entire Pacific coast is rock ledges and the mountains go right down into the water. In building the roads along the coast they have to take notches out of the sides of the mountains. We would go down the coast, take a little stove, and sleep in the car. It made down into a double bed. Of course, Mom had Loraine to take care of and Dad and I would go fishing all down there for salmon and sea trout, sea perch. We would dig razor clams, and get all kinds of seafood. That Graham-Page finally broke down. In Galveston, after 1929, I can't remember what Dad bought, but he drove it down there to the land where our camp was, pulled it out on the sand and it finally rusted out.
1925 At the end of the third year, the University of Oregon asked the military to let Dad stay on two more years, which they did. So we actually stayed there for six years. While we were there they built junior high schools, and I graduated from junior high in 1928.
1928 Then Dad received his full Colonel's rank, and that was above the rank allowed to stay at a school in the R.O. T.C., so he was ordered to Ft. Warren in Cheyenne. It had been Ft. D. A. Russell, but Sen. Warren of Wyoming died and they renamed the fort as Fort Warren while we were on the way there. So his orders didn't exactly agree with where we went.
We stayed at Ft. Warren for one year. The Commanding General of the fort was changed, and the new Commanding General was a very obnoxious individual. Dad decided that since he'd been in the service for thirty-two years life was too short to put up with what he was having to take off this Commanding General. So he retired in June of 1929, and we came back to Galveston.
1929 We first went to Corpus Christi to settle because of the friction between my family and my mother's family. They didn't want to be in such close contact with the Van Alstynes and so forth. But the city was having a boom. Corpus was made a port and everything was just going whole hog and real estate had gone out of sight. So, after staying down there for almost six weeks--we stayed in a trailer court--Dad called one of his old friends in Galveston. They said they had this house that the Trinity Church had bought for Rev. Gibson and were trying to get rid of because it was too small for Rev. Gibson and his family. They had bought a big house down on Broadway to fit them. So they gave Dad one good one good price on the cost of the house, and Dad took it. So we drove up and settled in Galveston. And we've been there ever since.
1931 I was a freshman at A&M, in 1931, and Dad told me that if I wanted to be an officer, since I was raised in the military for sixteen years, to go to West Point. So he got this appointment with Sen. Claystone Briggs from Galveston, and I came down from school, and we asked him for his Senatorial appointment to West Point. There are several ways you can go in. The Representatives can appoint people, the U.S. Senators can appoint people, and they have competitive exams for the jobs. But my particular learning was not such that I would be able to take a general exam. So we asked him for his senatorial appointment. Sen. Claystone Briggs told me that he remembered my grandfather, that he was an officer in the Union Army, and if I was the last man in Texas he would not give me his appointment to West Point. Well, it didn't make that much difference. I graduated from A&M with a primary degree in power plant engineering and a secondary degree in automotive engineering.
1941 They called me into the service in August of 1941, and I went to Ft. Benning officers training for three months. Then I was sent to Camp Walters at Mineral Wells, Texas, just west of Ft. Worth, which was a training camp for infantrymen. Then they built Camp Van Dorn, Miss., which is south of Natchez, and put in an infantry division there.
1942 I was sent over as a service company commander (393 Inf. Regt. 99th Div.)
If you get used to it, we, as kids, loved it when we were children in the service. Every time you moved, you met a new bunch or kids, all your neighbors, went to a different school and everything. That's the military life and the military kids love it. She had a great time while I was stationed in Camp Van Dorn because she lived at Natchez. Of course her dad was originally from Mississippi. But she got to know some old timers up in Natchez and she loved the antebellum homes. She was busy raising the kids and seeing the country. But the people up there at Natchez hated the people at Camp Van Dorn because most of them came from Pennsylvania--damn Yankees.
1942 While we were there, it was the cadre that came in for the 99th Division that came from Indiana Gap, Pa. It was a Pennsylvania National Guard. Of course, most of the soldiers and practically of the officers were National Guard and reserve. And they shipped the fillers in from Ohio and Michigan, up in that area. It was pretty close to a million men they shipped in there to be trained by this cadre and the filler officers that they sent in from all over the United States.
