Sticks and Stones

 

Tiner House, ca. 1890

After purchasing the land from W. T. Sutherland in 1884, Tiner and his family lived in the little house for a few years before they began construction on the “new house” in 1887. Many details of the construction of the house are described in the Journal for 1886-1889 — securing the lumber for the house, hauling live oak stumps sawn off the old county bridge to be used in the foundation of the house (10 January 1887), cutting foundation blocks and buying lumber from San Antonio Lumber Company (28 January 1887), restacking the purchased lumber with planks between so that it would not mold (3 March 1887), exchanging 2000 bricks to be used in his chimney from A. R. Stevenson in trade for a debt of 2 mares (23 March 1887), working on new house (19 April 1887), sizing sleepers and upper joists (20 April 1887), putting out fire in the kitchen of old house that threatened the new house (10 July 1887), putting covering on the new house (10 July 1887), buying flooring and paint from San Antonio Lumber Company (10 July 1887), framing windows and doors (26 July 1887), finishing the first window casing (12 August 1887), buying more lumber and paint from San Antonio (14 August 1887), finishing laying flooring and side ceiling downstairs, planning to finish downstairs this fall, upstairs next summer (21 August 1887), reporting house is half complete, although they moved in last month, with no doors finished, only two windows, two lower rooms and halls sealed on sides, but not overhead, all floors laid upstairs and downstairs (28 August 1887), S. R. Houston working on house (26 September 1887), Bro. Dick  painting house (8 October 1887), beginning work on chimney, rock and brick, double fireplace, upstairs and downstairs (18 October 1887), building chimney, three feet underground, up to five feet now (21 October 1887), painting the house with lead color paint (21 October 1887), finishing new chimney thirty-two feet (30 October 1877), graving the downstairs hall doors (23 November 1887), installing lightening rod and weather vanes on house (15 February 1888), finishing carpentry work on house (20 March 1888), underpinning dining room gallery and end of dwelling with rock (24 March 1888), connecting dining room and dwelling and covering stair way (25 March 1888), working on door frames to the doors at the stair way (29 March 1888), Mr. Houston still working on house (6 April 1888), working on banisters for stairs (8 April 1888), needing to work on upstairs ceiling, windows in north of house, banister, and stairs (12 April 1888), working on banister (15 and 18 April 1888), painting new house (15 June 1888), working on stairs (18 and 21 July 1888), still lacking some finishing upstairs, front gallery banisters, and boxing gallery past ceiling (14 November 1888).

We have been cleaning up the Tiner Hendrick House in preparation for its move to its new location near the Polley Mansion. We have uncovered several interesting discoveries regarding the lumber, bricks, chimneys, and shutters.

Yesterday we discovered this brick in the fireplace.

 The Laclede Fire Brick Manufacturing Company, established in St. Louis in 1844, was a major producer of fireclay bricks. They were used to line the fireboxes of steam locomotives. Jesse Tiner's cotton gin and grist mill were near the Depot in Sutherland Springs. I wonder if he got the discarded fireplace bricks from there.

The two chimneys in the house and the foundation of the house were comprised a large red stones. Local historians feel confident that the old mission church from El Rancho del Paistle was located nearby. I wonder if some of these stones were collected from those ruins. This stone chimney in the smaller house, probably built by Jack Sutherland, may have been constructed using those stones.

The larger chimney on the main house is half stone, half brick. We know that Jesse Tiner bartered a debt with A. R. Stevenson for two mares for 2000 bricks for his new chimney. Here are his entries in the diary about the building of the chimney.

 

Wednesday March 23 [1887]

Bro Dick & Sandy Mitchel

Hauling 2000 Brick from

Floresville where I got

Said amt. from A. R. Stevenson

For a debt of $20.00 he owed

Me for near 2 yrs for 2 colts.

They are very good Brick. I

Want them to build chimney

to my new house if I ever get it up

Mar 25 Friday

…

Bro Dick and Sandy Mitchel

Gone after last load of brick.

