The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946 Page: 365
717 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Amelia Barr in Texas, 1856-1868
Hotel, a large wooden building at Congress Avenue and Pecan
Street. They were delighted with their first dinner there. On
the table were roast beef, chicken pie, bear meat, and antelope
steaks. An old Texan present told Mrs. Barr that the greatest
delicacy in Texas was bear's paws preserved in Madeira wine
and a little brandy.
When it was learned in Austin that Robert Barr was an
accountant, he was greeted with exuberant cordiality by the
lawmakers in the capitol. The financial affairs of the state of
Texas were badly jumbled. Three men had already tried and
given up the job of putting the accounts in order, and Barr
was offered five dollars a day-hours from ten to four, includ-
ing an hour for lunch-if he could bring order out of chaos.
He was shown a long table, piled high with bills and docu-
ments. Barr explained his work to his wife:
It is all dollars and cents-commissions paid to certain men for buying
goods for the military board, advances made by different houses, etc.
You see, Millie, the Republic of Texas has just been bought by the United
States. Some of her debts the United States assumes, some she must
pay or has paid herself, and there are agreements covering a score of
points of this kind. It is a very intricate piece of business, I assure you.
A genial, friendly couple, the Barrs were at once drawn
into the social life of Austin. Commenting on this experience,
Amelia noted that women are never democrats, that every
society has an exclusive set. In Austin she called that set a
mixed affair. Its leaders, she wrote, were Mrs. Tom Green
and Mrs. George Durham. "Mrs. Green was young, clever,
and intimately and decidedly Texan. She was witty and sar-
castic, and many were afraid of her criticisms. She dressed
well and entertained delightfully, in Texas fashion, the ladies
she chose to honor." Mrs. Durham was the wife of George
Durham, an Englishman from Mrs. Barr's own north England
country and an employee of the comptroller's office. The Dur-
hams lived in a small log house on the road to the ferry. Mrs.
Durham's sitting room was as entertaining as the local news
in the weekly paper. Though not pretty or clever or stylish,
Mrs. Durham was the most popular woman in Austin.
The women of the Texas capital lived pleasant, serene, and
unexciting lives. They had an abundance of slave servants,
and they often visited in one another's homes for indefinite
periods. Their chief occupation appeared to Amelia to be "an
endless tucking of fine muslin, and inserting lace in the same.365
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946, periodical, 1946; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146056/m1/420/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.