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Last week’s article concerning Hogeye needs to be amended.
There’s a third Hogeye in Texas. It’s in Jack County according to the Texas State Historical Association. But that’s not all.
There are Hogeyes in other states, including Arkansas, Florida and California. Missouri has four that are based on physical features of the land: a small compact place sunk in a hollow. In California, a hogeye was a term deep-water sailors used, derisively, to describe a flat-bottomed boat used in shallow waters around San Francisco by river men. Otherwise, the risqué term “hog-eye” was used in early blues songs. Some say it was a sea chanty with suggestive lyrics. The folks at the Hogeye dances in the Litton home would have heard only the tune.
In the first article last week, the statement that Hogeye was a nickname needs to be amended also. Hogeye was the official name of the Litton home when a stagecoach line between Austin and Houston made it into a changing station – changing horses/mules – on a regular schedule. The Concord stagecoach that was referenced was the name of the type of stagecoach, not the line.
The people around the Litton home participated in the dances held at the Litton stage-stop house,which they all knew as "Hogeye." The settlement was the only community bordering the north side of the Colorado between Bastrop and Webberville in the 1830s.
“Hogeye” provided a place where they could exchange news and communicate with their neighbors in a time before TV, radio, telephones, computers and rapid transportation.
"Hogeye" was not the name of a post office. The first post offices were called Young's Settlement and Perryville, but it is likely that the stage brought mail addressed to Hogeye. The old cemetery also became known as Hogeye
Anderson Standifer’s family
Anderson Standifer died in 1820 or 1821 in Illinois. He was the husband of the intrepid woman, Austin-Colony settler, Elizabeth James, who drove an ox team with her four young children from Illinois to Georgia. Anderson is the ancestor of the many Standifer descendants in the Elgin area.
The “Anderson” name is from Scotland not Scandinavia as his name might indicate to Swedish descendants around Elgin. Anderson was his paternal grandmother’s maiden name. Her name was Cassandra Anderson born in Baltimore in 1726.
Anderson, according to the National Records of Scotland and other sources, is the eighth most common surname in Scotland. It was a patronymic name originating from the veneration of St. Andrew. Andrew was the apostle of Jesus and brother of Simon Peter. He was crucified on an X-shaped cross in Greece. This cross appears on Scotland’s flag. It is a white X-shaped cross on a blue background.
Anderson’s parents were plantation-owner Benjamin Standifer, 1764-1839, and his wife, Rachel Forrest, 1764-1801. Benjamin, also, was born in Baltimore, and Rachel was born in North Carolina. Benjamin served in the American Revolution on the side of the Patriots. Georgia at the time had a large Tory presence.
Both parents were charter members of the still-active Cloud Creek Baptist Church established on Sept. 29, 1788. It was in Wilkes County, Georgia, a county that was later divided into several counties, including Oglethorpe and Elbert County. Elbert was the home of Elizabeth James wife of Anderson Standifer.
This area had been the home of Cherokee and Creek Indians, who were displaced on the Trail of Tears in the 1830s after the Standifers had left Georgia.
This story will continue next week with the Standifers and Youngs coming to Texas.
Charlene Hanson Jordan wrote the above narrative as the second of a weekly column. Her newest book, "NOTES & RECOLLECTIONS, Post Oak Island & Elgin, Texas,” is available at the Elgin Depot Museum where exhibits, photographs and books on local history are also available. The museum is open on Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m. with extended hours starting in mid-January. The book may be purchased at the Elgin Courier office, 105 N. Main Street in Elgin, which can be reached at 512-285-3333 during business hours all week, or from her directly at [email protected] or 512-856-2562.
