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J.J. Giddings – Frontier Texas Surveyor
Here is a funny bit of a letter I ran across today, a letter written from Brenham, Texas in July of 1846 by John James Giddings (b.1821, d.1861) a Pennsylvanian who had come to Texas with his brothers seeking their fortunes. Mr. Giddings was the surveyor whose work in 1847 laid out thousands of sections in the part of the territory of the Comanche Indians known as Fisher & Miller’s Colony at the Western edge of Central Texas.
J.J. Giddings wrote:
>The beauty of the scenery and in all natural advantages the country cannot be excelled or too highly extolled. But it is a new country still encumbered with a vexatious war and of coure subject to t great many inconveniences scarcely thought of in an old settled country. Among which are poor roads, poor bridges, poor buildings. Of this I may not be a competent judge as my travels have been mostly on the frontier where from the unsettled state of affairs the people have not made any permanent improvements not knowing that they could be benefited by them.
>But this is an old settled country and contains some very fine towns and dewllings. The town of Brenham was laid out for the county site nearly two years ago and now contains a greater population than Bethany [Pennsylvania}. Some fine buildings and is very much of a business town and rapidly improving.
>The society I know but little about as I seldom mingle in it. Gambling and drinking is very common and does not indicate a very good state of society. It is a settled maxim that dissipation followd war and the society here is some thing similar to what it was in the U.S. soon after the revolution.
>Among the habits that appear disgusting to me is the almost universal custom of the ladies chewing snuff and drinking strong coffee. Tea is but little used although it grows in the country to great perfection and will some day be one of the staple productions. I have stated some of the advantages and disadvantages of this country without deciding between them. The advantages this country has over the North are natural and permanent.
Mr. Giddings didn’t settle in East Texas that I’m aware of. :>
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18 Replies
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Sounds like he traveled trough Arkansas on his way to Texas;-)
If he could make the reverse trip…he would find it the same…LOL
DDSM
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Kent
You’re not funny at all.
🙂
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Murdered by Indians
> You’re not funny at all. 🙂
If if makes you feel any better, J.J. Giddings was killed by Indians in Arizona in 1861. :>
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Murdered by Indians
Perhaps East would have been better than West, eh?
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Surveying the West
> Perhaps East would have been better than West, eh?
Yes, I suppose if he’d wanted to go into the snuff business. :> He was a surveyor, though.
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Surveying the West,
Kent,
I’m thinking the snuff business would probably have served him better than being a *beta* tester for chert clad sticks. Wouldn’t you agree?
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Surveying the West
Y’all fight over East and West…
I just wonder if the old man carried an ‘Arkansas Toothpick’ he had made in Washington Arkansas. We know Jim Bowie carried a knife made by blacksmith James Black…
DDSM
(Y’all have a safe 4th July…don’t cut yerself…that knife is sharp) -
Surveying the West
Snuff was a favorite of both my grandmothers and therein the habit ended amongst the women of my family.
Photos record them, their mothers and aunts settled in rocking chair aside spittoon on the porch of unpainted farmhouses at sites from the Northeast, the Panhandle and Central parts of Texas.
It appears that Giddings saw the beauty surrounding the rugged territory of 1846 Texas and could not understand the rugged women that lived here.
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Surveying the West
One reason why Giddings couldn’t just stay in East Texas was that he was ambitious. For example, in January of 1847 he wrote regarding his survey for Fisher & Miller’s Colony:
>I have just contracted with the German colony to do twenty thousand dollars worth of surveying this year
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Surveying the West,
> I’m thinking the snuff business would probably have served him better than being a *beta* tester for chert clad sticks. Wouldn’t you agree?
Well, here’s what Giddings wrote in April, 1847 while engaged in the Fisher & Miller Colony surveys:
>I am now engaged in a very heavy contract of surveying which will engross my attention […] I have now 40 men in employ and run 6 compasses. My expenses are great but profit much greater. I think I shall do well at the contract and intend to give it my best attentions.
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Surveying the West,
Kent: yes, but what was he doing in 1861, besides forgetting to duck, that is. 🙂
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Hey, there just wasn’t that much certainty
>yes, but what was he doing in 1861, besides forgetting to duck, that is. 🙂
Well, actually, I’d be interested to know what Giddings was doing in Arizona in 1861. Naturally, life in East Texas wasn’t exactly free of peril, I don’t imagine.
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Six Compasses
>I have now 40 men in employ and run 6 compasses.
That statement by Giddings explains quite a bit about his work in the area of my recent interest. Just looking at the names of the chain carriers on field notes of surveys made on the same day led me to conclude that several parties may have been in the field at one time. Likewise, it appears that some systematic differences in North direction may have been associated with a specific party’s work. The six compasses in the field pretty much confirms that speculation.
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Six Compasses
Kent,
Sorry to get the train running down a sidetrack. Forty employees and six compasses is quite impressive for the times. Tell me, do you think Giddings was actually in responsible charge of all the work that was performed? That’s a lot to oversee, I’d imagine.
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Six Compasses
> Tell me, do you think Giddings was actually in responsible charge of all the work that was performed?
Well, the thing that simply amazes me about Giddings work in District 3 of Fisher & Miller’s Colony in the summer of 1847 is how much was actually run on the ground. Giddings apparently contracted with Fisher & Miller himself, and signed the field notes as Deputy Surveyor of Bexar Land District, so both his contract and his bond were on the line. I’m trying to figure out who the other surveyors he hired to work on the survey were, but I’d definitely say that Giddings was responsible for it.
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One more detail
One other interesting detail is that of the preparation of the field notes from the Giddings survey for Fisher & Miller. I haven’t looked carefully at the handwriting on the field notes, but had noticed that some chain carrier’s names were spelled differently from set to set. Evidently several people were at work preparing the field notes that eventually got filed. As J.J. Giddings wrote in October, 1847 after the field work was complete:
>My time will be pretty much employed at this place in closing up my summer surveying. George and 2 other young men are writing for me and will probably continue some time as I have as yet but 1400 pages written of 5000 I have to write. The contract I spoke of with the German Emigration Company was at $20.00 per section for all I could do by the first of Sept. At that rate I have surveyed to the amt of $30,000 or upwards.
Giddings filed field notes for half and quarter sections as well as full sections. That is why the number of pages is greater than the 1500 sections that his fee calculation would indicate that it ought to be.
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Surveying the West
Kent – I’m curious to know how you learned of John James Giddings’ writings. Do you have copies?
J.J. Giddings is my wife’s ggg-Grandfather. He was killed in 1861 near Steins Pass, Arizona, while working a stagecoach run – Santa Fe to San Diego. He and his brother George Giddings ran the stagecoach line. His story can be found through internet searches.
Would love to hear from you.
Thanks.
Brett Offutt
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Surveying the West
Bump. A good thread.
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