The Owners of The Chateau

 Ford, Reuben W. Topographical map of the City of Austin,   map, 1872; Austin. University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, crediting University of Texas at Arlington Library. The red star indicates the location of Lot 63 on the original plat map of Austin.

For over 16,000 years,  Native Americans inhabited the area that is now Austin . Long before European settlers claimed the Balcones Escarpment for themselves, Tonkawa, Comanches, and Lipan Apaches lived, hunted, traded, and wandered there, following the animals and their migrations. At that time, Waller Creek was teeming with fish. Buffalo and Deer roamed the vicinity. Waller Creek was an ideal camp location for these Indigenous Tribes, especially in springtime.

In 1839,  Judge Edwin Waller , who later became Austin's first mayor, surveyed the site and laid out a street plan that has largely remained intact to this day. On the northeastern edge of Waller’s map was Lot 63 (Division E), where the Watson Chateau was later built.

In 1850, the first person to purchase Lot 63 was William Woods Atwood. There is no record of Mr. Atwood building a lasting structure on the property.

Born in 1804 in Maine, William W. Atwood moved to Tennessee and married Mary Catherine Neely. Mary was the first cousin of the 11th President of the United States, James K. Polk (1845-1849, under whose administration the annexation of Texas took place). William Atwood also had political ambitions. He was a member of the Tennessee legislature and a successful merchant of the time. However, he lost his fortune and moved his wife and young children to Texas to rebuild his wealth. Mr. Atwood started as a landowner and farmer, became a rancher, had more children, and even ran for office again.

William and Mary Atwood's daughter, Adela, married August B. Palm., whose uncle, Swante Palm (a.k.a. Swen Jaensson), was named Vice Consul for Norway and Sweden. Swante was a book collector and donated his library of approximately 12,000 volumes to the University of Texas in 1897. This increased the library by more than 60%.

In 1853, William Atwood sold Lot 63 to Margaret Francis Neville Bowie. It is said that Margaret had The Chateau built the year the property was purchased. Little has been written about Margaret, but she was known as the widow of Rezin (pronounced Reason) Pleasant Bowie, Jr. whom she outlived him by 35 years. They had seven children, and she never remarried. Her husband is credited as the inventor of the famous hunting Bowie Knife, but it was his brother, James “Jim” Bowie, that made the knife famous.

The young brothers Bowie engaged in minor land speculation, farming, lumbering, and saw milling. They reached an entirely new position of wealth when they became involved in Chattel Slavery with famous pirate, John Lafitte. While their families were settled on plantations in Louisiana, the brothers traveled through various lands of America now known as Texas, engaging in politics and wars. Their endeavors included looking for Los Almagres Mine, a legendary silver mine, rumored to be near the Santa Cruz de San Sabá Mission ruin, west of San Antonio, Texas. The mine was never found.

After the Civil War, Margaret sold the Watson Chateau to her son-in-law, Joseph Hickman Moore, husband of Matilda Eleanor Bowie. The family's primary residence was their plantation in Pointe Coupée Parish, Louisiana.

In 1870, the next owner of The Chateau was James Ralston. He was a member of the Texas State Legislature and a member of the Hibernian Benevolent and Mutual Aid Association of Austin, Texas. This organization helped immigrants from Ireland.

After James Ralston died and left debts putting the estate into question, William Saunders purchased the property and house in 1884 at public auction. The house changed hands several more times and again, William Saunders purchased it in 1891.

Born in Chester, Ohio, Saunders became a physician and was commissioned as an officer during the Civil War. His wife, Ermina Finch, was also a highly educated woman, having graduated from Knox College. The couple were buried across from the Oakwood Cemetery Chapel, just steps from main street, demonstrating their high placement within Austin’s society - or their ability to pay for a well-located lot of value.

According to several City Directories, Jacob Hufford, Jr. purchased The Chateau in 1891, where he and his family lived. Hufford was born in Scott County, Indiana. Over time his occupations were listed as farmer, builder, teamster. He and his wife Mary Ann had three children.

Stephen and Anne Granberry purchased the Watson Chateau in 1894, but lived most of their lives in a home on Brazos and 9 ^th  Street. The Chateau was in the family for many years, inherited by their son Howard, then by their daughter Mary.

Born in Alabama, raised in Mississippi, Stephen Collier Granberry had ambitions of being a lawyer. Serving in the Civil War ended that dream. Part of the generation of men that struggled against the great odds of the post-war reconstruction era, Stephen was a determined young man. He made his way to Hemphill Prairie, where he met his wife, Anne Hemphill. From there, they moved to Austin, seeking a more prosperous future. When farmers were forced to sell cotton at low prices because of local trusts formed among cotton buyers, Mr. Granberry seized the business opportunity. To secure the best market prices, Stephen formed and headed Austin’s first cooperative farmers’ cotton yard, The Farmers’ Cotton Alliance. Although he only completed high school, his business acumen set up following generations of Granberrys to pursue higher education, and become successful doctors and members of Austin’s society in their own right.

