1842 – Richard Nelson, a prominent black political leader and newspaper publisher, was born on this day. He later founded the Galveston Spectator. The Spectator became the first African American newspaper in Texas.
1845 - On this date in 1845, the Congress of the Republic of Texas voted unanimously to accept the proposal for annexation offered by the United States. Seven years before an effort to join the Union was blocked fearing the balance of political power in Washington would too strongly favor the South. [ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/mga02 ]
1852 - Second in command George B. McClellan and his seventy-five-man expedition moved from Fort Washita, Indian Territory, and then into the Texas Panhandle. In 1852 the upper Red River area remained the largest unexplored tract of Texas, and the expedition's duty was to map the region for future travelers and settlers. Also among McClellan's duties was the keeping of a detailed daily meteorological record and a collection of mineral samples found on the route. On June 16 the party discovered the source of the north fork of the Red River and named it McClellan Creek. Of the Palo Duro Canyon McClellan wrote, "the scenery equals in beauty and wildness any that I ever beheld. The immense bluffs tower above us on every side, and assume every shape that fancy may suggest."[ I've lived in Texas all my life & have never been there. I've always wanted to see it. Someday I will. Lord willing. ] [ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rkp04 ]
1855 - Some 200 French colonists arrived at the colony of La Réunion, located on the south bank of the Trinity River in central Dallas County within the present city limits of Dallas. La Réunion was founded as a utopian experiment by Victor Prosper Considérant, one of the leading democratic socialist figures in France. The 1855 arrivals landed in Galveston, traveled overland from the coast, reached Dallas in April, and arrived at La Réunion on June 16. Although many settlers left the colony soon after they arrived, new colonists kept the population fairly constant for about two years; the number of residents peaked at around 350 in the fall of 1856. La Réunion existed as a serious communal organization for only about eighteen months. Financial insolvency killed the colony.
1863 - Mother Mary Agnes Magevney, future foundress of the Dominican Congregation of the Sacred Heart in Houston, joined the Dominican Sisters of Saint Mary's in Ohio. In 1882 Nicholas Aloysius Gallagher, bishop of Galveston, made known to Mother Agnes the need for religious teachers in Texas, and in September she and nineteen Dominican nuns left Ohio to establish a convent and school in Galveston. Sacred Heart Academy opened in October 1882, and the fledgling school developed into a system that spread to southeast and central Texas, southern California, and Guatemala and continues to serve in those areas today. Mother Agnes died in 1891.
1920 - James H. Fields, Medal of Honor recipient, was born at Caddo, Texas, on June 16, 1920. He graduated from Lamar High School in Houston and was drafted into the army in 1942. He was a member of the Tenth Armored Infantry, Fourth Armored Division, United States Army. First Lieutenant Fields was cited for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty" on September 27, 1944, at Réchicourt, France. Only eleven of the fifty-five men in his platoon survived the day's engagement.
[ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ffins ]
