William Anderson

Capt. William Anderson
1855-1938

Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales

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1. Photograph
    
2. News item

   Article March 1938
    

   Aged Corpus Christian Tells of Visit of Federal Boats During Civil War

   By Oran Warder Nolen, in Corpus Christi Caller (quoted in The Timely Remarks)
    

   Gaunt and tall, with an unconscious dignity that is the heritage of age alone, he stood there on the pier and gazed across the bay.  There was no mistaking the fact that he was a sea-faring man.  Nothing but a combination of sun and wind and salt-water spray could harden and knot those hands; could toughen and tan that face.  Had it not been for a certain noble gentleness in his bearing it would require no stretch of imagination to believe that he had once sailed the seven seas or scuttled a ship. After watching a sailboat in the distance for a few moments he seated himself upon a bench.  A tentative question attracted his attention.

   “How long have I lived in Corpus Christi?  I have lived here for 82 years—was born and raised here.  I was born yonder where the Nueces Hotel now is, on the anniversary of the date that Columbus discovered America, on October 12. “Sailor?  Well, I’ve followed the water all my life.  It’s all I’ve ever done.  I could write a history of this town and the coastal waters from here to Galveston, for I was here when history was being made.  There were only 200 people here when I was born.  I’ve handled all kinds of boats up and down the coast and have seen all kinds of boats come into this bay, even gunboats.

   Town to Be Bombarded

   “Yes, gunboats.  It was during the Civil War.  Four or five Union gunboats came into the bay one day and the commander got into a row boat and was rowed to the pier, which was about 150 feet from where this one is.  Mr. Gilpin took a white flag and went out to the end of the pier and held a parley with the commander.  The commander said that everybody was to leave town within 48 hours as he was going to bombard it.

   “The people took the warning at 100 per cent of its value and lit out for the hills back of town.  Then the gunboats opened up on the town.  Those old cannon balls would knock a hole right through a house, they bury themselves in the face of the bluff.  We had an old cat which we left behind when we left town.  One of those cannon balls went through our house and the cat must have been hit by the flying splinters when the ball whizzed through the walls, for when we came back we found old Tom with his head swelled to twice its natural size and one side of it skinned up like he had been knocked cock-eyed by something.† He watched a large bird hovering over the water a short distance away.  Suddenly it dived down head first and came up through the spray with a gleaming fish in its beak.  The old sailor grinned in a reminiscent way at some recollection of the bombardment of Corpus Christi by the Union gunboats.

   Commander Captured

   “When the commander of the boats we knocking holes through the houses with those old cannon balls he never had any idea that he would be a guest of the little town in a few days.  About two weeks after he bombarded the town he went ashore at Flour Bluff to do a little hunting.  Some Confederates were hiding out watching him and they suddenly swooped out and grabbed him.  They brought him right back up here to the place he had just shot the stuffin’ out of a few days before.  He shore was kinda embarrassed at getting to meet the people so soon.

   “Yes, I’ve followed the water all my life.  I first started out by helping my father on his boat and when I got old enough I began operating my own boat.  The first money I ever made for myself was received for taking a boat load of merchandise from Rockport to Sharpsburg, up the Nueces River.  In those days you take boats up every river that reached the Texas coast, up the Navida and Lavaca; up the Guadalupe to Victoria; the Nueces to Sharpsburg, and far inland up the Rio Grande.

   “At first I used sailboats.  That was the only kind we had in those days.  Then I used motor boats, then steam boats.  I used to haul lumber, salt, wool, hides, cotton—not much cotton—but lots of wool and hides.  I hauled stuff all up and down the coast.  I brought lots of merchandise from Galveston.

   Quit Hauling Merchandise

   “Ocean-going ships used to come into the ports on this part of the coast quite often.  Captain C. C. Heath had a large schooner in which he brought a load of coffee from Rio Janeiro.  He liked Corpus Christi so well that he sold his ship and bought property here and made this his home.  Captain Heath was a mighty fine man.

   “I finally quit hauling merchandise and began operating a pleasure boat.  I took people for a day’s outing to Port Aransas and elsewhere, and I’ve carried more people across the bay than all other boatmen put together up to the time I retired.  I kept books one year and in that year I carried over 5,000 people on my boat.â€

   A porpoise lazily churned up the water a short distance away, its shark-like fin and tail cutting through the surface from time to time.

   “Most of the people whom I knew when I was a boy are now dead.  You can lose lots of friends by death in 82 years.  However, there are still a few left.  I used to go to school with John Dunn, Eli Merriman, W. S. Rankin and I have an older brother, Andrew, who is still living.

   “I’ve made my home around this bay and upon the water for 82 years.  I’ve handled a boat in all kinds of weather.  Storms?  I’ve been through all kinds of storms.  A man has to know what he’s doing when he handles a boat in a storm.  I’ve seen two or three times in my life when if I hadn’t known what I was doing I’d have been a goner.  It ain’t no place for a greenhorn—handling a boat in a storm.â€

   A sailboat gently nosed forward to the pier.  The man at the tiller released his hold, ran lightly across the deck, swung a rope around a post and tied the vessel fast.

   Followed the Golden Rule

   “I’m 82 years old and have spent it all right here on this bay and up and down the coast.  All of my life I’ve followed the Golden Rule.  In fact, most of the old-time Texans followed that rule, whether they would acknowledge it or not.  They always considered the other fellow’s rights, and that’s something a lot of people today don’t do.

