Eugene Douglass Staples
EUGENE DOUGLASS STAPLES
Oct 2, 1882,
April 25, 1960
Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales
- Marriage information
Eugene Douglas Staples, elder son of Mr. and Mrs. W. O. Staples of Mexico City, and well known in Corpus Christi, was married to Miss Teresa Irene Hall at Baltimore, Md. On Monday, August 7.
Source: The Corpus Crony, September 2, 1905, p. 3, col. 1
Research by: Msgr. Michael A. Howell
Transcription by: Geraldine D. McGloin, Nueces County Historical Commission - Biography
Eugene Douglass Staples is the son of W. Oscar Staples and Margaret C. Bryden, and was born 2 October 1882 according to his grave marker. His great grandmother, Mrs. S. Staples, came with her sons and other relatives to this area in the 1850s and was buried in Old Bayview Cemetery when she passed from this life in 1877. His grandfather Waymon N. Staples and grandmother Sarah Rhoden Dunlap married in Mississippi in 1855 and moved to Texas the following year, settling in San Marcos. In 1858 they moved to Corpus Christi where they resided until purchasing a ranch in the western area of Nueces County near what was called Collins (near Alice), Texas. Eugene Douglas is probably partly named for one of their sons, Joseph Douglas, who died at only 5 years of age in 1860. Along with his sisters and another brother who also died young, Joseph Douglas is also buried in Old Bayview Cemetery. The father of Eugene Douglas is W. Oscar Staples, brother of little Joseph Douglas Staples (infant W. N. Staples) and Ira Price Staples (who also is buried in Old Bayview Cemetery). Oscar Staples married Margaret C. Bryden, daughter of James and Janet Bryden (who are also buried in Old Bayview Cemetery). The W. Oscar Staples family owned the Centennial House (originally built for the Forbes Britton family) for a little less than a year. They had purchased the home from Mrs. Janet Bryden, mother of Margaret (Mrs. W. Oscar Staples) in 1879. The W. Oscar family, however, sold the home in 1880 to George and Cornelia (Moore) Evans. Eugene Douglas would have been born shortly after that move. His father Oscar was a prominent young lawyer when he married Margaret Bryden, and he did play a significant role in the growth of Corpus Christi. However, Oscar spent much of his time outside the area because of his work. When his father Waymon N. Staples died in 1893, Oscar was listed as residing in Mexico City. He was also there when his mother Sarah Rhoden Dunlap Staples died in 1905. He was reached by wire and arrived in Corpus Christi via the Texas-Mexican railroad shortly before her remains arrived from Luling over the Aransas Pass railroad. Oscar and Margaret's son Eugene Douglas was thus exposed to a larger world than just south Texas, and he found himself at home in many places. Documents indicate that he studied in Notre Dame where the archives contain a couple of photos of young Eugene Douglas Staples (circa 1900 to 1903) in the athletic department's files. He married Teresa Irene Hall at Baltimore, Maryland on August 7, 1905 a few months after his grandmother's death in Luling on February 12. In his later years Eugene was a resident and worker in Cuba where he died on April 25, 1960 just prior to the great upheaval that Cuba experienced with the revolution of Fidel Castro. According to interviews with family members, the remains of Eugene Douglas were ultimately brought from Cuba to Corpus Christi and buried at the foot of the Staples family marker in Old Bayview Cemetery. As noted, family members from both his father and mother's families are also buried in Old Bayview.
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell