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Group celebrates Stephen F. Austin birthday
Published November 1, 2009
ANGLETON — As Henry Munson and his wife, Karyn, strolled into the Stephen F. Austin Museum on Saturday, a man dressed as an American soldier from the 1820s approached them, beckoning them to look at his “stand of arms.”
Going over his 1800s-era arsenal, Flem Rogers touted the accuracy of one of the Pennyslvania-Kentucky rifles.
“It’s able to kill a bear or a deer at more than 80 paces,” Rogers said.
None of the weapons actually was for sale, he said.
Rogers advertised the antique weapons Saturday during a birthday celebration at the Stephen F. Austin statue in Angleton. The statue is in a park off Highway 288 named for Henry Munson’s great-great-grandfather, Henry William Munson.
More than 100 people showed up at the site to celebrate Stephen F. Austin’s 216th birthday, which will be Tuesday. Proceeds will go to the Stephen F. Austin 500 group, which was founded to memorialize Austin with a 72-foot, white concrete statue.
The group is raising money to build additions to the site, including steppingstones around the statue, and possibly an amphitheater in the future, said Tom Fletcher, the group’s president.
“It’s a focal point for local history,” he said. “It’s to honor Stephen F. Austin and generate interest in that history.”
Participants bought barbecue plates, bid on items in a silent auction or spent most the night before getting ready for the barbecue cook-off.
“We were cooking last night with the light shining on the statue,” Robert Leatherwood said. “It was really neat.”
Bob Heinonen arrived at the celebration to portray Austin and to tell visitors the history of the area’s colonies.
“I try to make him real,” Heinonen said. “The immediate gratification is the faces of the audience. To see them react to the emotions involved with the story. The story’s becoming real to them.”
The Munsons sat down to eat a barbecue plate after hearing Rogers’ presentation and explained how the land was donated for the site.
Henry Munson said the land long had been in his extended family’s possession.
Henry Munson purchased the land from a cousin then donated it to the group for the site. When the Munson family first moved to the Brazoria County area in 1828, they had purchased the land from Austin.
“I think it’s really important,” he said. “They’ve done a tremendous job to perpetuate the history.”
John Tompkins is senior reporter for The Facts. Contact him at 979-849-8581.
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HISTORY LESSON
Known as the “Father of Texas,” Stephen F. Austin established the first Anglo-American colony in the Tejas province of Mexico and saw it grow into an independent republic.
Source: PBS
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