Louisiana Erwin Strentzel

LOUISIANA ERWIN STRENTZEL

By Mary Anne Thurman

One of the most fascinating people to come from Honey Grove was Louisiana Erwin Strentzel. She was the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Samuel Augustus Erwin, and was born October 31, 1821 in Lawrence County, Tennessee . Erwin was said to be the founder of Honey Grove in 1842. Prior to coming to Honey Grove, Erwin settled on Blue Prairie, Fannin County in 1839.He was a surveyor by profession and one of the first justices of the peace Fannin County ever had, and was the first postmaster appointed at Honey Grove. He died July 13, 1854 at age 69.

Erwin married Sallie Rogers Crisp, daughter of Mansell Crisp, native of South Carolina, who had gone to Tennessee and who had partly reared young David Crockett, who incidentally performed the marriage ceremony of Erwin and Miss Crisp. Their union produced three other children in addition to Louisiana. They were Andrew Jackson, Margaret Missouri, and Samuel Augustus. Erwin was a Virginian who emigrated to Kentucky, resided there a few years, married the daughter of Gen. Rife, who died a few years later. He then moved to Tennessee.

In 1843, Louisiana married Dr. John Strentzel from the Lamar County area. According to his autobiography, he was Polish and a doctor. His parents were John Strentzel, born in Pomerania in 1771 and Sophia Meizner, born in 1785 in Lublin. They were married in 1803 and became fairly well-to-do. His father owned an orchard and garden near town..

Dr. Strentzel fled Poland after the 1830 revolution to keep from being pressed into service in the Russian Army. He entered Hungary. There he gathered information on the wine trade, and vineyard culture. He entered the University of Pesth and received a medical diploma.

In 1840, he and his brother emigrated to the U.S., landing at New Orleans, thence moving to Kentucky. They left there with the Peterson Colonization Company and settled on the site of where Dallas, Texas is located now. They remained there one year, then moved to Lamar County and purchased 500 acres of land.

In 1849, when the California gold rush fever swept the country, the Strentzel's joined in a wagon train with other pioneers and headed for the "promised land" to seek their fortune. Their two small children journeyed with them. The wagon train left Bonham, Texas and included around 103 men, 9 women, and 25 children. The Strentzel's had two children when they left Honey Grove, Louisa, age two, and Johnny, age ten months. Johnny would later die of diphtheria at age nine.

Upon reading an account of the death of Dr. Strentzel in 1890, a friend, J.L.P. Smith of Adelaide, California, wrote an article about the Strentzel's in the November 22, 1890 Pacific Rural Press. He recounted many things about the wagon trip to California, having been in the train himself. He knew Dr. Strentzel in Lamar County and talked of his willingness to always go and treat patients with no regard to whether or not he would be paid. He said that he also treated all of the wagon train people without pay.

Recounting recollections of the hardships of Louisiana's childhood days, he told of her living in a blockhouse and having to retreat to it many times to save herself from Indian raids. He spoke of their wagon train to California being surprised by Indians numbering about 500 at the headwaters of the Brazos River. He passed by the Strentzel wagon and there was Louisiana, standing on the wagon-tongue with her baby under her left arm and a United States dragoon pistol in her right hand, cool and collected. He said that never in his life had he seen fight more plainly delineated on any countenance. He made some remark to her and she stated, "This is not the first time I have been in danger."

Louisiana wrote a letter back to her parents, the Erwins in Honey Grove. Dated December 10, 1849 and written at the Mission of San Diego, California, the letter was a very accurate account of her journey from Honey Grove to California. An interesting thing about the letter is the way it was written. It was first written in the manner of any normal letter, then to conserve paper, it was turned sideways and written on across the first writing. A copy of the letter is held by the Hall-Voyer Foundation and the Bertha Voyer Memorial Library, as is a complete typed transcription. It is a fascinating look back into a time that we can only imagine, but knowing it was written by a Honey Grove citizen makes it really come alive.

Upon arriving in California the family finally made their way to settle on the Tulomne River nearly 13 months after leaving Honey Grove. They selected a location about 2 miles below the Lagrange mining camp and set up a ferry, boarding house and store. The building were all canvas tents. In the biography of Dr. Strentzel, he spoke of entertaining all types of people, from Col. Fremont, Lieut. Beal, Gen. Miller and other noted persons to desperadoes, Mexicans, and Indians. Grizzly bears were a constant threat.

