Nacogdoches Texas USA: Ernestine Henry

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Ernestine Henry

Martha Ernestine Hankla Henry, a wise woman, passed away on January 24, 2022, in Nacogdoches, Texas at the age of 104. Ernestine was one of four children born to Samuel Flournoy and Elma Smith Hankla in Geneva, near McMahon Chapel, October 10, 1917, in Sabine County, Texas, on land grant property from the Republic of Texas. Ernestine attended school in Geneva and later graduated from Beaumont High School.

She married Elvie Denton (E. D.) Henry in 1935, and lived in Corpus Christi where she became a building contractor and ED managed ship building for WWII efforts. They later moved to Houston and continued a real estate development business. After the birth of two daughters, Kay Ann and Georgia Carol, the family moved to San Augustine, Texas embracing their East Texas roots to operate cotton gins and raise cattle.

With a passion for education, Ernestine was a lifelong learner and earned a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Education from Stephen F. Austin State College. She continued Doctorial study at the University of Houston and Baylor University.

Ernestine Henry 1966 Nacogdoches, Texas

She enjoyed her many years as a teacher in San Augustine and truly relished her position as Dean of Women at SFA were she served for 26 years, 1959 to 1985. As the only woman on the SFA Executive Committee during much of that time, she encouraged and supported hundreds of women as they expanded their education, social lives, families and careers. Her pleasure was seeing young people become successful. She truly enriched the lives of many SFA students. Ernestine was voted favorite administrator by the SFA student senate, and brought four national sororities to SFA. She later personally encouraged Tri Delta to visit the SFA campus and they became the 5th national sorority. One of her favorite memories was when Alumni Drive on the SFA campus was designated to be named Ernestine Henry Drive in 2000.

A member and leader of many national, state and local organizations involving education, she was a founding member of the Nacogdoches Pilot Club and always cherished her Pilot sisters. Ernestine was proud of her family and her East Texas heritage. She was a charter member of the San Augustine Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was a longtime of supporter of the Old Nacogdoches University Building and considered it the “jewel” of Nacogdoches historic sites. She admired the Federation of Women’s Clubs who are trustees to preserve the building and museum for the benefit of our community.

Ernestine began oil painting in the 70’s and it became a lifelong passion with her dear friend and instructor, Karen LoStracco. She traveled worldwide to visit other cultures and study the world’s finest museums. She was always proud to gift her paintings to family, special friends and various fundraisers around Nacogdoches.

A storyteller with an incredible memory, she was creative and inquisitive. She subscribed to dozens of magazines to follow the stock market, politics, history, cooking, crafting, architecture and entertainment news. Rarely could a friend share local or world news that she had not already found on her iPad or magazines. Ernestine had a unique way of making the most distant world events relatable to the East Texas community.

She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband and siblings, Randolph Hankla, Jim Hankla, Florine Hankla Ramsey and son-in-law Major General Michael Butchko (USAF).

Ernestine is survived by her two daughters, Kay Henry Butchko of Nacogdoches and Georgia Henry Darnell, and husband Kirby, formerly of Henderson, Texas and now Roswell, New Mexico; her adoring grandchildren and their families, Benjamin Michael Butchko, wife Kirstin and children Jay Yeats and Elizabeth Ann Butchko of Houston; Kathryn Butchko Pelka, husband Jay and daughter Katelyn Maire of Oldsmar, Florida; Adriann Darnell Ragsdale, husband Luke and daughter Alexandra of Roswell; and by many nieces and nephews.

In keeping with her love of education and learning, Ernestine chose to dedicate her body to medical science. A private family memorial will be held at a future date. For those wishing to offer a memorial, a donation made to the renovation project for the Old University Building would be an honor. Donations may be sent to The Federation of Women’s Clubs, PO Box 633113, Nacogdoches, TX 75963, a 501(c)(3) organization.

