THE INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES
ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM
INTERVIEW WITH: Loisteen Glimp Kearney
PLACE: Menard, Texas
INTERVIEWER: Mayon Neel
DATE: November 16, 1986
Neel: I am going to introduce Loisteen Glimp Kearney now,
who also had a grandfather or great grandfather •••
Kearney: I believe it goes back even to great great
N: and we are certainly glad to have her. She also lives
in Menard County and so we consider this.
Kearney: As this relates to Menard County I believe my
grandfather came to Menard County, maybe in the '20s as a
sheep breeder and brought lots of bucks (sheep) to
this country. Carloadfuls at a time and peddled out to the
local ranchers and then his son came in the late 1920s,
Thomas Glimp, Jr, and lived in Menard County from 1924 or
1925 until he passed away in 1952 I believe.
Tom had a stockmans' supply business here for many
years and drenched many sheep in this country. He was also
very active in numerous community affairs. He was one of the
first trustees to the Murchison Boys' Club barn and was also
very instrumental in doing research and development of the
pecans in Menard County. At one time he told us that he had
been carefully spraying and watching for the insects in the
KEARNEY 2
K: pecans in one particular orchard in this Menard County
and had increased the production in the pecans seven
consecutive years in a row.
He died very suddenly from a heart attack,! believe,in
front of Luckenbaugh Hardware in 1962. He had been rather
careless with the insecticides and we have always felt that
this was possibly the cause of his death; that he did not
follow the labels as he should have.
Voice: I think that's what killed Mrs. Paul Glimp , don't
you.
K: Well, I can't help •••
Voice: In our church and we all thought that.
K: Well, you know even his office supplies were moved to
our ranch down in Brennan County after he passed away and
they smelled so of DDT for years after he was gone.
This particular paper that I have then would be Tom
Glimp's great great grandfather, Zadock Woods* (*see page
932 Handbook of Texas) and h i s family. This particular
paper was presented to the Edwards Plateau Historical
Society Meeting in Oc tober 1986, by Theresa Glimp Black of
Goldthwaite, Texas, so I will just hurriedly read it. "To
be a great great great granddaughter is to enjoy something
about the right strategic distance away. Whatever
of character there may have been, the generations have
_______ down to negative importance. On the other hand, one
may still bask in the light of his ancestors' achievements
and claim some spec i al merit.
What is said he re about the Woods family had its
counterpart in scores of other families. Men and women
KEARNEY 3
K: whose courage gave basic strengths to the life and
experience of our state. Of course the Trimble family ,
recorded just before this, is so closely entwined with the
history of the Woods. It was quite a surprise to our family
then t o find our daughter marrying the Trimble boy and that
their grandfathers died in prison together. Neither one of
them knew this until after they were married.
So far as documented history goes of the Woods family
along with the others of Stephen F . Austin's fi rst three
hundred families is a brief mention in the Austin papers or
in the files of the land office covering the period of the
original Spanish grants or in the memoirs of a certain few
of the early settlers.
Zadock Woods was born September 18, 1762, in
Brookfield , Massachusetts. Early accounts connect him also
with Vermont, Pennsylvania , and South Carolina. It may be
that they left Vermont some years earlier than 1800, spent
some time in Pennsylvania, and went to South Carolina from
which place they came on to Missouri. It is certain that in
1802 Zadock Woods and Joseph Cottle had adjoining Spanish
grants in Missouri, two of the oldest grants made in that
section. Joseph Cottle is the ancestor of George Cottle who
died in the Alamo. Abou t this time, Zadock Woods married
Minerva Cottle, a school teacher from Woodstock, Vermont.
For their dwellings, they erected a fort as protection
against the Indians. Other families , including Daniel Boone
from Kentucky and Tennessee, joined them in this remote spot
KEARNEY 4
K: in 1800. In 1802, Joshua Robbins came to the
settlement and opened a little store on the land line
between Zadock Woods and Joseph Cottle. He named the place
Troy after his home town in New York State and so began what
is now the city of Troy, Missouri.
The Woods fort was to become something of a stronghold
in that section of the frontier. To the fort, using it as
an operation base against the Indians, came Lieutenant
Zachary Taylor , later to become General Zachary Taylor, and
still later the president of the United States. A few years
later, during the war of 1812 with England , the fort was
doubly used as England stirred up the Indians.
Zadock, however, did not remain in Missouri to fight
Indians but joined the army to help repel the British and
the end of the war found him fighting in New Orleans under
another future president, General Andrew Jackson. Back in
Missouri, he seemed to have put all of his available
substance into a venture of lead mining along with the
Austins and others. The venture was to end in financial
collapse, so even my ancestors were poor business people.
