The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 74, July 1970 - April, 1971 Page: 394
616 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
In 1837 Miss McHenry and her sister opened a boarding school,
but closed it within a year as an unprofitable venture. In 1840
Miss McHenry returned to Kentucky, living in that state and tour-
ing eastern cities. After four years she came back to Texas and
the Kenney home and lived there until her death in 1864. In this
period she participated in religious activities such as the Daughters
of Samaria, and during the Civil War she helped make clothes and
taught the younger women the art of sewing. The letters that follow
tell of the struggle of an unmarried woman on a rough and raw
frontier in trying times.
Austin's Colony. Texas.
Feby 12th. [18]35
My Dear Brother,
I received your letter by Mr. Clay safely, 4 days ago, it having been
5 weeks in the hands of a neighbor who at length sent it by another.
I wonder much that you have never heard from me. I wrote soon
after our arrival at the Brazos by a Mr. Cass, who took a letter safely
to Jane.' I received your letter by Col. Glenn in June, & wrote in
reply. I wrote again after receiving one by Mr. Madison.
We were all sick all summer, and driven from one scene of pestilence
& famine to another until I thought I never could recover nor do I
believe I should, if Mr. Kenney had not got a sort of cabin up, &
removed me from the misery of a hired shanty. He concluded in
August that the family would never get well on the Brazos, and moved
off as though he was running for life into this neighborhood' where
there is neither intelligence, sympathy nor kindness, & where he is
the best man who makes most off an emigrant. He gave Dolly & Kitty
[slaves] for soo acres of land. The soil is pretty good & the situation
pleasant but no water without digging. I am entitled to a quarter
of a League of land in right of my being an orphan & coming on my
own charges to the country, & we have entered it in 2 miles of this
place. Mr. Kenney says it is very good, well watered & well timbered.
The fees to government will amount to $50 & the land is now worth
500. Mr. Kenney can obtain a league near this, & I suppose will do so.
4Jane was evidently a sister living in Kentucky.
'They first settled in Washington and then moved to an area approximately ten miles
north of present-day Bellville. Webb and Carroll (eds.), Handbook of Texas, I, 948.394
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 74, July 1970 - April, 1971, periodical, 1971; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101200/m1/406/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.