TOMBSTONE TUESDAY: Juliet Constance Ewing Fretwell

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY (July 22, 2025): Juliet Constance Ewing Fretwell (1820-1878) 

In 1824 Don Martin DeLeon established a colony in Texas. The DeLeon Colony encompassed both Victoria and Calhoun Counties. One of the earliest settlers in the colony was John Joseph Linn, a prominent merchant who set up a port in 1831 on Lavaca Bay, named New Port. With the help of other prominant merchants, like William Gibson Ewing, New Port grew, and the name changed to Linnville. It quickly became an important port in early Texas. While there were 3 other ports in the area at that time as well, Cox Point, Dimmitt’s Landing, and Texana, none were as favored as Linnville. It grew up around warehouses and wharves, attracting residents and business owners as it shipped goods in and out for places like Victoria, Gonzales, and San Antonio. It was called “a place of considerable business” and a port “where a great many goods have shipped in and shipped out. It is finely situated for commerce of the up country, and will no doubt be a place of considerable importance.” It became home of the customhouse of the District of Lavaca. In 1839. Just 9 years after it was established, Linnville boasted a population of about 200 people with 130 town lots for taxation in 1840. In comparison Victoria had an estimated population of around 500, and Lavaca was a couple of warehouses and a wharf. For a young newlywed girl of 19, it was a wonderful place to start a life together with with her groom. However, fate had other plans for both the town of Linnville, and for this young bride. 

Her name was Juliet Constance Ewing, who was an Irish lass born 1820 in Ireland. Juliet immigrated to Texas along with her older brother William Gibson Ewing, in September 1839. There is no information about their parents or other siblings, it is just known that the two of them were from Londonderry, Londonderry County, Northern Ireland. Juliet was an exceptionally beautiful young girl of 19 when she came to Texas. Her brother William quickly became a prominent merchant and became a fast friend of John (Juan) Linn who was also Irish and a merchant, landowner, and notable citizen of Victoria. William often traveled by schooner to New Orleans to sell and buy goods, but he made his home in Indianola. Juliet quickly caught the eye of the handsome Major Hugh Orin Watts, and 10 months later, on July 18,1840, in the City of Victoria the two wed. Linnville became the new Customshouse of the District of Lavaca and Major Watts was the new customs collector. The couple moved to Linnville and stayed in a boarding house until they were able to build their own home. Juliet had to be an excited young bride ready to make a home for them and start a family in the up-and-coming town.

At this time in early Texas, immigrants and settlers were coming to make a better life. Native American Tribes had been living on the lands of Texas for many centuries had lived and roamed the wilds of this beautiful and bountiful land we know now as Texas. There were many different tribes, Lipans, Karankawa, Apache, Kiowa, and others. They had skirmishes between each other but when it came to the tribes of the Comanche, they all stayed clear. The Comanche were known as fierce and aggressive. They did not like other tribes and surely not settlers. As immigrant settlers moved into Texas, they brought diseases with them that were as deadly to the natives as they were to themselves, so much so it decreased the tribe population and was a problem. In answer the Comanche tribes would attack small settlements and kill entire families. They would also kidnap women, and children and take them into the tribe to help in repopulating their numbers. The Comanche especially were known for their cruelty and torture of white settlers. They were so cruel and unbearable that death was preferred over being a captive. To try the return of white captives and stop future attacks, the settlers invited the chiefs to peace talks between the settlers and the Comanche. The chiefs of the different Comanche tribes traveled to San Antonio. They promised to bring with them all the white settlers they were holding captive, but they only brought one, Matilda Lockhart, and she told of many others that they did not bring. Matilda’s face was so disfigured it was hard to even look at her, angering the settlers who got into a heated exchange and quickly spiraled into killing all the Comanche Chiefs. What followed was the fiercest, and deadliest raid of the Comanche tribes in Texas history. The Comanche tribes united, under one chief named Buffalo Hump, and they planned to make their way south to the ports of The Republic of Texas, where they knew there were stores of merchandise, horses, cattle, weapons, and supplies that were brought into the ports during the Texas Revolution. They also were intent on killing as many of the settlers they could. By all accounts there were between 500 to 1000 warriors with women and children in tow. They made their way to Gonzales, through Victoria and killed several people there on their way to Linnville. They also captured a woman named Mrs. Cosby and her baby who lived right outside of Victoria. They camped at night a few miles northwest of Linnville. That night Juliet’s brother, William was traveling to Victoria and saw their campfires, but he took them for Mexican traders on their way to the port to do business. It was when he got to Victoria and heard the news that he became very distressed since his sister Juliet and her husband lived there. The next morning the warriors surprised the people of Linnville, the citizens boarded a schooner anchored in the shallow bay. On the way out to board the boat Hugh Watts ran back to retrieve a gold watch from under his pillow and Juliet followed him with her servant and her 10 year old son. She watched as her husband of only 21 days was killed by an arrow. Then Juliet C. Watts, her servant and child found themselves being hostages of their attackers. The warriors spent the day ransacking every house and warehouse in the town. Stealing clothing, fabrics, parasols, livestock, horses, and anything else they wanted. The warriors securely tied Mrs. Watts to a mule to make sure she did not fall off or escape. The residents watched helplessly from the boats and schooner as their possessions were taken and broken, then their homes and businesses set ablaze and destroyed. The Comanche then made camp across the bayou by the old road for the night. Juliet and the others were held captive for three days, as the Texas Rangers, volunteer men from Linnville, Victoria, Gonzales, and others set out to find them, and retrieve, Mrs. Watts, Mrs. Cosby, her baby, the servant girl, and her son.