As a family man, he was more successful. A census of
the state of Missouri in 1818 listed Zadock Woods as the
head of the family of seven, Minerva, Ardelia, Norman,
Montravilla, Leander, and Henry Gonsalvo. In the year 1820
Zadock Woods was near 60 years of age. He had traveled the
country from Massachusetts and Vermont to the mouth of the
Mississippi River and from the Carolinas west to the end of
the trail. He had extended the western frontiers in his
country and had defended it from Indian
KEARNEY 5
K: attack. He had risked his substance in developing the
natural resources, and had risked a life in helping to repel
farm invasion. Along the way he had met, known and had
shared both fortune and misfortune with men like Daniel
Boone, Zachary Taylor, Andrew Jackson, and the Austins and
others whose tall shadows fell across the face of the land.
His family was growing up. It was time for Zadock to
settle down, but changes were taking place. Since he
arrived as a colonist in Missouri, the country had been
ceded back to France, then purchased by the United States.
In 1818 the state was partially laid out in counties. The
lead mining business was faltering and people were moving
in. Furthermore, a new trail was opening up and it led in
the right direction--the Southwest. It crossed the Missouri
River, then down the Mississippi, girded the Ozarks, and all
but lost itself down in the borderline of the Louisiana
Purchase, then it crossed a little river known as the
Sabine, struggling through the piney woods to prairies and
thence advanced miles upon miles across open virgin and
unsettled soils, Texas, San Antonio, Mexico.
With the first movement of Austin's colonies, the
Highsmiths and Turners, Caudells, and the Woods and other of
their kind took that trail, the vanguard of the old three
hundred. Some of the men, including Zadock Woods, made a
preliminary excursion to spy out the land but the fall of
1824 found them loading for the long move.
In making his appeal to Mexico for land for his
colonies, Austin was required to give rather strict
KEARNEY 6
K: credentials concerning these applicants and here was
the one for Zadock Woods by a John Rutland, dated October
23, 1824. "Dear Sir: Mr. Zadock Woods, the bearer of this,
returned last winter from the province of Texas which place
he had visited for the purpose of learning whether he would
improve his situation by moving thither. He has satisfied
himself on that head and is now starting back with all of
his family. It is customary for all those who value a good
name to produce testimonials of character from those of
their fellow citizens whose standing in society is
conspicuous. Mr. Woods is desirous of obtaining from you a
few lines to Mr. Austin in Texas, stating your knowledge of
his character, etc. And also, a letter from Major Christie
and William c. Carr. As to my knowledge of Mr. Wood, I can
say that during an acquaintance of five years I have ever
found him scrupulously just and honorable in all his
dealings and I can assure you that his departure from this
place is sincerely regretted by all of his neighbors. He is
a man with industrious habits of enterprise but has lost a
valuable estate in endeavoring to benefit the country and
himself by exploring its produce. If you can give Mr. Wood
a recommendation and enable him to produce from each of the
gentlemen I have named you will serve a worthy man and
confer particular favor on John Rutland." This was addressed
to His Excellency Alexander McNair, Governor of Missouri.
About Christmas time in 1824 these colonists with their
families crossed into Texas and journeyed westward towards
KEARNEY 7
K: the Austin grant lying between the Brazos and Colorado
Rivers and south of the Old San Antonio Road. Volume 2 of
Austin's Original Titles indicates that after long delay
Zadock Woods and each of his four sons, Norman, Montravillo,
Leander, and Henry Gonsalvo, received grants of land in the
amount and according to the terms of colonization.
This paper doesn't give a story but my daddy always
told the story that one of Austin's terms was that they had
to be a married couple in order to get the grant of a
particular amount of land and that his grandmother always
told the story about how it felt to see her mother and daddy
married. They rounded them all up and married each of the
couples in a mass ceremony in order to make sure that they
were married. But that wasn't in this story.
It says here Zadock and his sons,when they came into
Texas,built another fort after the pattern of the one they
had left in Missouri. The exact location is a few miles
above LaGrange on the Austin Highway near the little town of
West Point. A state marker carries this inscription- "The
site of the Woods fort used by the colonists of this
vicinity as a protection against Indians' attacks from 1828
to 1842. Fortified residence of Zadock Woods, veteran of
the War of 1812, and the oldest man killed in the Dawson
Massacre on September 18, 1842."
The next few years must have been a replica of the
first years in the Missouri fort, as there were innumerable
Indian raids and again and again the community was forting
KEARNEY 8
K: up in the old log stockade and the men were out on the
trail of the red man.
