The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 37, July 1933 - April, 1934 Page: 67

Boolc Reviews and Notices

Two Centuries in East Texas: A History of San Augustine
County and Surrounding Territory from 1685 to the
Present Time. By George Louis Crockett. (Dallas: The
Southwest Press.) Pages xi, 372.
"This volume," the author tells us, "has been a growth and
not a deliberate perpetration of historical verbosity." In
fact, it embodies the literary diversions of an intellectual layman
carried on intermittently for more than thirty years. Though
the title places the book in the field of local history, it is much
more than that. East Texas was the region of the first Spanish
settlements in Texas, the frontier upon which the territorial
ambitions of Spain and France clashed, the gateway through
which Anglo-American colonists entered Texas, and throughout
the period of the Republic of Texas its leaders were a powerful
element in government.
Six chapters sketch the history of Spanish occupation. In the
first five of these the author depends upon the investigations of
others--chiefly Bolton, Clark, Dunn, and Buckley-and makes
no original contribution. Beginning with the sixth chapter, how-
ever, "The Spanish Colony of Aes," the narrative is illuminated
by Dr. Crocket's patient investigation of local records and his
intimate acquaintance with family history and genealogy. The
remaining thirteen chapters-there are nineteen in all-are
largely social in character. Their scope is indicated by the
titles: Colonization, The Building of the Town (Nacogdoches),
Troubles and Wars, Revolution, The Aftermath of the Revolu-
tion, Local Affairs, Men and Measures, Bench and Bar, Religion,
Education, Masonry, the War between the States.
The book is scrupulously documented, has a satisfactory index,
and is in every respect a useful and creditable contribution to
the historiography of Texas.
EUGENE C. BARKER.
Letters of an Early American Traveller: Mary Austin Holley,
Her Life and Her Works, 1784-1846. By Mattie Austin
Hatcher. (Dallas: Southwest Press. 1933.) Pp. xi,
216, illustrations.
In supplying a reprint of Mary Austin Holley's Texas. . .
In a Series of Letters, first published in Baltimore just a cen-