An interview by L. W. Evans of the Dallas News in 1907 with Julia Ann Norris Brown:
Julia's father arrived in Tejas at age 4, with his parents, about 17 years before Mexico gained its independence in 1821 & Stephen F. Austin's subsequent colonial grant from Mexico City. Texas A&M University In an article in "A History of Texas and Texans" by Frank W. Johnson, Volume V, published in 1914 by The American Historical Society, Julia states that her father's family arrived from Maryland & via Louisiana in Nacogdoches in "1804 & was granted 4 leagues & labors of headright land north of Nacogdoches, extending to Atoyache River, her grandfather (Edmund NORRIS ca 1757-1829) settling 12 miles north of Nacogdoches on a small tributary to Nacognich Creek". She also recalled that a permit was required from the Alcalde to plant certain amounts of seed & her father was granted less than a peck of tobacco seed. She mentions that a great part of their food supply came from deer & another wild game & their cornmeal was obtained by beating it up in a mortar. There were no schools. Not many Anglos were allowed to stay near the outpost of Nacogdoches by the Spanish government because of the lack of protection but the Norris was one of 2 families permitted. At that time Nacogdoches had only a stone church & an old stone fort; homes were of logs, single pens 16 x 24 & double pens, facing South with a chimney either facing east or west & built of native rock. During the Texas Revolution, her family loaded up their belongings on pack horses & fled the 45 miles to Louisiana for safety.
Julia states that it was some time before they had any wheat & then there were no mills or threshers & so tramped the sheaves with horses, then winded the chaff from the grain & made flour by the mortar process. She recalled meeting & entertaining Sam Houston in the zenith of his power in Nacogdoches (this supports the family legend of her dancing with him & being so small compared to his great height that she held onto his belt loops).
Julia's mother, Mary Sarah STOCKMAN was born in 1811 at her parents home Villa de Salcedo in Nacogdoches county, the 8th child of Frederick Stockman (1749-1838) & Catherine DES BONNET/DISPONET (1771-1834)
Julia's father arrived in Tejas at age 4, with his parents, about 17 years before Mexico gained its independence in 1821 & Stephen F. Austin's subsequent colonial grant from Mexico City. Texas A&M University In an article in "A History of Texas and Texans" by Frank W. Johnson, Volume V, published in 1914 by The American Historical Society, Julia states that her father's family arrived from Maryland & via Louisiana in Nacogdoches in "1804 & was granted 4 leagues & labors of headright land north of Nacogdoches, extending to Atoyache River, her grandfather (Edmund NORRIS ca 1757-1829) settling 12 miles north of Nacogdoches on a small tributary to Nacognich Creek". She also recalled that a permit was required from the Alcalde to plant certain amounts of seed & her father was granted less than a peck of tobacco seed. She mentions that a great part of their food supply came from deer & another wild game & their cornmeal was obtained by beating it up in a mortar. There were no schools. Not many Anglos were allowed to stay near the outpost of Nacogdoches by the Spanish government because of the lack of protection but the Norris was one of 2 families permitted. At that time Nacogdoches had only a stone church & an old stone fort; homes were of logs, single pens 16 x 24 & double pens, facing South with a chimney either facing east or west & built of native rock. During the Texas Revolution, her family loaded up their belongings on pack horses & fled the 45 miles to Louisiana for safety.
Julia states that it was some time before they had any wheat & then there were no mills or threshers & so tramped the sheaves with horses, then winded the chaff from the grain & made flour by the mortar process. She recalled meeting & entertaining Sam Houston in the zenith of his power in Nacogdoches (this supports the family legend of her dancing with him & being so small compared to his great height that she held onto his belt loops).
