Locating Supporting Documentation about a Proposed Texas Bill in 1893

It all began with a newspaper article in the Galveston Daily News on 21 February 1893. This article mentioned my ancestor, N.H.O. Polly, a person I have been researching lately and one of whom I tried to locate more information during my recent trip to Texas.

Low Hanging Fruit
Senator Goss introduced a bill “For the relief of N. H. O. Polly by reimbursing him for losses sustained by reason of Indian depredations in the years 1858, 1859, and 1860.”[1]

This one sentence out of a much larger article gave me several pieces of information. I have the dates that Polly lived in Montague County. It is a burned county and any early records of him buying and selling land are gone. I learned that there were Indian problems in those years. Many of the history books talk about the Indian raids and deaths from these. I also learned that the senator who introduced the bill was Goss.

Checking the Legislative Reference Library of Texas, I learned Goss’ full name: Demosthenes Franklin Goss (1855-1925) and he began serving in the Senate in 1893. It was interesting that Rockwall County, where Polly was living, was not one of the counties he represented.[2]  

Next, I wanted to find more information about this bill. I located the Senate Journal for the 1893 session on the same website, the Legislative Reference Library of Texas, for the year 1893 which was the 23rd Session.[3] I selected the Senate Journal which brings up each date of the session. The date of the newspaper was the 21st of February so I chose February 20 to start. I found the portion where Goss introduced the bill. It was read and then referred to the Committee on State Affairs.[4]


Supporting Documentation
I know that there is supporting documentation for bills introduced in Congress so I wondered if the Texas legislature also had supporting documentation. Surely there would be more information about what had happened to Polly in Montague County in 1858-60 for the committee to make a decision.

I had no idea where to start, so emailed the Texas State Library asking about finding the paperwork about the proposed bill. The reply told me to check out the Legislative Reference Library website and gave me a direct email address to ask a question.[5]

My next email to the Legislative Reference Library. In their reply, they asked for the bill number. They did not have the paperwork already uploaded but two hours later I received another reply with a link to the proposed bill.[6] Here is an image of the front page. 

On following pages, it gives more information about Polly and what he lost and why he was asking for relief.[7]


It seemed that Polly was old and an invalid and needed funds to live. He had lost twenty-three heads of horses worth $2000 and cattle worth $200. He had also supplied rangers with supplies while in the line of their duties. This all totaled a value of $2400.

Will There Be More?
The librarian is going to search to see if there is any paperwork from the committee where the bill had been sent. It would be nice to know why the bill was considered unfavorable. Likely, they did not want to begin paying people for losses as that could open others also making such claims.

However, even if no more documentation can be found, I have learned more about N.H.O. Polly’s life in Montague County between 1858-60 and the hard times he was having in Rockwall County in the 1890s. This information will add to his life story.

 

#52Ancestors-Week 24: Hard Times

This is my seventh year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe.

I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

[1] “Talked of Blood,” Galveston Daily News, 21 Feb 1893, p. 1, col. 3, imaged The Portal to Texas History (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth468516/m1/1/zoom/ accessed 24 May 2024).

[2] “Demosthenes Franklin Goss,” Legislative Reference Library of Texas (https://lrl.texas.gov/legeLeaders/members/memberDisplay.cfm?memberID=3310 accessed 24 May 2024).

[3] “23rd Regular Session,” Legislative Reference Library of Texas (https://lrl.texas.gov/sessions/sessionSnapshot.cfm?legSession=23-0).

[4] “Senate Journal, 23-0, Monday February 20, 1893, pp 207-08, Legislative Reference Library of Texas  (https://lrl.texas.gov/scanned/Senatejournals/23/02201893_36_205.pdf).

[5] Email, Gorrell to Reference Desk, Texas State Library, 28 Mar 2024, & reply 2 April 2024.

[6] Email, Gorrell to Legislative Reference Library, 23 May & 24 May 2024.

[7] SB 217, 23rd R.S., For the relief of reimbursing NHO Polly, Legislative Reference Library (https://lrl.texas.gov/LASDOCS/23R/SB217/SB217_23R.pdf accessed 24 May 2024), Austin, Texas.


Copyright © 2024 by Lisa S. Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family, All rights reserved.

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