What might it be like traveling in Texas in the 1820’s and 1830’s? How might the newly arrived Texans find water for their homestead? What foods were available? What is a “striker” or a “bit”? The 4th and 7th grade students in Cherokee ISD found these answers and many more interesting facts in the Daughters of the Republic ( DRT) of Texas Traveling Trunk.
District VIII of the DRT has compiled a trunk filled with dozens of items that give a hands on history lesson about colonial life in the early days of Texas settlement. The Llano Pioneers Chapter presented these lessons in January by Maurine Johnson and Aileen Roberts. They shared with students the underlying causes of the Texas revolution, skirmishes and battles, and general joys and hardships of pioneer life in the early Anglo Texan settlements.
Texas was very sparsely settled 200 years ago, and Mexico offered cheap land to families who were having difficulty paying off their land. The US. Creditors began finding GTT posted on doors when they came to collect especially in states like Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana. On their books they would write GTT (Gone to Texas). By 1825, Empresario Stephen F. Austin brought the first 300 families to his first settlement, the Austin Colony. There were about 3500 people (mostly of Spanish and Mexican decent) living in Texas at that time. Ten years later, just before the Texas Revolution, the population had grown to about 35,000. By 1845, on the eve of statehood, the population had grown to about 125,000.
As the contents of the Traveling Trunk demonstrate, life in colonial Texas was anything but easy. Pioneers struggled with pestilence and disease, attacks from Indians, a degree of lawlessness, and extreme weather. Many hardy people weathered the difficulties to begin a new life in this great state. The growth continues and the population is now approaching 30 million and has the ninth largest economy of any other state in the country.
Women who can trace their Texas ancestry to pre-statehood Texas are eligible to apply for membership in the DRT. If you are not able to do so, but still have an interest in Texas and the preservation and promotion of Texas history, you are welcome to apply for an associate membership in the organization. DRT holds monthly meetings in Llano at the library on the 2nd Monday (September-May) at 11:00. Please contact Aileen Roberts, 325 205 0638 for information about the Llano Pioneers chapter.