I know a lot of people are not into history. I suppose it’s because history is so irrelevant to today, or so they think. To them what’s on Facebook, or reality television, is so much more interesting. But, many times, history can give perspective to the world we live in today. And it can be interesting.

Terri’s mother, Mrs. Micki, knows I enjoy reading historical stuff and has given me several books to read. One of the books she gave me was about President Theodore Roosevelt when he was young. Teddy Roosevelt would probably not have a chance of getting elected President today. In his youth, his whole family took off for a year to tour Europe. When he went to college at Harvard, he was receiving more money from his family than the president of the university was making. No, he wouldn’t be qualified for president today. He’d be too “out of touch” with the American people. And Teddy Roosevelt sure wouldn’t have his face on Mt. Rushmore.

A few years ago, Mrs. Micki gave me another historically related item that was even more interesting. Well, at least to me. She is a member of the Sampson County Historical Society and she gave me a copy of their monthly periodical, “Huckleberry Historian.” The periodical contains interesting articles and historical information about Sampson County. The feature article in that edition was on Micajah Autry. I remembered he was killed at the Alamo and they did an outdoor drama about him for a few years over in Autryville, so I thought Joel Rose’s article would be a good read. According to Joel’s article, Micajah Autry was born in Sampson County, and was one of the 258 men killed at the Alamo in 1836.

As I read on, the article became very interesting. Joel wrote, “It appears that Micajah’s family may have lived near the intersection of today’s Welcome School Road and Maxwell Road in the Clement community.” Wait a minute! That’s only a couple hundred yards from where I was raised. So a hero of the Alamo, as a young child, may have played in the same woods and roamed the same fields as my childhood neighbors and buddies, Jerry, J.E. and I did while growing up.

See, history can be interesting.

The article continues stating how Micajah Autry headed west and ended up in Tennessee. Through his friend, Davey Crockett, he became involved in the battle for Texas independence from Mexico. Autry traveled to Texas and met his fate on March 6, 1836, when 4,000 Mexican troops overran the Alamo and killed all the Texan soldiers.

But the story doesn’t end there.

Texas granted 1,920 acres of land in Texas to Micajah Autry’s heirs for giving his life at the Alamo. Autry’s grandson, James L. Autry, Jr. moved to Texas in 1876 in order to manage the property. The grandson was a lawyer and local businessman. One of the businesses he was involved in was a water-well company. In 1894, instead of finding water, Autry’s water-well company discovered the first large oil field west of the Mississippi River. He and his partners established the Texas Fuel Company, which later became the Texaco Oil Company. Yes, that Texaco Oil Company.

So a hero of the Alamo, whose grandson was one of the founders of Texaco Oil Company, was born just down the road from my family’s homeplace. That’s interesting, at least to me. Who knows, maybe I have some rich relatives living in Texas. OK, probably not, but our roots did come from the same neighborhood.

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By Mac McPhail

Contributing columnist

Mac McPhail, raised in Sampson County, lives in Clinton and can be reached at [email protected].