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The Flag of the Kingdom of Spain 1519 to 1821

The Spanish Flag of Castile and Leon flew over Texas for three hundred years. Spanish involvement in Texas began with Alonzo Alverez de Pineda's mapping of the Texas coast in 1519. Then, in 1542 Luis de Moscoso came to Nacogdoches and East Texas with the remnants of the Hernando de Soto expedition that had begun four years earlier in Florida. Spain's claim to Texas went back to the DeSoto-Moscoso Expedition, which claimed all of southeastern United States as Spanish Florida. Spain's occupation of Texas began in 1690 with the founding of Mission San Francisco de los Tejas on the Neches River. It continued in 1716 with the founding of six missions from the Neches River to Los Adaes in Western Louisiana, and 1721 with the founding of Presidio Nuestra Señora de Pilar de los Adaes----near present day Robeline, Louisiana. Los Adaes was the first capital of the Province of Texas. Texas was under the Spanish flag until Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821. Interestingly, the first flag used by the Spanish to claim Texas was not the familiar flag of Castile and Leon; it was a banner that had the Virgin of Guadalupe on one side and the crucified Christ on the other.

The Flag of the Kingdom of France 1685 to 1689

France's claim to a part of Texas went back to 1682, when Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, explored the Mississippi and claimed all the land in its drainage for France. For some mapmakers and politicians, this included Texas. He named this land Louisiana. La Salle came to Texas in 1685, after he accidentally sailed past his destination at the mouth of the Mississippi. He established Fort St. Louis and a French settlement on Garcitas Creek off Matagorda Bay. The settlement was ill fated from its beginning. LaSalle was murdered by his own men near Navasota in 1687, and the settlers and soldiers who remained at Fort St. Louis were killed or captured by the Indians in 1689. The Spanish found Fort St. Louis and burned it to the ground in 1690. This French intrusion into Spanish territory caused the Spanish to begin the occupation and settlement of East Texas to prevent further French invasions.

The Flag of the Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition 1812 to 1813

Bernardo Gutiérrez and Lieutenant Augustus Magee flew their green flag of the new Republic of Texas over the Stone Fort in Nacogdoches in August of 1812. The Republican Army of the North, as these filibusters called themselves, had come from Natchitoches to Nacogdoches to recruit and train troops with the help of Samuel Davenport. They stayed for two months, drilled an army of over five hundred men, and then marched on to capture Goliad and San Antonio. Magee died at Goliad, and his place was taken by Samuel Kemper. Kemper and Gutiérrez captured San Antonio and issued a Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Texas on April 6, 1813. This brief time of Texas Independence was over when the Spanish general Joaquín de Arredondo destroyed the remains of the Republican army at the Battle of Medina on August 18, 1813. Augustus Magee and Samuel Davenport, who were in charge of the militia in Nacogdoches, were both Irishmen. That might have governed their choice of the Emerald Green flag as the Republican army's standard.

The Flag of the Dr. James Long Expedition 1819 and 1821

Some Americans believed that Texas was part of Louisiana as claimed by LaSalle in 1682 and should have been included in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. One of those was Dr. James Long of Natchez, Mississippi, who came to Nacogdoches in June of 1819. Dr. Long proclaimed himself the president of his newly declared Republic of Texas. Dr. Long's red-striped Lone Star flag flew but briefly over the Stone Fort and his Republic of Texas. The Spanish caught Long when he went to Galveston, where he was seeking the assistance of pirate Jean Lafitte. There they defeated him and his meager army and chased him back to Louisiana. Dr. Long returned to Texas with a small army in 1821 and quickly captured the poorly manned garrison at Goliad. However, he was soon under siege by Spanish troops from San Antonio, who recaptured Goliad and took him captive. Dr. James Long was taken to Mexico City, jailed, then freed, and then murdered under mysterious circumstances by a Mexican soldier.

The Flag of the Mexican Federal Republic 1821 to 1836

Spanish Nacogdoches came under the Mexican flag in 1821, when Mexico finally won its independence from Spain. Mexico, in order to prove its ownership of Texas, began settling its eastern parts with the Anglos as early as December 1821. In that year Stephen F. Austin was allowed to bring the first of his Old Three Hundred Settlers into his grant on the Brazos. Thereafter, Americans poured through Nacogdoches, the Gateway to Texas, in search of cheap land. By the time of the Texas revolution in 1836, Anglos greatly outnumbered the Spanish-Mexican population. The Mexican flag that flew over Nacogdoches and still flies over Mexico was adopted in 1825. It has three vertical green, white, and red fields of equal width. In the center of the white field is the Mexican eagle sitting on a nopal cactus holding a snake in its beak. In Mexican legend, this was a sign to the Aztecs that they had reached the land that was to be their home.

