San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-08-12
Oldest House in Kendall!
County a Relic Of
By-gone Days.
LIVE THERE IS YEARS
Woman, 81, Tells Of Hard
ships and Dangers Of
Early Times.

have ever noticed the TINY 1nSall caDli
Ysthat stands a stones throw from ono
s'of the main roads on the Guadalupe
river, or if they have noticed it. know
that it is the oldest house in kendai
county?
1t is a tiny cabin Of five small
rooms and a smaller sagging porch
and when the Insall family came there
TO live in 1858, the logs Of which j
was originally built were so badly
worn and decayed from age, that ii
was. necessary to nail rough hand
hewn cypress boards on the outside
to prevent its further distintegration.
= No other change has. heen made Ill
the early homestead in all the years
reaching far over the half century
mark that the Insall family have lived
there, and it stands today as typical
,spioneer dwelling whose sturdy exist
ence through the early days has made
possible the splendid modern farms
and country estates which are its
near neighbors at the present time.
a. Dick Is the Baby.
Z The present occupants are Mrs. Car
cline Insall, who is 81 years old. and
her two sons, Dick. 1.-The baby of the
family" who is well over 90, and
4 JOHN, WHO Is luli. ltll VI lilctH St'
older and has white hair and beard.
Mrs. Insall came there to live with
her husband and children when she
was quite a young woman, and theye
she had lived through all the years
that have passed since then. except
for six or eight months she spent IN
San Antonio. when one of her s0rS
was employed here.
THAT was the most miserable time
i ever spent in my life she com
Lents in her gentle, tired. old voice
We lived in Il house that had all
those things they call modern conven-
ienees,' but j was scared to death OF
burglars ever minute of the time,
scared lots worse than / have been of
Indians in years past. Still. you know
how mothers are-they'll do just any
thing for their boys to help raise
Them into good men. I'll stick to my
boys always, but / hope it won't mean
that I'll ever have TO live in San An
tonic again."
I'll tell you, honey. Texas amt
what it used to be. II l had known
what this country was going to run
down to. never would have come out
here from Alabama. and when | think
of all the trouble we had getting here
i don't believe it was worth it after
all. OF course j have raised some o.
my children but ] have buried just as
many others. Did you notice the little
graveyard just a piece down the road!
Four of my children and my husband
are buried there almost in sight Of the
house, and while j can't just see their
graves from here. / always know they
care there close to me. 1t is sort OF
rr-aft chi la-nra har.a
and four are in Heaven. When my
time comes. I'll be glad to 60. I've
stuck to these children and taken good
care Of them, but now that John aho
Dick are old enough to look out for
themselves, i don't care how soon my
call comes. I've raised them to be
good boys and they know what .
right"
3a5 Acres for Slave Girl.
When the 1nsalls first came TO
Texas from Alabama in 1871. they
lived for a while near Hallettsvii,e
where they acquired "a league and a
labor" of land, at what was called d
head-right. They sold this land yea!
or two later for the money to buy the
place in Kendall county. where they
Lave lived ever since. Their land hold
lngs were also augmented by 32j acres
for which they paid with an 1S-year-
old negro girl they brought with then
from Alabama. For the house itself
and the small fenced-in yard in which
i stands. they paid the sum Of $50
but the amount of actual money in
yolyed in the rest of the transaction.
Mrs. Insall has forgotten.
When we moved in here. we Just
had our children and j3 good fat hogs
In haf MI. I
start out on" she tells.
Her description Of hor early fife and
of the journey to Texas sounds almost
archaic, and is very interesting.
Il had been married before, and SC
had my husband. so We were both
widows without any children. When
& we married each other. / was 10 am,
he wasn't much older. We had been
married a good while and had four
children and were living very comfort
abe with all our kinfolks in Bridge
port, Ala. when he got the fever tc
come TO Texas.
I'VE talked about it a good Will
before we actually got started, and
then We come most of the way by
boat. We took water from Bridgeport.
ard sailed down the Alabama river to
Mobile. then tried another boat to
New Orleans. We stayed there a few
days to get the children sort Of TO-
gether, and washed up, then took wa.
tsr again for Port Lavaca. gu. stoppea
on the way ut Indianola. 1t wasn't
1ndianola then. but was called Pow
ldef Horn" because the first white
people who ever came there had found
an Indian horn full OF fresh guupow-
der on the beach
Big Mud Puddle Here
We'll. we landed at Port Layaca
where We bought two OK carts Ia
travel the rest of the way in. One
team had five yoke Of oxen hitcbed "a
II, and the other one had four yoke
Ally husband drove one team and We
hired an old man TO come with us anc
drive the other. OF course. l coulC
have done it myself. but i never haC
done much rough work up TO tina
time. and we didn't know then, tina
] could drive an OK team all day, an,
cook and take care of the children al
night.
The trip took more than week
sbut it was all interesting-more be
cause it wasn't a bit like Alabama.
reckon. than for any other reason. w
csmped out at night. We would stoI
by the side of the road-when Their
was a road--to cook our supper, an
cook it with Just as little fire as
.rould manage with. because the coun
Try was full Of Indians and we wer
sfsaid to let them see our smoke. Aft