a story by Violette La Camp Sooter from "Roots by the River"

One family that descended on the Valley almost "en masse" and helped it grow was the Shafer family of San Benito, and descendants are still around to attest to it. The second son, James E., was the first to arrive in 1908. He was quickly followed by the entire family of grown children and their mother. They came from Pennsylvania and the West Virginia area and bought up and settled on farms which had contiguous property lines with that already purchased by James. Eventually they owned almost all of what was known as the Lateral T community about two miles north of San Benito.

The oldest Shafer son, William, and his brothers, Noah and Claude, each settled his family on an adjoining farm. The mother, a true matriarch of the family holding them all together, also bought. The six Shafer men, including two sons who never married, Jake and Joe, joined forces to build their mother a house on her farm. This she shared with her two unmarried sons and an unmarried daughter known throughout the whole community as "Miss Anna."

Miss Anna was a registered nurse and the community of San Benito soon grew to depend upon her literally for care and medical advice almost to the extent, and in some instances more, than they did their doctors. Registered nurses were a rarity in the area at that time and Miss Anna became very prominent and greatly loved and continued to serve until her death many years later.

Two factors that had contributed to the Shafer family's exodus to the Valley were the death of the father and the health of the sons. Having contracted an illness which probably was tuberculosis while imprisoned in the Andersonville Prison during the Civil War, the head of the Shafer family had never regained his health and died in Pennsylvania. The second consideration was to remove themselves from the unhealthful conditions under which the brothers worked in the steel industry in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Some of them had been advised that they would be risking their lives to continue. So this family was typical of many well educated settlers who, lured by extravagant reports of rich Valley soil that produced two or more crops a year, gave up jobs in industry or business to take up farming. Fourth and fifth generations now live in the same areas and at least two grandchildren own and live on parts of the family farms, now converted largely to residential areas. Many of the present members of this family have made significant contributions in their chosen professions locally and in scattered areas and have prospered over the years.

Early contributions of these families were significant also. They took their share of the responsibilities for community activities. James, having been especially talented musically, shared his gift with the community, and his home was often a meeting place for musicians and music lovers. His son, Jim Shafer, Jr., artist of note today, reveals that some of his earliest memories are of guests gathered around the piano in his childhood home. All during World War I and the bandit disorders of 1916-17, James Shafer spearheaded community efforts to entertain men in uniform who were stationed at the camp located on south Sam Houston in San Benito.

James had originally left Pennsylvania about 1900 after having given up his job in the steel mills and gone to Illinois to teach school. There he met another school teacher, Maude Hawley, who subsequently became his wife. When the couple purchased Valley land from promoter Sam Robertson in 1908, they came by train over the railway that went through the King Ranch. At one point they were delayed one day and had to remain on the train because the sand had been shifted by the wind until it was stacked in dunes over the tracks. Maude often remarked later that this was her first impression of Texas.

Their pioneer days brought them many adventures. Maude Shafer said of the one-room shack they first built that it had a front door and a back door and all she had to do was open both doors and the dust blew out. They caught a wild range cow and in order to get the one quart of milk she produced daily. They had to tie her legs and head to a mesquite tree to milk her. The rattlesnakes were one of nature's adversities they had to contend with in clearing the land. A family picture shows a pyramid-shaped stack of rattlesnakes six feet high that had been killed. An area out towards Los Fresnos was called Diamond Back Prairie at that time because rattlers could actually be seen glistening in the sun on the salt flat.

But Maude Shafer was a good pioneer wife and entered into the activities of the community. She was one of the earliest members of the Culture Club of San Benito. One of the incidents the family remembers having heard her recall was when the club was meeting with Mrs. Stanley Dodds. It seems news came that the bandits were on their way and club members scattered in all directions to return home before they were ambushed. Mrs. Shafer and her buckboard covered the eight or nine miles and when she arrived home with the horse nearly dead, she maintained that her "seat hadn't touched the seat" all the way home.

The Shafer families were among those who were victimized by raids. More than once when James was away, Maude and her young daughter were frightened when the bandits showed up and rode around and around the house on horseback. Maude was grateful when a train came by with fiat cars carrying soldiers, and the marauders were frightened away. Though the Shafers escaped harm, atrocities were committed near them during this period.

But these times passed and the Lateral T Community grew, prospered and came to enjoy shared activities. There were picnics and traditional gatherings to celebrate Christmas and New Year's. All the Shafer families and the other pioneers of the community would pile into four or five wagons loaded with food supplies and go to Point Isabel to stay for a week of camping out. This was their vacation. Huge fish fries resulted as the red fish were crying to be caught in those days. Family photographs show catches of red fish all of 30, 36 and 46 inches long which were carried on poles between the shoulders of two fishermen. Forty or so fish might be strung through the heads on one pole and some of the tails would be trailing the ground. They camped at Buena Vista and a place called Holly Beach and they must not have gone hungry.

One traditional gathering of all the pioneer families was the Christmas Eve party at the palatial home of the Cowgills. The Cowgill plantation was south of San Benito. This party was primarily for the children, with Stanley Dodds playing Santa Claus and coming down from the balcony dressed for the occasion. There was nothing traditional, however, about the Chnstmas tree gaily festooned with large candles. It was always an ebony.

Another festivity in which all the pioneers participated was the New Year's celebration year after year at the Middleton's home. This was a picnic with each family bringing its picnic basket well laden with favorite dishes. It was at this gathering that the pioneer times were discussed and retold nostalgically. One thing the James Shafer family could always report was that they had again received their Christmas turkey. The game bird was sent as a gift each year without fail by a Mexican man they had known as Alvarand. He had been the head of a brush clearing crew and had been hired by the Shafers back in 1908 and 1909 to clear their newly purchased brushland. Alvarand had prospered and later acquired his own ranch south of San Benito, but he never forgot the Shafers.

And then there was the Lateral T Bridge Club. This was never an organized group and their activities had nothing to do with cards. They deserved the nickname they acquired, however, as they did meet regularly when the weather permitted on the wooden bridge over the Lateral T canal. The brothers and a few of their neighbors who lived in the adjoining area would walk down to the bridge about sunset and lounge on its banisters or stand around discussing everything from crops to politics. Heated discussions evolved over politics and the yelling and cussing could sometimes be heard for miles. They would give ground only when forced to in order for a Model T to chug across or, more often, for a tired old plow horse halfheartedly to drag a buckboard across.

As the Valley grew, third generation Shafers grew to adulthood and remained to add to its economy or scattered to other areas. Most of them are still in Texas. Noah Shafer's children are Glen, deceased; Edith, who lives in Arizona; Charles in California; Mildred in Wimberly, Texas; and Richard in Corpus Christi, Texas, where he is Dean of Men at Del Mar College. Four of Claude Shafer's children still live in or near San Benito. They are Hugh, Mary Katherine, Helen and Raymond, retired. Howard is deceased and Clare is an executive with Phillips Petroleum but he is still in Texas. William Shafer's son, William II, lives in Austin. James Shafer's daughter, Eleanor, lives in Dixon, Illinois, and his artist son, Jim, Jr., lives in Cuero, Texas.

Many of the descendants of this industrious pioneer family still reside in the Rio Grande Valley and still contribute to its growth and development.