TOMBSTONE TUESDAY: Edward Clegg (1820-1888)

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY: Edward Clegg (1820-1888)

Throughout history one thing that is still a constant is the use of water and watercraft to move both people and cargo from one place to another. Those of us who live in port towns and cities not only know this to be true but also know it has the potential to make a profitable living. On the Texas coast, Galveston and Matagorda Bays were the busiest shipping ports in both goods and immigrants. While many travelers moved on, others, like Edward Clegg and his family, stayed and built their lives here on the waters and shores of Port Lavaca. 

In Enniskillen, Fermanagh County, Ireland, around the year 1820 Edward Clegg was born and grew up. He made his living as a merchant and on May 22, 1841, he wed Maria Jane Austin, the only daughter of George Austin Esq. The couple lived in Enniskillen and in 1843 they gathered up all their belongings and boarded the sailing ship “Ohio” in Liverpool and set sail for America. It was 1844 when they arrived in Van Buren, Arkansas where some of the Austin family was living. That year, on April 25th a son they named Austin Hamilton Clegg was born. By 1846 they had moved all the way down to Port Lavaca, Texas; a small village then called “Lavaca” that was a part of Victoria County. At the time of their move to Texas, it had just become a state in the United States and no longer was its own Republic. 

According to an ad in The Texian Advocate in October of 1846 Edward Clegg had several types of merchandise for sale, showing him to be living in the area and once again taking up the occupation of a merchant. It is assumed that business was good at that time. Lavaca was a busy port with ships laden with goods and sundries from all over the world docking there and picking up the business of customs port only 6 years past the destruction of Linnville. Being an astute businessman on November 9, 1846, Edward bought the Tavern House and renamed it the City Hotel and bought lots from Henry Kitchen. 

The City Hotel was located at the Northwest corner of what is now Austin and Commerce streets. Edward Clegg owned and ran the hotel on and off until his death, but that was far from his only business venture. The hotel was a large wooden 2 story structure that sat with its back to the Lavaca Bay. Attached to the hotel was a tavern or bar with a small side room, and a livery stable. It was well known in the early days of Lavaca as the site of many gala social events. One that was written about a good deal was the July 4th Ball that was held at the Edward Clegg’s City Hotel, at which “a good time was had by all.”

It was around this same time when the struggle between Lavaca and Indian Point (Indianola) began vying for the port of choice for the Harris & Morgan Shipping Lines out of New York. The shoals in the shallow bays were a problem and Lavaca being the bay that was deeper inland was quickly giving way to the deeper parts of the bay by Matagorda Island where Indianola was located. Clegg did not let this go unnoticed, he put up his hotel for lease on April 16, 1847, and focused his attentions to Indian Point where he opened The Planter’s House to serve the growing flow of travel through the port. 

The person he leased the City Hotel to did not occupy it long before she saw her own wisdom in leasing and not buying property for her own hotel. The lady was also a very astute and practical businesswoman who had a head for knowing where things were on the move. Her name was Angelina Belle Eberly and she was well known in Texas as being the “Heroine of the Texas Archives War” and more of that notable title can be found in a prior Tombstone Tuesday post. Mrs. Eberly leased the hotel, all the furnishings, the kitchen and fixtures, and household. She had no interest in running the tavern or the Livery Stables, so the Clegg’s continued to run those. She agreed also to lease a room to Edward Clegg and his family and servant for $30 a month and she insisted that he did not interfere in her running of the hotel during the term of the lease which was for 12 months. The payments of $180 payable on July 15, 1847, and another like amount on October 15, January 15, 1848, and April 15, when at that time the building and contents were to be returned to Edward Clegg. So, it was here that the heroine of the “Archives War” began her life in Calhoun County. It was also in September of 1847 when a post office was established at Indian Point (Indianola), and the exodus from Lavaca began. At the end of her lease, Angelina moved to Indianola and opened her own hotel. 