Colonel John H. Moore, was the leader against most of
these raids made against the foe. History records only one
serious defeat suffered by him. The defeat on the San Saba
River in which his company of men lost their horses and
equipment; everything but their guns and spurs. Gonsalvo
Wood, a teenage boy, was among this company and with the
other men walked the 150 miles back to the old fort.
Voice: That must have been close to somewhere up here,
cause Austin is 150 miles from here.
K: Where does the San Saba River end? This bothered me, I
didn't really know ••• Gon, as he was called, lived to be
something of an old bachelor and became the butt of many of
the neighborhood jokes because of his timidity among the
girls. More than one of the prisoners from the
LaGrange County ( END OF TAPE I, SIDE 1 - 45 MINUTES )
SIDE 2
Several of the prisoners deputized Gon to round up and kiss
all of the pretty girls for them. On the other hand,
Montravillo, the second of Zadock's sons, at the age of 18,
had eloped with Isabella Eliguam, a neighborhood girl of
Spanish-French blood, stealing her out of the back window
while her father guarded the front door. Due to the absence
of clergy or other proper authorities, they lived together
for a time under some form of contract marriage which Austin
KEARNEY 9
K: had introduced into the colonies as an emergency
measure, or without the benefit of marriage vows at all.
More likely, it was the latter , since the contract marriage
called for the written consent of the parents. Neither of
the fathers concerned would stand for this and an agreement
was arranged which brought peace to all concerned. Suffice
it to say that after a stormy beginning in which the two
children resolved several times to separate forever , but in
each instance were sent back under stern parental authority
they finally settled down, reared a family of 11 children,
lived to a good old age, and were both buried in the old
Shiloh or Wood Cemetery a few miles north of Yorktown in
DeWitt County.
Montavello lacked the material spirit of the Woods'
men; never went to war . His desire was to dwell in peace at
home with his children, his g un , and his hounds.
Family traditi on says that Norman Woods, now this would
be the great grandfather of Tom Glimp who originally came to
Menard County and is my great-great grandfather and is the
great-great grandfather of the Theresa Black that's giving
this paper. The oldest of Zadock's boys remained in
Missouri to attend school a couple of years after the family
came to Texas. His application for the g rant of land says
that he came in 1826 while the others indicate 1824 at the
time of their arrival, and certain it is that his
handwriting, spelling , and his grammatical construction of
his letters show superior ability to that of the other
members of the family. Norman was married to Jane Boyd
KEARNEY 10
K: Wells of Bastrop.
The Wells had moved from Tennessee to Troy, Missouri,
where, for a time, they lived neighbors to the Woods. Here
Jane was born on December 29, 1809. About 1816 the Wells
family moved to Alabama and in the late '20s joined their
old neighbor again in Texas. Jane had eight brothers and
sisters.
Meanwhile, the cloud of trouble with Mexico was
gathering; that Mexico and her Anglo colonies would
eventually clash was all but inevitable. Difference in
racial characteristics, background, language, religion,
temperament, and long distance to the seat of the Mexican
government, and kinship with the expanding government of the
United States all served to weaken whatever ties had been
established.
That Mexico was shortly suspicious and fearful of the
men that she had allowed within her borders is a matter of
history. That she had good grounds for her fears is equally
apparent. That she soon began to qualify and hedge on the
agreements made with her colonies is also a matter of
record. Accepted as a breach of faith, as a violation of
the liberties that they had dared so much to achieve, the
colonies could do no less than plead, then protest, and
eventually claim in war what they had been promised in
peace.
It was not always easy for the colonists to see that
promises made by one party temporarily in power could not
always be kept by the other . Austin, more than any other
leaders, sought to keep faith with Mexico.
KEARNEY 11
K: Among the first to fall in that series of bloody
clashes that made up the war with Mexico was Leander Woods,
21 year old son of Zadock and Minerva. In 1832, trouble had
broken out in _ and more was brewing in Velasco. And
to Velasco,went Captain Elliott Buckner and his company of
men. It was only a brush as battles go but it cost the
lives of three, a Mexican boy, Jose, Andrew Castleman, and
Leander Woods.
Event followed hard on event, the Alamo, Goliad, San
Jacinto . The Wood men finally joined in the Runaway Scrape.
With their men in the army, women and children and the aged,
burying or otherwise concealing what they could not carry,
took to the road going east. General Houston , trying to
keep between them and the Mexican army, urged them on as he
held back before Santa Anna . His scorched earth policy
burned houses, stores, and ferries behind him.