The Flag of the Fredonia Rebellion 1826 to 1827

For a brief while, the flag that flew over Nacogdoches was the red-and-white banner of Haden Edward's thirty-seven-day Fredonia Rebellion. Edwards had obtained a grant from Mexico to settle eight hundred families in East Texas in the Nacogdoches area. Unfortunately for him, most of the land had already been settled---legally and illegally---by the early Spanish, by Indians, and by Anglo squatters. His intrusion caused such a disturbance that the Mexican government revoked his grant. Disappointed over the loss of his grant, on December 16, 1826, Haden and his brother Benjamin rode into Nacogdoches, planted their flag in front of the Stone Fort, and proclaimed the Republic of Fredonia. They had formed an uncertain alliance with the Cherokees, thus the reason for the red and white colors of the flag. The flag carried the words "Independence Freedom and Justice" and the Signatures of sixteen of the original Fredonians. The Fredonian army consisted of no more than thirty men, the Cherokees never joined them, and Stephen F. Austin raised a militia to put down the East Texas rebellion. The Fredonians gave up their cause on January 22, 1827, and retreated eastward across the Sabine.

The Flag of the Republic of Texas 1836 to 1846

Mexican Texas became the Republic of Texas after Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna on the plains of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. The first official flag was a white upside-down star on a blue background with T-E-X-A-S written between the points of the star. This flag never flew. The second flag of the Republic was adopted by the first Texas congress in December 1836. It bore a single, large gold star on a blue field. This flag was the same design as the "Bonnie blue flag that bears a single star" that was so popular among the Southern troops during the Civil War. The Lone Star flag that we now use was designed by Texas Senator William H. Wharton and was officially adopted by the Senate under President Mirabeau B. Lamar in 1839. The new flag kept the white star on the blue field, but now the blue field was a vertical stripe which occupied one-third of the flag, and it was balanced by horizontal white and red stripes, on the other two-thirds. This Texas flag has been prominently displayed for over 150 years.

The Flag of the Confederate States of America 1861 to 1865

For four years, the Stars and Bars flew over Nacogdoches and Texas. After years of conflicts of interest between the North and the South over states rights, slavery, and the right of secession, the Civil War began in March of 1861. Texas seceded and joined the Confederate States of America. It sent its Texas brigades into battle, and suffered for four years with the rest of the Confederacy before General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. The most enduring of the Confederate flags during the War was the Stars and Bars with the square of blue holding a circle of the seven original seceding states. Texas was the seventh star. Because the Confederate Stars and Bars and the Union Stars and Stripes were easily confused in the heat of battle, General P. G. T. Beauregard introduced a Confederate battle flag. This was a square red flag with a white-bordered blue cross running diagonally from corners to corners. The cross contained thirteen stars representing the eleven Confederate states plus Kentucky and Missouri. This battle flag became the flag most closely identified with the Southern cause. The Confederate Stars and Bars came down in Texas after April 1863 and Appomattox, and the United States Stars and Stripes have been flying over this State ever since.

The Flag of the United States of America since 1846

On February 19, 1846, the Lone Star flag was lowered over the Texas state capitol in Austin, and the Stars and Stripes was raised. The Republic of Texas had become the State of Texas. From the beginning of the Republic in 1836, the majority of the Texians, most of whom had come directly from the States, had wanted Texas to join the Union. But many in the Union did not want Texas in the United States. Some did not want one more Southern slave-holding state, and some were afraid of causing a war with Mexico. Nevertheless, on July 4, 1845, the Texas congress voted to accept the articles of annexation offered by United States President James K. Polk, and on December 29, 1845, the congressional resolution proclaiming Texas as a state in the Union was signed by President Polk. The Old Glory that was raised above the Texas state capitol on the following February 19, 1846, had twenty-eight stars in four rows of seven stars each. Except for the four years of the Civil War, 1861 to 1865, these Stars and Stripes have since 1846 flown over the State of Texas.

Nacogdoches Texas USA

Nacogoches

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Ernestine Henry

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