   “Now, you take this bay and this whole Texas coast, as beautiful as any in the world, and what are they doing to it?  Ruining it.  Yes, ruining it by leasing it and drilling for oil.  Those fellows have more oil now than they can sell or know what to do with and yet they are howling for more, just howling for more.

   “It won’t be long until the shallow waters and bays and shores of our coast will be ugly with hideous abandoned tanks, broken down derricks, rusting machinery, mud and oil can make them.  Perhaps it is just as well that I won’t live until…â€

   Captain William Anderson gazed across the bay with a wistful look in his eyes.  It was evident that the bay-leasing lunacy had hurt him deeply.  That beautiful expanse of water had been his home for 82 years—yes, not only his home, but also his livelihood.

   His tanned and weathered face, the very nodosity of those gnarled hands, bespoke a life of toil and hardship which had been his lot for 82 years on Corpus Christi Bay.  He loved it with a deep, unfading love—the blue waters of the bay and the whole Texas coast.

   Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell

3. Obituary

   William Anderson

   Capt. William Anderson Dies at Daughter's Home

   Lived Here When Union Gunboats Bombarded City Capt. William Anderson, who lived to see Corpus Christi grown from an outpost with 200 residents to a city with a population estimated at 60,000, died at 4 o'clock this morning at the home of his daughter, Mrs. W. J. Biggio, 9121/2 Chaparral Street, closing a life spent largely on the waters along the Texas coast.

   Captain Anderson was one of the city's oldest native residents.  He was born in a small house on the site where the Nueces Hotel now stands on October 12, 1855.  He had spent all of his life here.

   He was here during the Civil War when Union gunboats bombarded the city, and he was working on boats when merchandise was shipped up every river that reached the Texas Coast.  He was here when motor boats were first invented and when the first steam boats came into use.  And he handled them all, operating up and down the Texas coast, hauling lumber and salt, wool, hides, a little cotton.

   He was here when ocean-going vessels used to visit Corpus Christi, long before a man-built port at Corpus Christi was ever thought of.  He saw the city grown gradually and in later years expand with surprising rapidity.  He lived to see changes, inventions, and developments which neither he nor any of his contemporaries had ever anticipated in the early days, but his attention was centered always largely on the water.

   In later years he operated pleasure boats, and liked to remember that in one year he once took a total of 5,000 persons on outings in his boat.  He had attended school with John Dunn, Eli Merriman and W. S. Rankin, and was among the city’s oldest and best loved citizens.

   He had handled boats in all kinds of weather and had many a story of bays and the gulf he knew so well.

   He is survived by his daughter, Mrs. Biggio, one brother, Capt Andrew Anderson of Corpus Christi; two sisters, Mrs. Lillie H. Rankin of Corpus Christi and Mrs. Amanda Keller of Houston; two grandchildren, Willie Lee Biggio and Ray Crossley, both of Corpus Christi.

   Funeral services will be held at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning at the David T. Peel Funeral Chapel, with Dr. S. L. Batchelor of the First Methodist Church officiating. Burial will be in Old Bayview Cemetery.

   Active Pallbearers in include Thomas B. Dunn, John Grant, John Hull, Walter F. Timon, H. D. C. Gussett and J. O. Pinkerton.

   Honorary pallbearers will include all of the city’s oldest residents, his associates and friends for four score years.

   Source: Corpus Christi Caller-Times, September 7, 1938, p 1, col. 3 and p. 2, col. 6

    

   Funeral Today For One of city's Oldest Natives

   Capt. William Anderson Born in Corpus Christi October 12, 1855

   One of the city's oldest native residents, Capt. William Anderson, 83, who watched Corpus Christi grown from a population of 200 to 60,000, will be buried this afternoon in Old Bayview Cemetery.

   Funeral services will be held at 10 o'clock this morning at David Peel funeral Chapel, with Dr. Sloan L. Batchelor, pastor of the First Methodist Church, officiating.

   Captain Anderson died at 4 o'clock yesterday morning at the home of his daughter, Mrs. W. J. Biggio, 912 1/2 North Chaparral Street.

   The captain was born October 12, 1855 in a small house on the site where the Nueces Hotel now stands.

   He was here during the Civil War when Union gunboats bombarded the city and he was working on boats when merchandise was shipped up every river that reached the Texas coast.  He was here when motor boats were invented and when the first steamboats came into use.  He handled them all, operating along the Texas coast, hauling lumber and salt, wool, hides and cotton.

   He saw Corpus Christi in the day when ocean-going vessels visited it, long before the present turning basin was dredged.

   In later years he operated pleasure boats.  He attended school with John Dunn, Eli T. Merriman and W. S. Rankin and was among the city's oldest and best loved citizens.

   He is survived by his daughter, Mrs. Biggio, one brother, Capt Andrew Anderson of Corpus Christi; two sisters, Mrs. Lillie H. Rankin of Corpus Christi and Mrs. Amanda Keller of Houston; two grandchildren, Willie Lee Biggio and Ray Crossley, both of Corpus Christi.

   Active Pallbearers in include Thomas B. Dunn, John Grant, John Hull, Walter F. Timon, H. D. C. Gussett and J. O. Pinkerton.

   Honorary pallbearers will include all of the city's oldest residents, his associates and friends for four score years.

   Source: Corpus Christi Caller, September 8, 1938, p. 2, col. 4
   Research by:  Msgr. Michael A. Howell
   Transcription by:  Geraldine D. McGloin, Nueces County Historical Commission