After two years, they Strentzel's moved on, purchasing 600 acres of land, and settling on the Merced River. There they lost everything to a flood. Louisiana had been confined to bed for over three years and was still an invalid when the flood struck. Dr. Strentzel managed to get her bed elevated to keep her out of the water. She finally recovered from that illness. They left that place finally settling for good in a beautiful valley near Martinez, California in 1853. At that time the valley was known as "Canada del Hambre," or valley of hunger. Louisiana was displeased with the name, and remembering Irving's glowing description of the Moorish paradise, decided to christen their new home "Alhambra," and the valley has ever since been called "Alhambra Valley."

They got into the production of citrus crops and at the death of Dr. Strentzel he had become one of the largest producers of citrus crops in the United States. His holdings were the nucleus for one of the largest producing companies in the world, United Fruit Company. Dr. Strentzel's brother was with him and involved in all of his business, until his death in 1865.

Their daughter, Louisa, continued the interesting family history by marrying, in 1880, John Muir, a Scotsman, who later became known worldwide as a naturalist. Muir was known as the "Father of our National Parks". A self-taught naturalist, a geologist, an inventor, adventurer, writer, and artist, his life is a story unto itself. That story is told in a book Winds in the Woods-The Story of John Muir by John Stewart and it is available at the Bertha Voyer Memorial Library.

John Muir died in 1914 and his wife died 1905 in Martinez, California, where they had made their home. Mrs. Louisa Muir did come to Honey Grove at least once, when she accompanied her mother, Louisiana, to a reunion here.

That reunion was reported in the Honey Grove Signal of August 25, 1892. The reunion which was held at Erwin Springs and honored Mrs. Strentzel. Among those present were Mr. & Mrs. David Drennan, A. J. And S.A. Erwin and wives, Mrs. Despain, Mrs. Eubanks, Mrs. Jno T. Allen, Mrs. Martin Wilson, Mrs. Maulding, Mr. & Mrs. B. O. Walcott, Mr. & Mrs. J. J. Miller, Mr. & Mrs. J. E. Bricklin, and B. B. Parish, all of Honey Grove. Mrs. W. S. Ryan and children of Paris, and Hon. V. Payton of Windom were also in attendance among the more than 100 who were there.

The writer of the article noted that just fifty years ago the Erwin family settled here, having only one neighbor, Capt. John Yeary, who lived three miles away. He also recounted his earliest recollection of Texas, when buffalo were more plentiful than Texas cattle. He stated that his father used to stand in his cabin door in the morning and shoot down a deer before breakfast. He said, "When the howling of wolves made the night hideous, and the scream of the panther made it hard to keep your hat on your head, when wildcats, raccoons, rattlesnakes and other venomous beasts, reptile and vermin were not only numerous, but dangerously common and frightfully familiar and if it was that way in the fifties (1850's), what must it have been in the early forties, when added to these was the terror of the Red Devils, when no one retiring at night felt sure that his hair would not be lifted before morning dawned. In those days a boy had to go miles to get to the nearest neighbor's to borrow a chunk of fire, or hunker down on the hearth and start a fire by the use of a piece of steel and a flint. Those were grand times: almost every Texan then was monarch of all he surveyed, unless a redskin, a black bear or a mad bull came along. Then he was glad to get away and leave the other fellow to do the surveying."

At the end of the day's celebration, following music and mirth, Mrs. Strentzel read something she had written for the occasion. She noted that it was fifty years ago to the day that her parents, with their four children, came to settle Honey Grove. What was then a wilderness was now a flourishing city. She told of their nearest neighbors, the Yeary's, being attacked by Indians and Mrs. Yeary being wounded by an arrow. She remembered the beautiful spring of clear, cold, sparkling water that she thought was the best she had ever tasted and recounted that on her journey to California, when they were crossing the alkali desert, there were many times when she wished for a drink of that water.

Mrs. Strentzel remembered her mother being very much dissatisfied with their new home in the wilderness and begging her husband to take them back to the settlement. However, Louisiana was delighted with the new home, and tried to encourage her mother by telling her that there would be a town here someday. Her mother would reply, "Yes child, may be so when we are all dead and gone."

The Erwin family, who came to Honey Grove those many, long years ago, left a fascinating legacy for us to look back on today.

Mary Anne Thurman portrays a living history character of Mrs. Strentzel. Performances are available free of charge to interested groups.

A few of many links relating to the Erwin-Strentzel-Muir families:

Transcript of 1849 letter written by Louisana Erwin Strentzel

John Muir National Historic Site - John Muir Exhibit (John Muir Education Project, Sierra Club California)

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Site designed by Mary A. Thurman, Hall-Voyer Foundation. For comments about site, e-mail mayfield@honeygrove.org. For information about library, e-mail hallv@1starnet.com. Please notify if broken links found. Site created March, 2000. Reviewed February, 2008.