It was a time of incredible confusion. Jane, Norman's
wife, had a three-year-old daughter , Ardelia, this was our
great-great grandmother , great grandmother , and s he had twin
babies, less than two years old. In a two-wheel cart aided
by an old couple known only as Uncle and Aunt Spear , and
their adopted daughter , they made their way. One of the
twins and an infant daughter yet unborn were to die in the
Brazos bottom before the ordeal was over . In the middle of
the flight word came to Jane that Norman had been killed.
This was her hus band. But a few nights later she heard a
whistle keening in the dista nce. It died away and as she
sat listening intently she heard Norman speak to his horse
as he neared camp.
KEARNEY 12
K: Imagine what that poor woman was going through. Little
babies .•. In all of her flight and back home again, Jane
carried an old skillet which served as a general utility
vessel around the campfire. This old skillet is now in the
Alamo among other relics of that period. There is no
documented proof that the Woods men were in the battle of
San Jacinto which ended the flight of the colonists, though
family tradition has them there. Gon Woods used to describe
the battle scenes at the bayou and Zadock Woods claimed to
have been with Houston at San Jacinto, though he might have
referred to the campaign rather than the immediate battle.
The Woods men, like many others of the day, did not
like Houston. They resented his scorched earth policy.
They resented his retreat which brought on the Runaway
Scrape . They didn't like it because he would not let them
fight it out with Santa Anna at Gonzales , but on the other
hand these men were not easily led. Not very submissive to
military rule. They were not professional soldiers and for
the most part had been trained by hard border experience to
act independently and quickly in emergencies. They were
experienced in the rough and tumble of border warfare and
were not patient with the formal rules of military
maneuvering. In following up Indian attacks they frequently
elected their leader as they rode and had no scruples about
taking him to task if they disagreed with his plans.
Norman Woods, rather than the other members of the
family , gave serious thought to the overhead political and
civil affairs of th young republic. Texas, having won her
KEARNEY 13
K: liberty at San Jacinto, following the Declaration of
Independence the preceding March , he was frequently asked to
Capitol City , though we know of no official capacity in
which he ever served.
It was in September 1842 that Mexico made another
military maneuver that regained control of Texas. General
Adrian Wall , in a surprise move , captured San Antonio and
took into custody , along with the others, the district judge
and the entire body of the district court. As fast as
runners could go out of the clan, the clans were summoned.
The response was electric . God save them from another
runaway scrape. Strike the enemy quickly. Strike him hard
and as far away from home as possible. In their eagerness
they lacked coordination.
The general plan was to join Caldwell east of San
Antonio as he moved in from Gonzales. To camp
they rode , gathering recruits as they went , not always
delaying even for members of their own community who were
not immediately ready to ride. On September 16, Dawson left
LaGrange with a dozen or 15 men, others joining in from time
to time . Somewhere near the present town of Muldoon , the
Woods clan and some near neighbors of theirs joined in ,
coming from the Woods fort.
Of the Woods family, five were present. They were
Zadock , his sons Norman and Gon , and two grandsons . Now it
is in this group , two I guess of the 15 men, this William
and Edward Trimble were among those that Mr. Trimble
r e ferred to earlier. Zadock Woods was 80 years old at this
KEARNEY 14
K: time. When the summons came to the Woods fort, the
Woods boys immediately hid Zadock's horse and made emphatic
declarations that the old man was not to undertake the ride
to San Antonio. They should have known better. They soon
learned, if indeed they had forgotten, who was the head of
the clan. He would ride with them or he would walk without
them. He told the boys "I fought with Andrew Jackson at New
Orleans and with old Sam Houston at San Jacinto, and I must
give the enemy one more crack at old Zack" and so he rode
with his own more than 100 miles in l ess than 48 hours and
joined with them in his last battle.
When the enemy was sighted, there was some brief
question about the wisdom of going in to battle. When
Dawson asked the opinion of his company, so the story goes,
Zadock spoke up. "We have come a long way to meet the
Mexicans and I do not intend to return without meeting them.
I had rather die than to retreat." And so without waiting
for Caldwell or other reinforcements,the battle joined.
Only 53 in number, their horses ridden down, what chance
they had of victory , they might have had, vanished utterly
with the arrival of 250 additional Mexican troops with two
cannons. It was the cannons they could not cope with.
To stop the slaught er , Dawson undertook to surrender
but his men were slow to cease firing . Some of them,
remembering the fate of the men at the Alamo and at Go liad ,
did not intend to surrender. When the Texans continued to
fire, the Mexicans began again and the seesaw quickly
developed into rele ntlessness and bloody strife.
KEARNEY 15
K: Twenty-five were killed, 15 more or less badly wounded,
but taken prisoners, and two or perhaps three escaped.