Julia's mother, Mary Sarah STOCKMAN was born in 1811 at her parents home Villa de Salcedo in Nacogdoches county, the 8th child of Frederick Stockman (1749-1838) & Catherine DES BONNET/DISPONET (1771-1834)
An interview by L. W. Evans of the Dallas News in 1907 with Julia Ann Norris Brown:
Julia's father arrived in Tejas at age 4, with his parents, about 17 years before Mexico gained its independence in 1821 & Stephen F. Austin's subsequent colonial grant from Mexico City. Texas A&M University In an article in "A History of Texas and Texans" by Frank W. Johnson, Volume V, published in 1914 by The American Historical Society, Julia states that her father's family arrived from Maryland & via Louisiana in Nacogdoches in "1804 & was granted 4 leagues & labors of headright land north of Nacogdoches, extending to Atoyache River, her grandfather (Edmund NORRIS ca 1757-1829) settling 12 miles north of Nacogdoches on a small tributary to Nacognich Creek". She also recalled that a permit was required from the Alcalde to plant certain amounts of seed & her father was granted less than a peck of tobacco seed. She mentions that a great part of their food supply came from deer & another wild game & their cornmeal was obtained by beating it up in a mortar. There were no schools. Not many Anglos were allowed to stay near the outpost of Nacogdoches by the Spanish government because of the lack of protection but the Norris was one of 2 families permitted. At that time Nacogdoches had only a stone church & an old stone fort; homes were of logs, single pens 16 x 24 & double pens, facing South with a chimney either facing east or west & built of native rock. During the Texas Revolution, her family loaded up their belongings on pack horses & fled the 45 miles to Louisiana for safety.
Julia states that it was some time before they had any wheat & then there were no mills or threshers & so tramped the sheaves with horses, then winded the chaff from the grain & made flour by the mortar process. She recalled meeting & entertaining Sam Houston in the zenith of his power in Nacogdoches (this supports the family legend of her dancing with him & being so small compared to his great height that she held onto his belt loops).
Julia's mother, Mary Sarah STOCKMAN was born in 1811 at her parents home Villa de Salcedo in Nacogdoches county, the 8th child of Frederick Stockman (1749-1838) & Catherine DES BONNET/DISPONET (1771-1834)
Julia's father arrived in Tejas at age 4, with his parents, about 17 years before Mexico gained its independence in 1821 & Stephen F. Austin's subsequent colonial grant from Mexico City. Texas A&M University In an article in "A History of Texas and Texans" by Frank W. Johnson, Volume V, published in 1914 by The American Historical Society, Julia states that her father's family arrived from Maryland & via Louisiana in Nacogdoches in "1804 & was granted 4 leagues & labors of headright land north of Nacogdoches, extending to Atoyache River, her grandfather (Edmund NORRIS ca 1757-1829) settling 12 miles north of Nacogdoches on a small tributary to Nacognich Creek". She also recalled that a permit was required from the Alcalde to plant certain amounts of seed & her father was granted less than a peck of tobacco seed. She mentions that a great part of their food supply came from deer & another wild game & their cornmeal was obtained by beating it up in a mortar. There were no schools. Not many Anglos were allowed to stay near the outpost of Nacogdoches by the Spanish government because of the lack of protection but the Norris was one of 2 families permitted. At that time Nacogdoches had only a stone church & an old stone fort; homes were of logs, single pens 16 x 24 & double pens, facing South with a chimney either facing east or west & built of native rock. During the Texas Revolution, her family loaded up their belongings on pack horses & fled the 45 miles to Louisiana for safety.
Julia states that it was some time before they had any wheat & then there were no mills or threshers & so tramped the sheaves with horses, then winded the chaff from the grain & made flour by the mortar process. She recalled meeting & entertaining Sam Houston in the zenith of his power in Nacogdoches (this supports the family legend of her dancing with him & being so small compared to his great height that she held onto his belt loops).
Julia's mother, Mary Sarah STOCKMAN was born in 1811 at her parents home Villa de Salcedo in Nacogdoches county, the 8th child of Frederick Stockman (1749-1838) & Catherine DES BONNET/DISPONET (1771-1834)
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