Some they left on the road

This side of Floresville

When this load arrives I will

Have 2000 here for my chimney

To the new house if I ever get

It up

Tuesday 18th October. 1887

Mr. Joe Tudick came

Yesterday evening and

Commenced work on Chimney

To my new house. I pay him

For rock work $1.50 and for

Brick work $1.00 per foot as it 

Is a double fireplace fireplace

Both down and up Srairs

Sandy Mitchell (colored) 

Commenced work today

Helping Mr. Tudick on Chimney.

Making Mortar and carrying

rock, Brick and & so forth

1887 Friday October 21

Mr. Joe Tudyck is

Getting along very well

On my chimney. Has it 

about 5 feet above the ground

And commenced 3 feet under

Ground making it all some

8 feet since he commenced on

Tuesday Morn.

1887 Brought over Oct 30

Mr. Joe Tydyk finished

My new Chimney on yesterday

Height 32 feet $1.50 for rock

And $1.00 for brick work & I 

furnish a waiter. There was 

19 1/2  feet brick and balance

Rock double chimney - two

Fire places. Will cost all told

Near $75.00 including the 

material.

If my math is correct, the total time to construct the chimney was 11 days and the total cost was $75, $38.25 labor, $36.75 materials.

 

Here you can see some of the foundation stones under the house.

Our cost to move the chimneys will be significantly more than Jesse Tiner paid to build them. Each stone has to be numbered, disassembled, stored on pallets, conveyed to the new site, and eventually reassembled. We need your help in preserving these historic chimneys. Please donate to the Tiner Hendrick House Restoration Fund on the right side of this blog or contact me at mjcreech@mac.com. Please help!

Jesse Tiner says in his diary that he bought the lumber for the house from the San Antonio Lumber Company.  We found these names on pieces of lumber in the ceiling joists.

 

I couldn't quite read all the letters, but what I could read says "Lumber Yard E Commerce."

This lumber reads "Calcasieu." Calcasieu Lumber Company was started by the Drake Brothers in Austin in 1883. It was named after a parish in Louisiana where superior lumber was harvested. Mr. Albert Steves had a lumber yard near the Sunset Station, on the corner of E. Commerce and Travis, in San Antonio, that sold Calcasieu lumber. The Daily Express, 18 December 1887, describes Mr. Steves enterprise:

Daily Express, 18 December 1887

 

This 1889 Sanborn map shows the location of the both the San Antonio Lumber Yard and the Mr. Steves' Lumber Company. Jesse Tiner probably did business with one or both of these companies.

 -

 

We were also able to take down all the shutters from the windows in the house to be repaired and reattached after the move. The shutters are ingeniously made. I look forward to being able to work on learning how to restore them and returning them to the house. I will be attending a window repair workshop sponsored by Preservation Texas in a few weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

Jesse Elnora Tiner Copes Skinner-The Rest of the Story

The Tiner Family

Alanson (Tony), Vinton, Big Mama, Lane, Jesse Lane, Pauline (Polly), Francis (Ottie), 

Wayne, Mary Adele (Mema), Joie (Judy), Nora, Mayme (c. 1930)  

 Elnora, we think, is the second person from the right in the light colored dress. 

In an earlier blog, "Piano Teachers and Learners in Sutherland Springs," I wrote about Elnora Tiner and her father's interest in her piano playing. That interest seems to have continued. The San Antonio Express, 3 July 1901, records the guests at the Southern Hotel in San Antonio. J. L. Tiner and his daughter, Nora (19), are among the guests. Possibly, he is again bringing her to another piano lesson in San Antonio. 

 

Interestingly, among the other guests at the hotel are Mrs. Creech (Emma) and her children Edna (12) and Irvin (7). Irvin is my husband's grandfather. Perhaps the Tiners and the Creeches bumped into each other in the hallway. Here is a photo of the Southern Hotel. This is a copy print of the west side of Main Plaza, accessed through the Portal to Texas History. The east and north facades of the multi-story Southern Hotel are visible above Paul Asher's dry goods store (far left). San Fernando Cathedral stands in the center with several wagons in front. The photo is from The Ernst Wilhelm Raba Photograph Collection. The date on the back of the photo is 1880s.

