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- Mrs. C. H. Arcineaux, who now resides at 1430 College Street, was born at Sabine Pass in 1864, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T. R. Jackson. Mrs. Jackson was, prior to her marriage, Mary McGaffey, daughter of John McGaffey of New Hampshire and Sara Garner of Louisiana, who migrated to Texas in 1825, and were among the first settlers of Sabine Pass in its early days as a Port of Entry. They journeyed into Texas in an ox cart, over prairie and marsh land, bringing cattle from Louisiana. They were granted a league and labor of land from the Spanish government and some of this land still belongs to their descendents, including Mrs. Arcineaux. ( A )
Mrs. Arcineaux clearly recalls incidents of pioneer days told by her parents and grand-parents: how Dick Dowling and his small band of Irishmen defended the Pass against a fleet of Northern ships during the Civil War; the part her mother played in rescue work, how she helped cook for the soldiers of the south; and also of hardships suffered following the war. She tells harrowing stories of death and devastation wrought by the 3 storms, which she saw sweep over the Pass; the 1886 storm, which took a heavy toll of human life and swept hundreds of cattle into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico; the 1900 storm, which destroyed docks and wharves, blasting hopes of the Kountz Brothers, northern capitalists who sought to build a great seaport at Sabine Pass; and the 1915 storm, which wrecked her family home, causing its occupants to take refuge on a rescue train sent out from Beaumont in which city they have since that time resided.
Regardless of these storms, which took a heavy toll of cattle all along the gulf coast, the Jackson and Arcineaux families have remained in the cattle business. In the early days, before shipping facilities were available in the territory, they drove their cattle overland to Morgan City, Louisiana, for shipment to foreign ports. They were forced to swim those herds across the Neches and Sabine Rivers, and the manner in which it was most successfully done was for a cowboy to swim his pony by the side of a lead steer, holding its horns. The herd would then follow.
Other recollections of Mrs. Arcineaux include the regular visits paid to Sabine Pass by ships of the Morgan Steamship Lines, which came from New York and foreign ports. Cotton was their main cargo out of the Pass, but they brought sugar, coffee and other necessities not produced in Texas. She also tells of the mosquitoes which bred in the swamp land, how "mosquito bars" or nets were used at night. How sometimes the insects would become so numerous that people going outside would have to wear nets, drawn down from their hat brim and fastened at the neck. Much of the ill health of the early settlers were attributed to the bite of the mosquito.
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