Juliet recounted her experience as a captive of the Comanche, “she was taken under protection of an ancient squaw” She said that the Comanche squaws were mean, whipping, and beating poor Mrs. Cosby and that they called poor Mrs. Cosby a “peon” because she could not read. At night around the campfire her captors would bring her a book they had taken from Linnville. She would read and they would laugh. The book was “Laws of Texas.” There were several accounts of the events that took place over the next few days as the Texans chased and engaged the Comanche, then fought them in the Battle of Plum Creek. During the end of the battle, when the warriors knew, they were not going to win, they shot arrows into their white captives to kill them and prevent them from being rescued. There are accounts that say the servant girl and her son were killed and others that they lived. Mrs. Cosby’s baby was killed and discarded on the side of the road by the Comanche. Mrs. Cosby was shot with two arrows that went through her body. Juliet Watts was also shot by a boy in the ribs. Luckily, the arrow hit the steel in her corset and saved her life. John Linn, in his book “Reminiscences” states that W.G. Ewing from Linnville, Juliet’s brother was the one who saw the arrow hit her and was the first to get to her. While he took the arrow out of his sister, Juliet asked repeatedly about Mrs. Cosby. One account said that her husband got to her in time to say their endearments before she closed her eyes for the last time. The Battle of Plum Creek was the last Comanche raid in Texas. 

Linnville was never rebuilt, instead the citizens moved 3 ½ miles southwest to the wharf and warehouses on the bluff named La Vaca. Juliet buried her husband of 21 days in Ranger Cemetery; he was the first to be buried there.

After her move to La Vaca, Juliet Watts married Dr. J.M. Stanton. Stanton was also a prior resident of Linnville and was listed as a carpenter, seaman, and sometimes a doctor. Together they built the first hotel in La Vaca and named it The Stanton. James and Juliet had one child together and they named him William. Around 1844 Juliet filed for divorce from Stanton. This was not common in that time, but it was one of, if not the first divorce filed in Texas, it was the first in Calhoun County. In 1846, at age 28, William Gibson Ewing, Juliet’s brother died. He is buried in Ranger Cemetery and shares a tombstone with his brother-in-law, Hugh Oran Watts. In his will W.G. Ewing left all he had to his sister, Juliet Stanton. 

Juliet ran her hotel for many years, and it provided her with a comfortable living. In the 1850 U.S. Census Juliet C. Stanton is listed as the owner and keeper of the hotel, she is 33 and her son William is 6. It shows that the number of residents in the hotel at that time as 14. 

On May 23, 1852, Juliet married Dr. John R. Fretwell, a newcomer to La Vaca. In March of 1856 Juliet Fretwell petitioned to the State of Texas Legislature stating that she was the widow of Hugh Oran Watts who was killed in the 1840 Comanche Raid in Linnville. She told them of her capture and petitioned them for reimbursement of all that they had lost during that deadly event. Many of the men who were residents of Linnville petitioned in favor of Mrs. Fretwell by swearing under oath that her claims were true. John Richard Fretwell was a physician, he also invented the first underwater mine that was later used in the Civil War. The 1860 Census shows that he was a very wealthy man with 30,680 in real estate and 17,500 in personal real estate. The couple shows to have 3 children J.S. Fretwell 10 years old, B.R. Fretwell 4 and W.E. Stanton 15. J.S. Fretwell was the child of Dr. Fretwell and his first wife. W.E. Stanton was Juliet’s, and then B. R. Fretwell was the son of John and Juliet. The Fretwells show as Hotel Keepers in 1870, and Juliet ran The Stanton until her death in 1878. The Fretwell’s built a home on Virginia street.

Juliet C. Ewing, Watts, Stanton, Fretwell died in Port Lavaca on 3rd August, 1878 of paralysis. She was interred in the Port Lavaca Cemetery.

Fate dealt Linnville and Juliet some tough blows, and when all was said and done, Juliet survived when her town did not. She thrived and was a remarkable woman. She is remembered as a prominent woman of Western Texas’s early years. Her community admired her for her kindness and community involvement. Her bravery and her resilience in the face of extreme danger is clear. She was a strong woman who cared for her son William as a single mother in a time when that was not easy by any means. Juliet was and still is a big part of early Texas history and one of the founding settlers of Port Lavaca. 

www,findagrave.com

The Shifting Sands of Calhoun County, Texas

Port Lavaca Wave, Dec. 11, 1975, pg. 8

United State Census. Lavaca, Calhoun County Texas 1850, 1860, 1870

WikiTree: Juliet Constance Ewing Fretwell

Matagorda County Land Certificate Book pg. 88, July 29, 1839, William G. Ewing

Last Will and Testament of William G. Ewing. October 19, 1846

The Handbook of Victoria County pg. 67-69

Fretwells: Genealogy and Family History Website: The Story of Juliet Constance Ewing, Third wife of John Richard Fretwell

State of Texas: Victoria County, March, 1856

www.ewingfamilyassociation.org Constance Juliet Ewing: Journal of Clan Ewing, Vol 5 No. 4 Dec 1999 pg. 25

Port Lavaca, Texas 1840-1990

www.ancestry.com Juliet C. Ewing, William G. Ewing, Hugh O. Watts, James M. Stanton, Dr. John R. Fretwell

Tombstone Tuesday is written and compiled each week by Jody Weaver and Sheryl Cuellar of the Calhoun County Historical Commission, sharing the people and stories behind Calhoun County's history.