Early in the battle Norman was badly wounded. Old
Zadock bent over him to ease his position and was shot and
fell dead at Norman's feet. Norman and Gon talked
hurriedly. Gon insisted that they fight it out and die
together but the decisive word was Norman's urgent plea that
Gon escape if he could and take care of his, Norman's, wife
and children.
The battle had, by this time, spread over a large area
and Gon tried to make his way to safety. He was pursued by
two mounted Mexicans. As the leading Mexican overtook Gon
he charged on him, lowering his spear to run through him.
Instead of dodging, Gon made a quick move towards the horse,
causing him to shy and thus unbalance the rider. Seizing
the spear, Gon jerked the unbalanced rider off of his horse,
out of the saddle, and killed him with his own spear. Gon
made good his escape, hiding in the grass, traveling by
night, concealing himself by day, until he was picked up by
friends a day or two later.
One of the Wood grandsons died with his grandfather
Zadock and Norman and the other grandson were badly wounded,
began the long journey under Mexican guard that would bring
them eventually to the cells of the old castle Perote deep
down in Mexico. The next morning, a detachment of
Caldwell's men found the bodies of Dawson and his
slaughtered men. They had been stripped of all their
clothing and during the night a cold rain had fallen,
KEARNEY 16
K: washing the bodies clean and leaving them almost marble
whiteness. They were buried on the battlefield. Their
bones were disinterred six years later in 1848 and along
with the remains of the Meyers men enclosed in the old rock
tomb on Monument Hill overlooking the city of LaGrange.
Norman Wood never fully recovered from his wounds. His
condition was such that travel was difficult and he was
among the last to reach the Perote prison, having spent some
months in Powder Mills near Mexico City. His first concern
was to write to the family and to the folks at home to
assure them of his personal welfare and give detailed
instructions concerning his business affairs that needed
adjusting pending his release. His chief concern was for
his family, the education of his children, and the comfort
of his wife.
The correspondence during Norman's activities was
preserved by his wife, Jane, and his eldest daughter,
Ardelia Woods Glimp. Her son, Dave Glimp, and her daddy ,
(interruption in tape) and then Clyde Glimp was the nephew
of Dave and these original letters are in the University of
Texas archives in Austin.
But in December 1843, Norman died within the prison
walls of the old moat that surrounded the Castle Perote.
His last letter, dated October 17, 1843, to his wife, Jane,
reveals a brave tenderness that is evident in all of his
correspondence. "Our situation is so much better since we
left Mexico City as to living and quarters and the
satisfaction of being with Melbourne and Joe and Ed Manton
KEARNEY 17
K: that I am quite happy comparatively speaking to what I
was in Mexico. I have never despaired . I hope ere long to
be with you all and talk over the scenes past and gone.
Jane, you must do the best you can and try to have our
little children go to school all you can. All my trouble is
the absence from you and my family • I am satisfied that
Gon is a brother to you and a father to our little children.
Yours until death, Norman Woods." Norman was buried in
Mexico but was later moved to Monument Hill with his father.
There remains only a brief chapter to relate.
Recovering from his wounds, Gonsalvo Woods set about the
business of clearing up his father's esta te and
administration of that of his brother Norman. A year after
Norman 's death, he married Jane and their fortunes became
identical. In 1856, the Woods made their last move, this
time to ------ Creek in DeWitt County, a few miles north
of Yorktown .
Gon became a man of substance and influence. He became
sort of a first citizen in the county. He built the first
sawed lumber house, a huge two-story dwelling with a broad
fireplace in each end. He brought in the first cookstove.
He owned slaves, grew cotton, built and operated the first
gin in this area.
Jane, who had borne seven children for Norman, bore
three more for Gon. When she died he bu ried her under the
liveoak on their estate and directed his Negro men to build
the rock tomb over her body. They were instructed to build
in like manner over his but the tombs now standing show that
KEARNEY 18
K: Gon did a better construction over Jane's than his men
later did over his .
Gon married again and continued to prosper and enjoy
the fruits of his labor.
Then one day , at the request of the county sheriff, he
rode with the sheriff to search a house where it was thought
that a desperado was hiding. They found the house empty,
but as Gon returned to the front porch the gunman rose from
a cane patch nearby and shot him to death. Thus passed the
last of the original line. Brave hardy souls, their
hardships, the birth pangs of the nation, suffering with
little reward that we might inherit their reward without
suffering. They and their kind gave us a country, let us be
thankful.
These are all copies of all those letters that Van has.
One of them just tickles me so.
Voice: Go ahead and read it.
K: Well I don't know where it is right now. But this
Norman Woods writes back and he is try ing to be cheerful and
he says that he's as fat as a hog at pecan time . And then
he talks about having to work being chained. They
evidently •••
END OF TAPE I, SIDE 2