Dr. Howard Baldwin Granberry received his B.A. at University of Texas and his M.D. Degree from Tulane, practicing medicine in Austin for 49 years. He served on the Texas State Board of Health, and received many honors from the Medical Society. His son, Howard Jr., also became a well-known Austin doctor, surgeon and the inventor of numerous orthopedic instruments.

Mary Granberry Hamer was also college educated and became a widow at a young age. She ran the Granberry home on Brazos Street and took in lodgers. Her daughter, Annie Mary Hamer, and son-in-law, John E. Pledger, were both University of Texas graduates.

Stephen and Annie’s grandson, Collier Read Granberry, received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Texas. After graduating, he became a highly respected Professor of Electrical Engineering at his alma mater, served as assistant to the University President, and held all the ranks in UT’s Department of Electrical Engineering. Additionally, he served in various positions with the Texas Legislature for 53 years. His love and knowledge of politics began as a child when he worked as a page at the Texas House of Representatives. Due to his unmatched expertise in parliamentary procedures, he served as parliamentarian to almost all the Speakers in his lifetime, was Legislative Council Director and Executive Assistant to Governor Alan Shivers.

Rarely do old American history books mention a woman more than her husband, but such is the case with  Nell “Nellie” Gertrude Horne Doom , and her husband David Houston Doom, owners of the Watson Chateau in 1911.

David Houston Doom graduated from the University of Texas Law School. He had a private law practice, served as district judge for Travis County, and was president of the Austin Bar Association in the 1930s. His office was located at the  Old Masonic Temple , until around 1940, when the office was moved to his home on Enfield.

The name Annie Doom Pickrell, sister of Watson Chateau owner D. H. Doom, was often printed in Austin’s society pages for her activism with the Daughters of The Republic of Texas. Her name was also printed on the covers of two books she authored “Pioneer Women in Texas” and “True Stories in Texas.”

At this point in the history of the Watson Chateau’s, the turnover rate of owners and tenants increased, while the condition of the house continued to degrade.

The third from the last private owner of the house was Ora Wimberly, a young divorcée from a small town in Texas. Ora owned a hair salon in 1933, one of several beauty shop operators successful in organizing the Austin City Council to create and enforce an ordinance for better salon sanitation. In 1945, Ora became the Manager of the  Austin Country Club .

In December of 1945, Ora Wimberly sold the Watson Chateau to Caroline Roget. Roget was born in Van Zandt County, in the northeastern part of Texas. As a young woman, she studied with ambition to become a professional soprano. While living in Dallas, she gave many recitals, sang on radio stations, and was active as a performer and organizer at the Little Theater.

After Caroline moved to Austin, the local society pages mentioned her participating in social activities like weddings, shows, teas, and out-of-town exhibits. She also received press for her devoted work in the Catholic Church. An active member of the Austin Diocesan Council of the National Council of Catholic Women, Catholic Daughters of America, she was elected president of the St. Mary’s Altar and Rosary Society in 1947.

Professionally, Caroline became the secretary to the Texas Railroad Commissioner, Beauford H. Jester. When he took office as the Governor of Texas in 1947, Caroline stayed on as one of his personal secretaries. The Watson House was a short walk from the Capitol. It was also a short walk to Austin’s  Normandie Arms  apartment building, located at 15 ^th  Street and Colorado. The Governor rented the penthouse in the building, while his wife and children spent much of their time at the  Jester family home  in Corsicana, Texas.

Governor Jester came from a well-to-do family. His father,  George Taylor Jester , was a self-made businessman, and served as Lieutenant Governor of Texas from 1892-1898. Gov. Beauford Jester’s wife, Mable Buchanan, came from a prosperous family as well. It is therefore understandable that the reporters of the time were discreet in what they wrote and published about the Governor's private life. As such, there is not much information available, not even regarding the Governor’s death in a sleeper train heading to Galveston while still in office.

After Jester’s death, Caroline lost her position at the Governor’s office. Amongst local whispers of the true nature of her relationship with the deceased Governor Jester, she took a job as a secretary at Austin’s Seton Hospital. After a short time, however, she felt pushed to leave town, relocating to sunny Acapulco. Yet one more visit to the Watson Chateau awaited Caroline. After selling the house to Arthur Pope Watson, Jr. in 1959, the two maintained a friendship and vacationed together. When Caroline got horribly sick in Mexico, Arthur flew out and brought her back to The Chateau to nurse her back to health. Caroline returned to Acapulco and died at age 57 in 1966. The final words about her, written on the “Report of the Death of an American Citizen” form stated that Caroline’s remains had been “embalmed and transferred to Mexico City pending receipt of instructions from next-of-kin. “