1943 We had been there almost a year when they sent this Negro supply battalion in there and they didn't like the way they were getting treated in Mississippi. So they revolted and burned down--I believe it was--three base exchanges and two recreation halls. So they hauled them down to New Orleans and put them on a ship and sent them around South America--didn't send them through the Panama Canal, they sent them around South America--and up to Adak, Alaska, in their summer uniforms, and that is where they stayed until the war was over.
1943 They sent a new Commanding General into the 99th Division after I had been there, I guess, about a year, and he called all the officers together and informed them to go find another job unless they were a West pointer. He didn't want any officers in his division that had not been to West Point. That 99th Division was the one that was practically wiped out by the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge because they didn't have their guns clean or their ammunition out of the boxes when the Germans attacked them. Almost two-thirds of the personnel in the 99th were killed. So, when he told the men this, there was a mad scramble to get out of the organization.
1943 to 1945 Mary Dad called Gen. Mark Clark—as I said, he always kept in touch with Gen. Clark since Plattsburg, N.Y.—and Gen. Clark told him that they needed a motor officer for testing automotive equipment with the infantry board which was stationed at Ft. Benning, Ga. That was a group of men that were designated as experts to test all phases of infantry equipment and to make recommendations for improvements. They had junior officers that did the testing and senior officers that wrote the reports. In other words, it was a stepped up process where they had Lieutenants doing the testing and Majors and Lt. Colonels writing these analyses and recommending things to the Chiefs of Staff of the Infantry at Infantry Headquarters at Washington, D.C., but it was a very nice operation. I mean, they needed it because they were developing all these new weapons and vehicles. We never did test poisonous gases or anything, but it was a very advanced phase there.
Mary Kate says, “The test officers and their wives were a wonderful group.”
So we went to Ft. Benning, Ga., in 1943, where I was a test officer, and stayed there until December of 1945. Adrian was born at Ft. Benning 1 June 1945. World War II was over by then, and I returned to civilian life.
The man who hired me at Pollock Paper Company in 1936 died while I was in the service. He promised me a job in Houston as long as I wanted it (nothing in writing). The wheels started demanding that I move to other plants and then fired me before my 15-year retirement plan came in.
I built homes in Houston, Galveston, etc., from 1947 to 1971 (contractor).
1947 to 1950 They asked me to resign my commission about the first of 1947 because I had not been making reserve officers meetings. So I resigned my commission in the infantry in which I had gotten the rank of Major Permanent Grade in 1945, and that was my rank when I retired. Then I started going to National Guard Organizations meetings at Ellington Air Force Base and I stayed with the 147th Fighter Group there as a motor sergeant for about three years.
1950 to 1953 Then they opened up a job for a motor sergeant at a GEIA organization at La Porte, Texas, which was a Ground Electronics Installation Agency for the Air Force. Took care of all of their electrical needs--communications, or power supply, or anything of that sort. Most of the people involved were power company, telephone company people. It was a very small but compact organization. I was there about three years, and during that time they changed it from a GEIA to a EIAS--the same organization, just a different name. It was under the Texas National Guard. In the Texas National Guard you get military credit, but you are not a Civil Service employee. At anytime you are in the U.S. Government combat group, you are given credit for Civil Service on your permanent grade, and if you are in a reserve unit, you are given credit for your time toward Civil Service. This was a weekend job.
1971 In 1971, they put a Red Horse unit in at Ellington Air Force Base. Red Horse is to the Air Force as the SeaBees are to the Navy. In other words their job was to take care of any construction or rebuilding of Air Force grounds and equipment in case of combat or beginning organization. The Red Horse unit was a reserve unit and they needed a motor sergeant so I went over there and got the job. At that point I was getting credit for Civil Service.
1973 Another thing was that since I was Civil Service and with a reserve unit the regulations at that time said that when I retired the base where I was working had to give me a Civil Service job if I wanted it. So in February of 1973, when I was 60 years old, I retired from the military; and the base engineers at Ellington, which was a Civil Service organization, gave me a job as a construction inspector where I stayed for five more years as a Civil Service employee.
I used to get about three hours sleep at night. I'd go down to Galveston and catch bait, go down to my camp, go out and bait my lines, go back to my house, eat supper about ten o'clock and I'd get up about two o'clock in the morning and go out and run my lines, and get my fish off the lines and take them to the fish market, and then go up and report to Ellington Air Force Base. Honestly, I don't know how I lived through some of that stuff. But that was the end of my working career. After that, I just went fishing.