Elnora is listed in Who's Who Among the Women in San Antonio and Southwest Texas in 1917.  The entry describes her as a teacher of piano, active in the Baptist Church, and a suffragist. 

 She was educated at Coronal Institute in San Marcos and had a special course of Study at Southwestern University at Georgetown.

 Coronal Institute 1907, accessed through the Portal to Texas History 

Private Collection of T. B. Willis

Elnora's interest in music continued throughout her life. A newspaper article in the San Antonio Express, 11 June 1950, p. 24 records an invitation by the St. Louis Institute of Music to attend the summer sessions in Chicago as an honored guest.

 

Jesse Elnora Tiner married Jesse Tiner Cope on 5 October 1902. Jesse Lane Tiner's Diary of 1898-1900 records snippets of the very chaperoned budding romance between Nora and Jesse. She and Jesse went to La Vernia together to buy supplies, to a Masonic celebration, a baseball game, Jesse bought her a coat and vest. Lane, Nora, Frances, and Jesse went to the fair in San Antonio on the train for 80¢. Sometimes she went to church in Stockdale with Jesse. Jesse Cope worked for Nora's father. After they married they lived in Karnes City. Jesse ran a cotton gin. He had learned that trade working for Jesse Lane Tiner at his cotton gin in Sutherland Springs.They had two children: Jesse Tiner Cope, Jr. and Johnel Cope. Jesse Tiner Cope was killed in a car wreck 6 May 1940 at the age of 66.

I have not been able to locate her marriage certificate. However, at some point Nora married Joseph H. Skinner, a farmer in Karnes City. He had lost his wife in 1936. Joseph H. Skinner died of heart failure on 9 September 1943 at the age of 73. 

In the 1950 Census, Elnora is living in San Antonio, 727 Gramercy St. She died of ovarian cancer on 23 August 1957, at the age of 75. On her death certificate, her occupation is listed as music teacher. She is buried in the Karnes City Cemetery next to Jesse Cope.

 

 

 

 

 

Steam Engine Repairs

The 1898-1900 Diary of Jesse Lane Tiner

24-27 July, 1900, p. 262 

 

 Mr. Jesse Tiner ran a cotton gin and a grist mill in Sutherland Springs. On July 24, 1900, he and his son Lane left Sutherland Springs with parts of his steam engine to have it worked over by Alamo Iron Works. He also carried the shaft to his main drive wheel to have it turned round at the bearings. It was worn out of a circle and he couldn't babit it. Of course this is all foreign language to me. It turns out that the inner surface of the steel shell is plated with a coating of bronze, which is in turn coated with a thin layer of Babbitt metal as the bearing surface. The process of laying down this layer of metal is know as Babbitting. He was doing all this to get ready for the ginning season that was soon approaching.

[262]

Tuesday July 24, 1900

Lane & myself started to San

Antonio with part of my Steam

Engine to have it worked over

July 24 ready for the Ginning Season

also carried the shaft to my main

drive wheel to have it turned round

at the bearings it [is] worn out of

a circle & I could not [babit] it.

July 23 Wednesday Lane & my self arrived

 Stuckes  yard 10 oclock pm

last night today I went to the

Alamo Iron Works and made the

necessary arrangement to have my

work done on my Steam Engine

drove my wagon around there and

they unloaded and began work

July 24 Thursday Lane & myself in SA

Alamo Iron Works finished my work

by 5 pm we loaded and started

for home the job cost $23⁰⁰

I was curious about several people and places that were mentioned in the diary entry.

Who was Mr. Stucke? 

