Gone but not forgotten in San Antonio! (Galveston, Leon Valley: cabinet, owning)

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by wCat

OK...here's one for you all. WALKER RANCH......it's known for it's archeological finds of historical significance......but what is the name of the person that owned it.....beyond just "Walker"? I honestly don't know. All I have are initials of C. G. Walker. Does anyone know any first names?

I did a little research and was able to find out a few little tidbits of info. C.G Walker was one of the founders of the San Antonio Hardware Company where he served as Vice President. This was sometime before 1906. The company was incorporated under the name Western Hardware Store. It was located at 239-240 West Commerce Street. I Google Mapped and it was right next door to the spanish governer's palace. Using street view, I think the building is still there. Originally he was just a shareholder, but he got together with other shareholders to overthrough the existant board of directors in 1906 and he and these shareholders then installed themselves as officers. The existing president and vice president sued Walker and his friends, the lawsuit lasted two years when it was promptly dropped when Walker and J H Spencer bought out the shares from original officers. This was 1908 and Walker was still Vice President then.

Here's where it gets interesting for San Antonio History Buffs! I don't know if he owned the ranch prior to the hardware store, or if he bought it with the money he made from the store (I think he probably bought it later). But in 1941, this same CG Walker sued the city to stop them from constructing a road linking Camp Bullis to Fort Sam Houston, claiming such a road would lower his property value. Rather than build this proposed "Military Highway", Walker wanted them to extend and improve the existing Old Blanco Road. The Army engineers told the city that to improve and extend the road would cost $90,000 which was more expensive than just building a new road at the time. So C G Walker lost his battle.

I'll see what else I can dig up on this guy. Some of my readings suggest that his full name may have been Charles George Walker, but I can't confirm that. The reason I think he bought the land with the money made from the hardware store is that follows the same economic pattern that seems to be prevelant at the time, with people like Albert Fredrick making his money from a downtown San Antonio business, the Buckhorn Saloon, then using it to buy land out by Wurzbach, the Algo Differente which became today's Elm Creek.

[GWhopper]

Okay it wasn't Charles George Walker, it was Charles Ganahl Walker!!! His grandson, Charles Ganahl Walker III, married a woman named Victoria Nalle in Houston in 1966.

[wCat]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

I did a little research and was able to find out a few little tidbits of info. C.G Walker was one of the founders of the San Antonio Hardware Company where he served as Vice President. This was sometime before 1906. The company was incorporated under the name Western Hardware Store. It was located at 239-240 West Commerce Street. I Google Mapped and it was right next door to the spanish governer's palace. Using street view, I think the building is still there. Originally he was just a shareholder, but he got together with other shareholders to overthrough the existant board of directors in 1906 and he and these shareholders then installed themselves as officers. The existing president and vice president sued Walker and his friends, the lawsuit lasted two years when it was promptly dropped when Walker and J H Spencer bought out the shares from original officers. This was 1908 and Walker was still Vice President then.

Here's where it gets interesting for San Antonio History Buffs! I don't know if he owned the ranch prior to the hardware store, or if he bought it with the money he made from the store (I think he probably bought it later). But in 1941, this same CG Walker sued the city to stop them from constructing a road linking Camp Bullis to Fort Sam Houston, claiming such a road would lower his property value. Rather than build this proposed "Military Highway", Walker wanted them to extend and improve the existing Old Blanco Road. The Army engineers told the city that to improve and extend the road would cost $90,000 which was more expensive than just building a new road at the time. So C G Walker lost his battle.

I'll see what else I can dig up on this guy. Some of my readings suggest that his full name may have been Charles George Walker, but I can't confirm that. The reason I think he bought the land with the money made from the hardware store is that follows the same economic pattern that seems to be prevelant at the time, with people like Albert Fredrick making his money from a downtown San Antonio business, the Buckhorn Saloon, then using it to buy land out by Wurzbach, the Algo Differente which became today's Elm Creek.

This is great info! I kept finding a George Charles Walker and wondered if he might be the same person. The map I have indicates that Walker shared ownership of this land with at least two other people. Nat F. Washer and William K. Shipman. They each had smaller tracts that they owned indvidually, but a large percentage appears to be jointly owned. Again...this was later than the time period you are referring to. A small portion of this tract (20 acres) was also under the name of "Live Oak Farm". Possibly owned by one of these individuals. Blanco Rd does definitely go right through this property. I think you're right about purchasing this land after they built up their business downtown. G C/C G Walker was listed as a "merchantile proprietor" and Shipman was a "stock raiser". I was only able to find Shipman as being an actual "resident" on the ranch. Walker lived in town on Summit.

