A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY SURROUNDING BLESSING TX: FYI: CONTINUED FROM YESTERDAY.... “I think so,” I answered, “because I heard my Dad say something about him. He was a cattle rancher or something like that.” “Well let me tell you about Shanghai and my husband Abel – that’s what the “A” stood for -- and the “P” was for Pierce, his uncle’s last name.” “Miss O’Neal, before I tell this story, would you please freshen my iced tea?” she asked, “And get Pete here a Coca Cola and put that on my bill.” Dutifully, Miss O’Neal rose from her rocker and headed off to the kitchen to fetch the refreshments. “You know,” Mrs. Borden said, “I just love a glass of tea to go along with a good story.” After Miss O’Neal returned with the drinks, Mrs. Borden gave me a wink and said, “Now I will tell you the story of Shanghai Pierce and how this little town got its name. And, I will tell you who built this hotel and why Miss O’Neal and I come here every year.” Blessing TX Blessing Hotel Pstmrk1912 Hotel Blessing Postmarked 1912, Courtesy William Beauchamp Collection “Shanghai’s real name was Abel but he was nicknamed that because he had a big chest and skinny legs that made him look like a Shanghai Rooster,” she opened, “and he lived from 1834 to 1900. He was famous around here because he was a cattleman who helped build Wharton County.” After a long drink of tea, she went on, “Ol’ Shang owned almost 200,000 acres in the county at one time…do you know how big an acre is?” I said, “I think so,” and she responded by pointing with her hand to an imaginary rectangle of space in front of her, “Why from that building over there to that stoplight and back over there to the post office – that’s about one acre. And ol’ Shang had 200,000 of ‘em. That’s a lot of land and that made him a big man in Texas just about the same time when the State was a republic and had won independence from Mexico at San Jacinto. You know about Santa Anna and Sam Houston don’t you?” I responded eagerly, “Sure I know about that because I saw Davy Crockett at the show and I’m going to see the Alamo with my Sunday school class next month. Also, we learned about it in school when we were studying Texas history.” “Well now,” she continued, “Shanghai was my husband’s uncle so all of this (she waves her arm expansively to include the entire town) was part our family’s ranch. How about that! Would you have guessed that an old lady in a wheelchair staying at a little country hotel would have owned all this land around you once upon a time? I bet not…” A nod of affirmation from me. “Well now,” Mrs. Borden continued, “Shanghai’s brother was Jonathon Pierce and he was a little younger than Shanghai as he was born in 1839 in Rhode Island and lived to be 76 and died in 1915. I never knew Mr. Shanghai but I did know Jonathon. I met him after I married A.P. in 1908. I’ve been alive a long time…” “And, let me tell you one more thing,” she went on, “Mr. Shanghai and Mr. Jonathon were direct descendants of John Alden and Priscilla Mullin who came to this country on the Mayflower in 1620 AND they were also related to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Have you heard of these famous people in school?” “Oh, yeah,” I replied, “We had to read this long poem about these people who got thrown out up north somewhere and had to move to Louisiana…Evangel or something like that.” “The poem you are thinking of is Evangeline and it is the story about French people who were moved from their home in Nova Scotia to the Lafayette area of Louisiana. They are now known as Cajuns which is slang for Acadians…Acadia was their home in Nova Scotia. It’s a very sad poem, but you have a good memory for knowing about Longfelllow,” she concluded, “I think you just might be a smart fella’.” “Now why is all this history so important?” she posed and then answered her own question, “Because Mr. Jonathon founded this little town and built this hotel. See those railroad tracks over there? Well, Mr. Pierce built this town so there would be a business center for the railroad. He planned for this to be a big place…built sidewalks all over the place expectin’ folks would want to move here…and he needed a railhead so he could send his cattle north to Chicago and later to Ft.Worth.” “So that’s why they call Ft.Worth “Cowtown” …I think we are moving there soon,” I asked and offered. “What do you think he wanted to name the town?” she pressed, “and it wasn’t Blessing at first.” I replied, “I don’t know. What was the name he picked?” Grinning and winking at Miss O’Neal (who had look of having heard all this many times before), she said, “Why Mr. Jonathon wanted to name the town “Thank God” but the U.S. Post Office wouldn’t let him use that name because they thought some people might think the name was disrespectful. So, guess what? The Post Office folks suggested Blessing for a name which is kind the same as “Thank God” and the name stuck! Now isn’t that a good story?” TO BE CONTINUED....
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 11:49:53 +0000
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