 In the 1880 Census, Charles C. Stucke, a German employed in the sale of cotton and general merchandise, his wife Anna, son Henry, and several daughters are living at 401 Commerce Street. Charles died in 1898. In 1900 Anna Banner Stucke is living on E. Commerce St. Here is their house on the corner of E. Commerce and Bowie.

In the 1900 Census, their son Henry Stucke, a grocer by trade, is living at 521 Goliad St. in San Antonio. The Sanborn map for 1896 shows his residence on Goliad St., near the upper right corner. 

1896 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of San Antonio

 What is a campyard?

Campyards were primitive camping areas for rural residents bringing goods to market in San Antonio. Jesse and Lane would have spent the night with their wagon in the campyard. There would have possibly been a place for their animals to be fed and housed. You can see on the map above that there was a campyard just down the street from Henry Stucke's House.  Interestingly, the San Antonio Daily Light, 24 July 1894, reports that these campyards could be dangerous, identifying Mr. Stucke's campyard on East Commerce Street. This event was reported six years before Jesse and Lane's visit to the day.

San Antonio Daily Light, 24 July 24 1894

 On this Sanborn map, you can see the campyard referred to in the article. This campyard belonged to Carl Stucke and his wife Anna. Their house was in the corner of the campyard. This is probably where Jesse and Lane spent the night on 24 July 1900.

1896 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of San Antonio

 Where was the Alamo Iron Works?

The next morning Jesse and Lane took the Steam Engine just down the street to be repaired at the Alamo Iron Works, at 101 Montana.

from the Alamo Iron Works website

https://www.alamoironworks.com/about-us 

from the Alamo Iron Works website

https://www.alamoironworks.com/about-us 

 

1896 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of San Antonio

 You can see on this larger map the locations of Henry Stucke's house (34), his father Carl Stucke's house and the campyard (Sheet 19), and the Alamo Iron Works (22). They were all close to E. Commerce Street, which led directly to the Old Sulphur Springs Road and home for Jesse and Lane.

1896 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of San Antonio

 And the bill for all that work was $23. The cotton gin was all set to be operational in the fall of 1900. Sadly, the more formal diary entries end on 14 August 1900. He had just sent Lane and Joe Brooks to La Vernia to get bagging and ties for 100 Bales of Cotton. He had said work would begin around 15 or 20 of August. We don't know if all his effort on repairing the steam engine paid off.

Sadly, we do know that Jesse Tiner's cotton gin caught fire and burned to the ground on 15 August 1901, at the beginning of ginning season for 1901. He also lost 14 bales of cotton from 1900.

The Daily Express (San Antonio), 6 August 1901

 

 

 

Laced Together: Mary, Theresa, Susan, and Connie

  

 

Recently KSAT News, San Antonio, aired a piece based on the interview that they did with me on Theresa McCloud Moore, a person who had been enslaved and lived at the Polley Plantation in Sutherland Springs.

 

You can watch the story here:

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2026/02/03/girl-who-lived-on-wilson-county-plantation-charted-her-own-path-as-an-adult-after-slavery/

Azian Bermea did a great job of telling a bit of Theresa’s story quite beautifully in less than two minutes. However, I thought it would be great to be able to tell some of the rest of the story. You can read more of the details of Theresa’s life here: 

 

 https://stitchedtogethernotebook.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-enslaved-people-of-j-h-polley.html

 

These details have been gleaned from census records, slave schedules, family histories, archival letters, books of history and historical fiction, tax records, and probate wills. 

 There are still unanswered questions. I do not think that Teresa was not born into the Polley household, although she could have been enslaved by the family as early as 1843, when they lived in Brazoria. I know that she was part of the household in 1850 and in 1860, according to the Slave Schedules of those years. I do not know when or where Mr. Polley purchased her. I also do not know how she became acquainted with her husband, Aaron Moore. Her first child Henry was born in 1863, while she was still enslaved by the Polleys. Perhaps she named him after her enslaver Joseph Henry Polley. Her second child, Walter Aaron, was born in 1867, when she was living with her husband, Aaron L. Moore, in Fayette County, named, perhaps for the Mary Polley’s youngest child, Walter Webster, and Theresa’s husband, Aaron L. Moore.

