| 1492 |
Columbus lands in America. |
| 1521 |
Cortez conquers Aztecs. |
| 1607 |
English settle at Jamestown. |
| 1718 |
Spanish found Mission San Antonio de Valero, later known as the Alamo. |
| 1776 |
July 4, American Declaration of Independence. |
| 1781 |
English surrender at Yorktown, war ends, colonies free. |
| 1789 |
George Washington becomes President. |
| 1805 |
Bartlett McClure born in Woodford County, Kentucky |
| 1811 |
March 11, Sarah Ann Ashby born in Lexington, Kentucky. |
| 1821 |
Mexico, including Texas, wins independence from Spain. |
| 1823 |
Stephen F. Austin establishes first Anglo-American colony in Texas. |
| 1829 |
Sarah Ashby marries Bartlett McClure in Shelby, Kentucky |
| 1831 |
Sarah and Bartlett McClure move to Texas. October 6, Euphemia born at
Peach Creek. January 31, Georgia Lawshe born in Fort Hawkins, Georgia. |
| 1835 |
October 2, Texas Revolution begins at Gonzales. |
| 1836 |
March 2, Texas declares independence from Mexico.
March 6, the Alamo falls to Santa Anna after a 13-day siege. The novel
True Women begins
March 14, the Runaway Scrape:
Thousands of
women and children flee Santa Anna's approaching army
after
the fall of the Alamo. Sarah Ashby McClure, pregnant and
accompanied by her infant son, Johnnie, and little sister,
Euphemia,
lead the refugees across swollen rivers. Both Sarah's
infant son and
her unborn child die during this tumultuous ordeal.
April 21, Sam Houston defeats Santa Anna at the
Battle of San Jacinto. |
|
1837 |
Republic of Texas is officially
recognized by the United States |
|
1838 |
August 12, town of Seguin
founded. The Trail of
Tears. Peaceful Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole Indians are
brutally forced out of Georgia,
their villages are raided and destroyed -- sanctioned by
presidential decree. Over 4,000 men, women, and children die.
Comanches raid Anglo settlements as far
as Linnville on Matagorda Bay.
Sarah escapes from Comanches by jumping the
creek, later faces down Tarantula and his band of warriors.
Euphemia's friend Matilda Lockhart is abducted by
Comanches. |
|
1840 |
The Council House Massacre occurs during peace
negotiations between
the Comanches and the Texas government in San
Antonio.
Euphemia's friend Matilda Lockhart is freed.
Comanches are defeated by the Texas Rangers of the Battle of Plum Creek |
|
1841 |
Bartlett McClure, Sarah's
husband, dies in Gonzales County. |
|
1844 |
Samuel Morse sends first
telegram. |
|
1845 |
December 29, Texas becomes a
U.S. state. The Republic of Texas is no more. |
|
1846 |
Georgia Lawshe marries Dr.
Peter Cavanaugh Woods. |
|
1850 |
Euphemia marries William King
in a woodframe church in Seguin. Georgia and
her family move to Texas, acquire thousands of acres of land
and establish a plantation. |
|
1861 |
Abraham Lincoln becomes
President of the United States. Texas secedes from
the Union and joins the Confederacy.
April 12, the Civil War begins.
Euphemia's
husband, William King, enlists in the Confederate Army
as a quartermaster with the rank of Major.
Georgia's husband, Peter C. Woods, is elected Colonel by
a regiment of Confederate volunteers who train at a camp near Staples. |
|
1862 |
Georgia visits her husband stationed near the Rio
Grande. Months later
she takes a wagon train of cotton to
Mexico, to avoid the Union Blockade. |
|
1863 |
Emancipation Proclamation -- Lincoln frees
the slaves in the Confederacy. |
|
1865 |
April 9, Robert E. Lee surrenders Confederate troops
to Ulysses S. Grant
at the Appomattox Courthouse, VirginiaThe Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery, is ratified.
Georgia's daughter, Sweet, shoots at the Yankees from the
balcony as they march towards the Woods' home to make their occupation headquarters. |
|
1867 |
October 13,
Bettie Moss born on a Capote Road farm. |
|
1868 |
Texas Reconstruction Convention prepares
a new constitution. A clause is proposed to extend the right to vote to women but
the measure is defeated. |
|
1869 |
Captain Haller is killed. |
|
1870 |
Texas is readmitted to the
Union. |
|
1872 |
October 20, Georgia Lawshe
Woods dies at her San Marcos home. |
|
1875 |
Tornado spawned by a hurricane kills the Braddock
family, neighbors of
young Bettie Moss, and she guards their
bodies through the night. |
|
1877 |
Compromise of 1877 ends
Reconstruction. |
|
1887 |
November 00, Brother T.J. Dodson marries Bettie Moss
to Henry King in
a double wedding ceremony with her sister
Nuge and her husband Tom Lay. Bettie and Mr. Henry move into their newly built
home.Euphemia and William King move from their log
cabin into their new home. |
|
1893 |
Texas Equal Rights Association
is formed to fight for women's suffrage. |
|
1894 |
October 17, Sarah Ashby
McClure dies at Peach Creek. |
|
1894 |
Bettie Moss King feeds a hungry
member of Coxey's Army on his way to Washington to protest against widespread
unemployment. |
|
1895 |
September 27, electric
lighting installed in the Courthouse. |
|
1904 |
February 15, Euphemia Texas
Ashby King dies in Seguin. |
|
1910 |
Mr. Henry is crippled by a fall
when his wagon loaded with cotton overturns. |
|
1914 |
World War I begins in Europe. |
|
1918 |
World War I ends. |
|
1918 |
Texas women win the right to
vote in primary elections. |
|
1920 |
August 26, the 19th Amendment
to the Constitution is ratified, giving women the right to vote. |
|
1922 |
Congressman Harry Wurzbach faces tough re-election
battle. Alone among
the Texas delegation, he voted for a
bill to outlaw lynching. He speaks before a crowd gathered at where Capote Road crosses
the Guadalupe River. |
|
1929 |
Stock Market Crash signals
beginning of the Great Depression. |
|
1939 |
World War II begins in Europe. |
|
1941 |
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor,
bringing U.S. into the war. |
|
1943 |
George Henry King, grandson of
Bettie Moss King, wounded at Guadalcanal, nearly dies, but recovers to fight again. |
|
1945 |
George Henry King killed at
Okinawa, the last battle of World War II. Japan
surrenders, World War II ends.
Body of George Henry King brought home to the depot at
Seguin. |
|
1946 |
September 15, Bettie Moss King
dies in Seguin. The novel
True Women ends. |
|
|
Sources: Texas Almanac,
The Timetables of History, Bernard Grun |
