This is the story of some of the oldest (white) families in Texas; Wharton, Groce, Waller, Perry, etc. told from the point of view of a silver teaspoon. The spoon tells how Colonel Groce had the silver dollars he earned from trading in Mexico melted down to make a silver service for his daughter “The Princess”, Sarah Ann Groce. The spoon witnessed many famous people and events in Texas history and spent a good part of its life at Eagle Island Plantation, the original land from which the Jackson
This is the story of some of the oldest (white) families in Texas; Wharton, Groce, Waller, Perry, etc. told from the point of view of a silver teaspoon. The spoon tells how Colonel Groce had the silver dollars he earned from trading in Mexico melted down to make a silver service for his daughter “The Princess”, Sarah Ann Groce. The spoon witnessed many famous people and events in Texas history and spent a good part of its life at Eagle Island Plantation, the original land from which the Jackson Plantation sprang, and then the town of Lake Jackson, Texas (my hometown). Goes through the original land patent from Mexico, the war for independence, the Republic of Texas, Texas statehood, and the Civil War. Would have been a lot better if it was fleshed out and told more about the daily life on the plantation.
Includes a hand-drawn copy of Jared Groce’s original land patent (now the towns of Lake Jackson and Clute), a map of the grave sites at Eagle Island, family trees for the Perry family (descendants of Stephen F. Austin’s sister), Wharton family, Groce family, Norris family, and Waller family. The book seems to be mostly a family history for the Whartons, with hundreds of names and cross-kin relationships mentioned. Probably will not be of interest to anyone other than Texas history scholars or descendants of the families mentioned. (In fact, the way the plantation’s slaves are talked about is downright offensive.)
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