 However, in this blog, I would like to focus on the relationship of these four women: Mary Bailey Polley, Teresa McCloud Moore, Susan Polley Henderson Brooks, and Connie Findley Henderson Tiner. 

Mary Bailey Polley

Courtest of Robin and Keith Muschalek 

Mary Bailey Polley was the wife of Joseph Henry Polley. They married in Brazoria and made the move to the Cibolo Valley in 1847. She had her share of sorrow, losing her firstborn son in 1834 in an accident in Brazoria, and burying her daughter Emmeline, who died in childbirth in 1848, and Emmeline’s daughter in 1850 within the first three years of their move to the Cibolo.

Theresa McCloud may have been purchased by the Polleys in Brazoria or after their move to the Cibolo. I could find no record of the purchase in either county. Mr. Polley's will and Josephine Golson's book, Bailey's Light, indicate that she had been with the family for a long time.Theresa was born in 1837. Mary’s daughter, Susan, was born in 1835, while the family was living in Brazoria. It is likely that the two girls grew up together. 

 

Theresa McCloud Moor to Mary Bailey Polley, 

February 4, 1869 page 1

Theresa McCloud Moor to Mary Bailey Polley, 

February 4, 1869 page 2

Theresa McCloud Moor to Mary Bailey Polley, 

February 4, 1869 page 3

Theresa McCloud Moor to Mary Bailey Polley, 

February 4, 1869 page 4

This letter, written by Theresa to Mary Polley in 1869, was found among the Polley papers at the Briscoe Center for American History in Austin. It is amazing for many reasons. First it is amazing that Mrs. Polley kept the letter. There are only a handful of letters written to or from Mary Polley. 

 Here is a transcription of the letter:

                                                                                                                                                    Feb th 4 1869

Dear Mistress

 

Why in the world don’t you write to me I have written to you once or twice but have never received an answer I some times think you are mad at me the reason you don’t write to me but I dont know that I have ever done any thing to cause you to be offended at me if I have I am ignorant of it and also sorry if such is the case which I hope is not I have also written to Miss Adel Miss Hattie and Miss Adelia you all owe me a letter I wrote last Mistress I do want to see you so much and as soon as my husband can make it convenient to leave home I intend to try to go and see you we are living on our own place this year and have a good deal of improvements to make Last year my husband rented so this year we move to our own home My husband paid four hundred dollars for it It has

 

[Page 2]

 

Some improvements on it  a dwelling house with two rooms and a gallery kitchen smoke house and corn-crib He has to repare all the field fence I have a very pretty shade in the yard of china trees We have been here just a month to day I feel so glad to think that we are on our own place and to add to my happiness I have a sweet little babe will be four months old the ^th16 of this month He is not a healthy child and of course has been of great trouble to us We call him Walter Aaron My health has not been very good until here of late have had a rising on my breast and I don’t sukle out of but one and that is my right breast I am just getting so I feel like myself again Is Miss Susan still living with you Has Pollie and [Gollie] grown much I expect they have forgotten all about me that there ever was such a being in excistance How is Miss Augusta and family Are they still living at the Springs yet Lollie and

 

[Page 3]

 

Belger are almost grown I expect Is Miss Hattie still at home yet How is her little babe Tell her she must answer my letter and tell me all the news as she promised to do Tell her that I have been looking for it a long time Tell Miss Adell she owes me a letter and also Miss Adelia I would also like to get one from Miss Susan In fact I would be pleased to receive one from any of the family Is Aunt Annie and Uncle Cato Celia Lizzie Bill and Elic still living on the place yet If so give them my best respects and tell them they must write to me and Matilda and her family where are they Mistress Where is Dr. Houston Are they living in San Antonio yet or over at they place I wrote to Callie some time ago but have never got one word from them Don’t know whether she is dead or live It looks like I cant hear a word from that part of the country It appears like every body out that way has stop writing to me