Edward operated many of his businesses out of the City Hotel during his lifetime. He ran businesses in other parts of the county as well, like Planter’s House. He served as the stage line agent for Harrison & McCulloch Stage Line which he ran both the agency and stage depot out of the hotel. The line established a route between Port Lavaca and Victoria and managed mail and passenger service; it was also the first of The United States Line in the state. He continued to sell merchandise and a wholesale business as well as trading and selling cattle and horses. 

Over the years he also dealt in a good deal of real estate transactions, and he eventually owned the Port Lavaca Real Estate Company. He also shows as a Notary Public to many of the legal documents in the county. There are a few deeds with his name attached that are unique, one shows that after the Civil War he deeded considerable acreage at Placido Creek, near Six Mile, for just pennies on the dollar. It is believed that perhaps the war and reconstruction times were hard enough that he had to sell it to carpetbaggers for whatever he could get for it, just to survive the times. Edward Clegg’s name appeared on a petition from 132 Calhoun County Businessmen requesting Sam Houston, Governor of Texas to request he convene a special session of the State Legislature as early as a day to consult and act upon the idea of succession from the United States upon the election of Abraham Linclon. In hindsight one must wonder if the years of economic strangulation that the pro-succession stance would put on the ports of Calhoun County could have been seen in advance, would they have stood so strongly to their position on the matter. As it turned out Houston left it to all the citizens of Texas to decide and it played out like it did, with or without their petition. 

Another unique one at the County Clerk’s office was that he either sold or bought “all” the cattle on St. Joseph Island, no specified number, just “all.”  Historians like George Fred Rhodes have been known to have run across Edward Cleggs name many times in researching the economic dealings in Calhoun County. Apparently, he was indeed a successful merchant and businessman and a real “wheeler dealer” in his day. 

Edward and Maria had six children during their marriage. The eldest being born in Ireland died 7 days after his birth. Two other children died in infancy, and another died at age 11. Austin Hamilton and his sister Maude were the only two that survived childhood. Maria died in 1858 at age 35. Upon her death Austin and Maude were sent back to live with family in Van Buren, Arkansas to be raised and educated. Edward remained here and kept to his businesses. Maude ended up in New Mexico where she lived out her life, and after the Civil War Austin returned to Victoria, married, and lived in Mission Valley and later settled in Thomaston. He inherited the City Hotel along with his sister Maude. He made many trips to Port Lavaca to look after his property and there is an assumption that a loan he made on January 26, 1870, for $3,030.50 that was used for collateral was the amount of his half of the value of the City Hotel. 

The Clegg family members to remember speaking with people who knew or remembered Edward Clegg. Mrs. Pauline McFarland Grace, daughter of a pioneer family, told the Clegg family in the 1930’s that she had remembered him being a very dignified old English gentleman. Another was a memory shared by Paul Kaufman Dudgeon who as a small boy remembered that when his father would walk him down to the bay front past the old hotel that he appeared to be a very old man. He lived at the hotel with a former slave that continued to live with him at the hotel and looked after him. 

During the Hurricane of August 1886, the Indianola Scrapbook takes account of all the damage, destruction, loss, and deaths in Indianola and in the rest of the county. Edward Clegg’s City Hotel is listed as severely damaged. It also gives a glimpse of the violence of the storm with the following description: “The water came up over the bank, which is 18 feet above the low water mark, something that has never before occurred there, showing a much greater depth than during the storm of 1875.”  

Two years after the storm, in 1888, Edward Clegg died at age 66. Edward is buried with his wife Maria, their two infants Robert Edgar, Harriett Elizabeth, and son. 11-year-old, George Edward in the Port Lavaca Cemetery.

His son Austin Hamilton Clegg and his wife Dora Powers Clegg were the parents of six children as well. Most of their children have stayed in Victoria and Calhoun Counties and have made their living as port merchants. They have made big contributions to this area and have helped to put Calhoun County ports on the map. 

Compiled by Sheryl Cuellar

Indianola Scrap Book

Indianola Mother of Western Texas

Shifting Sands of Calhoun County 

Victoria Advocate August 3, 2021, guest column by Russell Cain “The 1846 Arrival of Cleggs to the local area”

Port Lavaca, Texas 1840-1990

www.wilsoncountyhistory.org stage travel on San Antonio Texas area