No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Torrey's Frontier Post No. 2: A Business History
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2012
Abstract
One of thousands of business enterprises which dotted the frontiers of nineteenth-century North America, Torrey's post and its history illustrate the economic and political roles of frontier businessmen and their need for constant adaptations to an unstable environment.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1963
References
1 Muckleroy, Anna, “The Indian Policy of the Republic of Texas,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, vol. XXVI (October, 1922), p. 199 Google Scholar.
2 Gammel, H. P. N. (ed.), Laws of Texas (10 vols., Austin, 1898), vol. II, pp. 842–15Google Scholar. Only two posts were placed in operation. One belonged to Torrey and Brothers and the other to Mathias Travis. Torrey's post was located 100 miles south of Comanche Peak.
3 Williams, Amelia W. and Barker, Eugene C. (eds.), The Writings of Sam Houston, 1813–1863 (8 vols., Austin, 1938–1943), vol. III, p. 349 Google Scholar.
4 Webb, Walter P. and Carroll, H. Bailey (eds.), The Handbook of Texas (2 vols., Austin, 1952), vol. II, p. 790 Google Scholar.
5 Houston Telegraph, January 12, 1842.
6 Strecker, John K., Chronicles of George Barnard (Waco, 1928), p. 24 Google Scholar.
7 Ibid. Barnard and Thomas Torrey had both participated in the ill-fated Texan Santa Fe Expedition in 1841. After the survivors of that expedition were returned by their Mexican captors in the fall of 1842, Barnard invested in Torrey and Brothers and became an employee of the firm.
8 The post was actually on Trading House Creek, a branch of the Tehuacana.
9 Brown, John H., Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas (Austin, 189?), p. 94 Google Scholar; Houston Telegraph, October 25, 1843. Cf. Conger, Roger N., Highlights of Waco History (Waco, 1945), p. 25 Google Scholar.
10 Williams, and Barker, (eds.), Writings of Sam Houston, vol. III, pp. 428–29Google Scholar.
11 Western, Thomas G. to Torrey and Brothers, March 23, 1844, Indian Papers (Archives, Texas State Library)Google Scholar.
12 Houston Telegraph, November 29, 1843.
13 Williams, and Barker, (eds.), Writings of Sam Houston, vol. III, pp. 457–58Google Scholar.
14 Ibid., p. 496.
15 Ibid., p. 512.
16 Torrey and Brothers to Western, May 16, 1845, Indian Papers.
17 Strecker, Barnard, p. 5.
18 Hogan, William R., The Texas Republic: A Social and Economic History (Norman, 1946), pp. 55, 60 Google Scholar.
19 Account with Wm. N. P. Marlin, June 22, 1846, Papers of George Barnard (Texas Collection, Baylor University Library); Waco Tribune-Herald, October 30, 1949; Conger, Waco, p. 25.
20 Winfrey, Dorman H. (ed.), Texas Indian Papers, 1844–1845 (Austin, 1960), p. 10 Google Scholar.
21 Ibid., pp. 18–19.
22 Minutes of the Council at Tehuacana Creek, May 15, 1844 and Account of Indian Bureau with Torrey and Brothers, May 17, 1844, Indian Papers.
23 Ibid.
24 Western to Torrey and Brothers, August 13, 1845, Indian Papers.
25 Winfrey (ed.), Indian Papers, pp. 99, 122–24. of this amount $538.00 was paid in exchequer notes but only $484.20 was credited, since the value of these notes was 90 cents on the dollar. By July, 1842, exchequer notes had depreciated to 30 cents on the dollar, but they increased in value as annexation neared.
26 Ibid., pp. 133–42.
27 Ibid., pp. 221–22.
28 Ibid., p. 169.
29 Account with Watson, Connor, and Company, November 25, 1844, Papers of George Barnard. This company was evidently not considered competition because of its close relations with the Torreys.
30 Account with Little Man, July 30, 1847, Papers of George Barnard.
31 Winfrey (ed.), Indian Papers, p. 251. In the inventory of 1845 one barrel of “Pelonies” was listed. Pelones or Pilones, in current usage, are small gifts given to customers when they pay their bills or make a large purchase. This barrel could have been a barrel filled with sweets which were distributed to customers since pilón, in Spanish, means a lump of sugar.
32 Houston Telegraph, January 28, 1846.
33 Western to J. F. Torrey, January 7, 1845, Indian Papers.
34 Winfrey (ed.), Indian Papers, pp. 205, 206, 225, 226.
35 Ibid., pp. 77, 78, 83, 84, 87, 88. In July, 1844, however, some defensive precautions were prompted by rumors of an attack being planned by 200 Waco, Tawakoni, and Tawehash. The main force was to be aimed at the post and smaller groups were to attack neighboring settlements. The trading post was able to arm only three men but they were joined by eleven more riflemen from Fort Milam at the Falls of the Brazos. Thomas G. Western, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and John Marlin, a local resident also went to the Delaware tribe to obtain more defenders for the trading house. The attack did not materialize but Torrey's need for additional protection had been revealed and arrangements were made to transport a piece of artillery to the post.
36 Ibid., pp. 242–49, 295, 301, 302, 419–21.
37 J. P. Henderson to Pierce M. Butler, February 25, 1846, Governors' Letters (Archives, Texas State Library).
38 M. G. Lewis and Butler to Wm. Medill, April 1, 1846, Federal Indian Papers, Letters Received (Photostats in Archives, University of Texas Library).
39 Roemer, Ferdinand von, Texas, tr. by Mueller, Oswald (San Antonio, 1935), p. 195 Google Scholar.
40 Strecker, Barnard, p. 21.
41 Account with Grant and Barton, July 7, 1851, Papers of George Barnard.
42 Waco Tribune-Herald, October 30, 1949; von Roemer, Texas, p. 193.
43 J. F. Torrey to Medill, November 1, 1846, Federal Indian Papers.
44 Ibid., Nov. 28, 1846.
45 Medill to J. F. Torrey, December 15, 1846, Torrey and Brothers to Houston, January 9, 1847, and J. F. Torrey to Houston, January 14, 1847, Federal Indian Papers.
46 Neighbors to Medill, September 24, 1847, Federal Indian Papers.
47 Houston to Marcy, December 23, 1845, Federal Indian Papers; House Exec. Docs., 30 Cong., 1 Sess., No. 8, p. 762.
48 House Exec. Docs., 30 Cong., 1 Sess., No. 8, p. 899; Senate Reports, 30 Cong., 1 Sess., No. 171, p. 171.
49 A. C. Horton to Th. S. Fauntleroy, July 31, 1846, Governors' Letters.
50 Account with M. T. Johnson, February 29, 1848, Papers of George Barnard.
51 Claims Unpaid, August 8, 1848, Papers of George Barnard.
52 Strecker, Barnard, p. 19.
53 Senate Reports, 30 Cong., 1 Sess., No. 171, pp. 170–71; M. T. Johnson to Mr. Spencer, January 14, 1847, Federal Indian Papers.
54 Waco Tribune-Herald, October 30, 1949.
55 Clarksville Northern Standard, December 28, 1849.
56 Inventory, January 1, 1851, Papers of George Barnard.
57 J. H. Rollins to Wm. Medill, September 30, 1850, Federal Indian Papers.
58 Waco Tribune-Herald, October 30, 1949.