I'll try to get more detail re: the amounts of land in this tract and who owned what when I have a bit more time later.

[wCat]

Here's a stumper for the local history buffs! Anyone know where the community of "Hancock" is/was located? Just a hint.....it was near San Antonio, but may not have actually been in Bexar County.

[GWhopper]

wCat, this is for you! I hope you enjoy it...

Joseph Von Ganahl was born in Europe (I assume Germany) in 1759. In 1808 he was "enobled" which I gather means he recieved some sort of royal title. He was given the title of either Duke or Count of Van Zahgenberg. One of his sons came to America and married a women name Charlotte Elizabeth (can't read the last name) of Augusta Georgia. He then took her back to Europe, but it is said she crossed the Atlantic 7 times to have children in America so that all her children would be born American.

Her third son, Dr. Charles Ganahl, was born in Kerr County in 1824 (presumably without the DR title yet ). He was educated in Hiedlberg Germany and the Sorborne in France. He eventually moved to Savanah Georgia to practice medicine. He also seems to have found a wife there as well. in 1850 they moved back to Kerr County. All their possessions, and yes, this included slaves, were sent to Key West Florida and shipped by boat over the Gulf to Indianola, Texas. From there they were pulled by oxcart to Kerr county. Apparently one of their possesions was a piano and this became famous for being the first piano in Kerr county.

Dr. Ganahl served as a surgeon for the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He was one of the original signers of the Articles of Session of Texas from the Union and refused to take the oath of allegience to the United States after the Civil War ended. To avoid being arrested as a war criminal, he fled the country and practiced medicine in Matamoros Mexico until it was safe for him to come back to his home in Kerr County where he later died (don't know the year).

Now it gets more interesting. His wife, refered to as Mrs. de Ganahle, continued to run their ranch in Kerr County after his death. Their slaves refused their freedom and continued to live and work on the ranch. At the time the ranch was plagued by Indian raids that killed her horses and stole her cattle. She had two children, Clarissa and Charles Ganahl. When the railoroad came, she gave up part of her land for the railroad and the first rail station in Kerr county was built on her land. The rail station was called Zahgenberg for their ancestors and Mrs. Ganahl was named the first PostMistriss of Kerr County.

Her daughter Clarissa eventually married a man named Edwin Anderson Walker and lived in Galveston. They were very prominent members of the Galveston community and there are several newspaper articles about the family there. Edwin Anderson Walker, coincidently, was a descendant of Lieutenant Anderson who helped lead the storming of Fort Sumpter in Charleston during the Civil War.

Now we get to the end of the tale. Edwin and Clarissa moved back to Kerr county to be closer to her mother and bought a ranch there. Clarissa's brother died in a tragic accident in Mexico where he was killed by a runaway team of mules. This should be a lesson to all to never underestimate the danger possed by a mule.

Clarissa and Edwin had three children: Charlotte Ganahl Walker. who became a very famous stage actress at the time: George Pinckey Walker, who lived on a ranch in Kerr County near Centerpoint for most if not all of his life; and last but not least Charles Ganahl Walker, who moved to San Antonio and helped start the San Antonio Hardware Company. Hardware companies were seen as critical at that time in history in order to support the growth of urban areas like San Antonio.

Curiously, it was George Pinkey Walker's grandchildren that lived on Walker Ranch. His son married Helen Grifith in 1932 and they had three children: George Pickney Walker III, Helen Charlotte Walker, and Kathrine Griffith Walker, all three of which were living at the Walker Ranch at least as late as 1955.

[GWhopper]

Curiously, while researching my last post on Walker Rance, I stumbled across a Basse Hardware Store article in San Antonio. It has to be related the Basse self-serve grocery stores I wrote about yesterday, the ones that became Piggly Wiggleys. I'll have to research the connection more at a later date....

[satx56]

I remember a Trucking or freight Line operating here named Basse!!

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by wCat

Here's a stumper for the local history buffs! Anyone know where the community of "Hancock" is/was located? Just a hint.....it was near San Antonio, but may not have actually been in Bexar County.