 

[Page 4]

 

From some cause but I cant tell what unless it is because I am married If that be the case I am just as proud to hear from my friends now as ever I was in my life Say to Miss Adel that I have never had a chance to get them pink seed for her yet Mistress please answer my letter right away for it is almost a year since I have heard a word from home and I do want to hear from you all so bad I think Miss Susan might write to me for she promised to do so In this letter I send [Gollie] some pointing to go round her panties I have not anything to send Pollie this time Tell her I will send her some thing next time I write Tell Johney he must write to me and let me see how fast he is learning and tell him that I have one of the prettiest little babies he ever saw Give my love to Walter and tell him that I have not forgotten him I must close give my love to all inquiring friends and accept a share for yourself

                                                                        From Theresa Moore

 

This letter was from one of Mary Polley's enslaved persons. The handwriting of the letter is beautiful and the grammar is near perfect, suggesting that Theresa was taught to read and write by someone in the family, probably Susan. From some of the things that are said in letter, it seems likely that Theresa was Susan’s personal slave. All the people she asks about at the beginning of the letter are members of the Polley family. Later in the letter she asks about formerly enslaved people that might still be living in the area. Theresa may have gone with Susan when she married Connally Henderson on 3 August 1858, to be her personal slave. Connally left to fight in the Civil War and was killed at the Battle of Gaines Mill, 27 June 1862. When he left for the War, Susan, Susan’s daughter Mary, and Theresa probably returned to the Polley Plantation. Susan’s daughter, Connally Findley Henderson, was born in 1862, shortly after Susan's husband, Connally's father was killed in the Civil War. Susan named her daughter after her husband, Connally Findley, "Connie."

 

The tone of the letter is very tender. Teresa longs to hear from the folks back in Sutherland Springs. She had a difficult time with the birth of her second child, Walter Aaron, developing mastitis. She worried that the child was not thriving. Although his name appears in the 1870 Census, in the 1880 Census, Walter Aaron is not listed among the children of Aaron and Theresa Moore. 

 

At the end of the letter, Theresa tells Mrs. Polley that she has included some pointing, a kind of needlepoint lace to decorate the underclothes of Susan’s little girls, Mary and Connally. She calls them by their nicknames, “Polly” and “Golly.” it must have been quite a while since she had gotten a letter from Susan, because Mary, “Polley,” had died in 1865, perhaps the same year that Theresa left the Polley Plantation with her husband Aaron. She might not have heard from the family in four years.

“Golly,” Connally Findley Henderson, grew up. Here are some photos of Connie, the little girl that Theresa sent the lace to.

 

Connally Findley Henderson ca. late 1860s

Connally Findley Henderson June 25, 1874

  In 1879, she married Jesse Lane Tiner. 

 

Connally Findley Henderson Tiner and 

Jesse Lane Tiner on their honeymoon in 1879

 Connie and Jesse had twelve children. You can see her and several of her children in this photo from the 1880s.

Tiner Family in front of their new house ca. 1890

 According to Mr. Tiner's 1898-1900 Diary, the family hired Patsy Turbin, a local Black woman to attend to Connie and the baby, while she recovered after the birth of her eleventh child, Mamye Althea, in 1899. Mr. Tiner had kind things to say about Patsy.

Connally Findley Henderson Tiner

ca. late 1920s 

Connie was affectionately known to her family as “Big Mama.”  

A piece of lace gently binds the stories and the lives of these four women together, enslaved and enslavers, mothers and daughters, sharers of sorrows, longings, and moments of tender care.

Maya Angelou ends her poem ,“Human Family,” with these echoing lines:

         But we are more alike, my friend,

than we are unalike.

 

We are more alike, my friend,

than we are unalike.

 

We are more alike, my friend,

than we are unalike.

 

Please make a contribution on the sidebar and help us save the Tiner Hendrick House so that we can uncover and share more of these stories about the human family.