Monday, December 11, 2017

PHIL T. COWEN: MY FAMILY INVENTED THE INTERNET...

By Juan Montoya
When Zachary Taylor arrived in the area around Brownsville on March 1846, Ethan Allen Hitchcock, his commandant of the U.S. Army garrison at Corpus Christi, Texas, he describes the place as a desolate sparsely cultivated land of mesquite, thorns and chaparral.

The only houses the soldiers saw as they marched across the llano were a handful of humble jacales where campesinos eked out a living working the land. The land directly across from Matamoros was communal lands, or "ejidos."

Image result for william neale, brownsvilleImage result for phil cowenNowhere did they see a Southern Colonial-style house where English immigrant William Neale and his family supposedly lived. In fact, the largest ranch owners lived in a handful of ranchos on the immense land-grant tracts of the Espiritu Santo land grant.

Yet, local attorney and Brownsville Independent School District trustee Phil T. Cowen is quoted by reporter Gary Long in Monday's newspaper saying that his ancestor (great-great grandfather) Neale "who from 1835 to 1838 built the (house)" which now sits abandoned and deteriorating on the corner of the Southmost College campus right next to the U.S. Mexico border fence. The house originally stood at East 14th and Washington streets."

It's actually not right next to the border. There is a levee and a golf course between the house and the river, but hey who's nitpicking?

However, the mention of the house being built between 1835 and 1838 raised some eyebrows in the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley History Dept. If you think about it, Texas didn't come into existence as a republic until 1836 and was annexed into the United States in 1845.

It's difficult to How Neale could have taken possession of the land to build it in those years, and even more questionable, how it could have been built originally at the corner of Washington and 14th streets is even more problematic.

You see, the original Brownsville town site was not incorporated until 1850, but the city itself was laid out in December 1848. Before that there was no Washington or 14th streets. Unless the Cowens were seers and could see into the future that the spot on the town site where the Spanish Colonial style pad would be 15 or 17 years later, there's no historical basis for that claim.

And if it is true that the house was built between 1835 to 1838, maybe he should convey that fact to the Texas Historical Commission who approved the placement of a plaque (graphic above) saying that the Neale House circa 1850...

But, hey, what does William Neal say about the town in Century of Conflict: "Except for a lumber building erected on the corner of what is Levee and 11th Street, owned by Slinger and the store, Bandarita, balance of the ridge was covered with willow and mesquite trees with undergrowth of prickly pear and brush. With the exception of a small cow pem situated near where the F. Yturria home now stands, the rest is occupied only by snakes, centipedes, lizards and horned frogs."
Image result for john rip ford
Cowen also lauds another of his ancestors, his other great great grandfather John Rip Ford, for starting the Texas Rangers, thrashing the yankees at Palmito Hill in what is hailed as the last battle of the Civil War even though the Rebel surrender had happened more than a month earlier.

Cowen, however, credits his ancestor with signing a truce six months later with two Union generals "that finally ended the war...."

So how many times can a war end?

And even though historians say that over time Ford came to admire Juan Cortina, the original heir to the Espiritu Santo Grant who rose in rebellion against the abusive, land-hungry newcomers, he says that after the Civil War he was commissioned a general by the Mexican government so that he could hunt and kill Cortina.

This was after 1865 and Ford apparently was not such a successful general/bounty hunter because Cortina died in his sleep in Mexico City in 1894 almost 30 years later.

However, Cowen is proud of his family's intellectual bent. He told Long that:

"All of them gave this personal energy and industry to accomplish things. All of them are lifelong learners , they just grow without limit intellectually," crediting the trait, perhaps, to the 19th Century generations."

Well, Phil, there's always room for improvement isn't there?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why is it that none of his famous family is named "Cowen". Obviously someone didn't marry well and soon the local area was full of Cowens.....but that name isn't familiar in the real history books.

Anonymous said...

Who cares
But pobre vato
His grandma spun him some tales
And he took them and ran with them
Pobrecito!

Anonymous said...

It should be noted that indeed Ford and Slaughter met with Gen Wallace and discussed an end to hostilities in this area. There was an informal agreement, that was rejected by General Walker, the commander of the Texas Department of the Confederate Army. In fact he was enraged that Ford and Slaughter would communicate with the enemy and has harsh words for them.

Apparently Wallace did not inform the Federal Troops at Brazos Island of the agreement. The Federal Commander undertook to march on Brownsville, after the surrender of Lee. This resulted in the forces under Ford, engaging them at Palmetto Hill. So there was no truce in effect negotiated by Ford, Slaughter and Wallace. To say other wise is to deny the facts.

The war was not over when Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia. It was some days later when Hood surrendered the Army of Tennessee and even then Jeff Davis was avoiding capture hoping to restart the Confederate cause. Ford was aware of Lee's surrender, but he was not going to abandon his duty, until informed by the Department of Texas to lay down arms.The result was the Battle of Palmetto Hill. Ford and Slaughter has a confrontation about this very item.

In short, the Cowen story is not a fact based narrative. John S. Ford was an extremely significant person in Texas history, but he did not invent the Texas Rangers nor negotiate an effective true here on the border. Texas Ranger history goes back way before J.S. Ford set foot in Texas.

Anonymous said...

Paul has recounted his ancestors' historical data as he was told as he grew up at 5-6th Adams Street with about 20 siblings and a mother who taught school at Central Middle School and his father who was once-upon-a-type lawyer. The Cowen family worked their butts off to get out of the hole and most of them if not all became prominent and productive citizens of the town.
Just like Stillman told his story the way he wanted it, so did Cowen's ancestors, so why make fun of him. At least he has proof of who his father and grandparents were.

Anonymous said...

regular legend in his own mind. pinche pendejo typical gringo.

Anonymous said...

If it wasn't for the mexicans helping their families the gringos wouldn't have stood much of a chance at surviving.For every story of a gringo succeeding there is a story of the mexican helping them you all didnt do it alone especially back then.

Anonymous said...

Just look what happened to the Tejanos(Mexicans) that helped austin and houston battle santa anna. They got thrown in jailed.

Anonymous said...

"Just look what happened to the Tejanos(Mexicans) that helped austin and houston battle santa anna. They got thrown in jailed." and their ancestors are apparently still unable to obtain an education.

Anonymous said...

The Cowen family is still racist. They marry self-hating Mexicans and think everything is fine.

Anonymous said...

A cracker face wrote that comment and a cracker face responded. Moron

Anonymous said...

There are two things I can't stand. Ignorant Mexican bashing and ignorant Gringo bashing. Talk about facts. Talk about accomplishments and mistakes. Talk about good and evil. There are plenty of accomplishments, mistakes, good and evil among the two major ethnic groups that gave us our home.

Anonymous said...

Well said, blogger from 2:25 PM. That is why continuing education is so important for some of us were never taught this when we went to school. We must take it upon ourselves to become knowledgeable about our own history - both sides of the story. They make interesting
reading.

KBRO said...

William Neale lived north of Brownsville, tried to start his own city thereabouts and had his house was burned down and son Peter killed (thanks to your hero Juan Cortinas) BEFORE he built home in Brownsville proper. Some Mexicans back then thought Neale invented the wheel since they had never seen wagon wheels before but instead, tree trunk slices used for wheels. No kidding - see Twin Cities on the Border page 13

Anonymous said...

Cómo te gusta besarle el culo a los gringos.

rita