Do you mean this one:

HANCOCK, TEXAS (Limestone County). Hancock was sixteen miles northwest of Mexia in northern Limestone County. A post office was established there in 1886 with Ross Hancock as postmaster. In the mid-1890s the community had a cotton gin and twenty-five residents. The Hancock school served a fairly wide area and had eighty-two students in 1896. The post office was discontinued in 1905, and mail for Hancock was sent to Coolidge. A few scattered houses marked the community on county highway maps in the 1940s.

[wCat]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

wCat, this is for you! I hope you enjoy it...

Joseph Von Ganahl was born in Europe (I assume Germany) in 1759. In 1808 he was "enobled" which I gather means he recieved some sort of royal title. He was given the title of either Duke or Count of Van Zahgenberg. One of his sons came to America and married a women name Charlotte Elizabeth (can't read the last name) of Augusta Georgia. He then took her back to Europe, but it is said she crossed the Atlantic 7 times to have children in America so that all her children would be born American.

Her third son, Dr. Charles Ganahl, was born in Kerr County in 1824 (presumably without the DR title yet ). He was educated in Hiedlberg Germany and the Sorborne in France. He eventually moved to Savanah Georgia to practice medicine. He also seems to have found a wife there as well. in 1850 they moved back to Kerr County. All their possessions, and yes, this included slaves, were sent to Key West Florida and shipped by boat over the Gulf to Indianola, Texas. From there they were pulled by oxcart to Kerr county. Apparently one of their possesions was a piano and this became famous for being the first piano in Kerr county.

Dr. Ganahl served as a surgeon for the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He was one of the original signers of the Articles of Session of Texas from the Union and refused to take the oath of allegience to the United States after the Civil War ended. To avoid being arrested as a war criminal, he fled the country and practiced medicine in Matamoros Mexico until it was safe for him to come back to his home in Kerr County where he later died (don't know the year).

Now it gets more interesting. His wife, refered to as Mrs. de Ganahle, continued to run their ranch in Kerr County after his death. Their slaves refused their freedom and continued to live and work on the ranch. At the time the ranch was plagued by Indian raids that killed her horses and stole her cattle. She had two children, Clarissa and Charles Ganahl. When the railoroad came, she gave up part of her land for the railroad and the first rail station in Kerr county was built on her land. The rail station was called Zahgenberg for their ancestors and Mrs. Ganahl was named the first PostMistriss of Kerr County.

Her daughter Clarissa eventually married a man named Edwin Anderson Walker and lived in Galveston. They were very prominent members of the Galveston community and there are several newspaper articles about the family there. Edwin Anderson Walker, coincidently, was a descendant of Lieutenant Anderson who helped lead the storming of Fort Sumpter in Charleston during the Civil War.

Now we get to the end of the tale. Edwin and Clarissa moved back to Kerr county to be closer to her mother and bought a ranch there. Clarissa's brother died in a tragic accident in Mexico where he was killed by a runaway team of mules. This should be a lesson to all to never underestimate the danger possed by a mule.

Clarissa and Edwin had three children: Charlotte Ganahl Walker. who became a very famous stage actress at the time: George Pinckey Walker, who lived on a ranch in Kerr County near Centerpoint for most if not all of his life; and last but not least Charles Ganahl Walker, who moved to San Antonio and helped start the San Antonio Hardware Company. Hardware companies were seen as critical at that time in history in order to support the growth of urban areas like San Antonio.

Curiously, it was George Pinkey Walker's grandchildren that lived on Walker Ranch. His son married Helen Grifith in 1932 and they had three children: George Pickney Walker III, Helen Charlotte Walker, and Kathrine Griffith Walker, all three of which were living at the Walker Ranch at least as late as 1955.

This is terrific! Thanks so much! This has been a mystery bothering me for some time. Everyone refers to the "Historic Walker Ranch", but what was the history??? None of the websites go into the info that you just provided! Wow! Awesome information!

[wCat]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

Do you mean this one:

HANCOCK, TEXAS (Limestone County). Hancock was sixteen miles northwest of Mexia in northern Limestone County. A post office was established there in 1886 with Ross Hancock as postmaster. In the mid-1890s the community had a cotton gin and twenty-five residents. The Hancock school served a fairly wide area and had eighty-two students in 1896. The post office was discontinued in 1905, and mail for Hancock was sent to Coolidge. A few scattered houses marked the community on county highway maps in the 1940s.

No...not the right Hancock...the one I am referring to was closer to SA. Another mystery....