01.29.19 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes January 29, 2019 following comments: " William Alexander Thompson did not, by himself, dig out the ditch later to be reinforced in 1867 as the dam and mill race discussed tonight. No, Mr. Thompson was a slaver. When Thompson moved to Texas, he brought 8 enslaved families with him to build up his wealth by performing the bulk of the plantations labor under a constant threat of violence.The people that Mr. Thompson held against their will, in 1852, carved out a ditch 1,850 feet long, 10 feet wide & 3 feet deep, according to Hays County records. So, if we are here to commemorate local history, lets be honest about that history. In 1994, applicants for the so-called Thompson Islands Historical Marker were, in fact, dishonest about our local history. I hold a copy of a letter sent by the Texas Historical Commission that year. It takes issue with the depiction of our local history by the San Marcos applicants, stating their refusal to recognize the crucial labor of dozens of individuals held in bondage by the Thompson clan — a false rendition of history that "would essentially leave out an important part of the history that is, the fact that African Americans played an important role in the history of the business." While we may never know all the names & stories of everyone enslaved by the Thompsons, research at the Public Library reveals an individual called "A Man" lived on the plantation throughout the 1860s. It is quite possible his forced labor, and the forced labor of his family, contributed to the construction. A century and a half before Tom Brady became a household name due to football, it was also the name of the youngest of twelve children of a family enslaved by the Thompsons. I was unable to find the names of everyone in the Brady family, forced to toil against their will to create considerable profit for the Thompsons, but Tom's father's name was Steven Brady & a few of Tom's brothers were named Alonzo, Freeman & Walt. As I mentioned, the Thompsons already enslaved at least eight families upon moving to the San Marcos area several years before, but in 1860 the Thompsons also enslaved the Brady family. Tom's mother was forced to regularly prepare meals for the Thompsons, while her children labored under the punishing Texas sun in the plantation. For my part, I no longer refer to the park as "Thompson's Island". I now call that area "Brady Island" as a tribute to the family who lived there -- & whose City of San Marcos Page 9