William Windom
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1914. The Houston Ship Channel opened in 1914, changing forever the status of Houston as a port city.
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1 October 2017: The Turning Basin is now protected by Homeland Security regulations and getting a photograph risks close scrutiny by Federal Agents.
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To: Mr.Wales H. Madden
Amarillo Texas The ink smudge with bits of dried ink cover an error which was written over. Postmarked: Texas City, Tex. Aug 20 1914 Stamp: 1c Green George Washington #405 Handstamped: NOT FOR[WARDED] Returned to Writer UNCLAIMED Message: I love my "cars and chickens", but this is the life. Don't let Cornelle and Marie elope with a handsomer man. Be good and keep your face clean. Darn this town. "Louie" 
Wales Hendrix Madden, 1916
John Hunter Pope - WWI draft
John Hunter Pope - WWII Draft
John Hunter Pope's signatures on World War draft documents are consistent with the postcard handwriting.
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Wales Hendrix Madden peers out at us with an impish grin and a haircut a century too early from the pages of The Calyx, the school annual for Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. He was a Junior there in 1916, but at the time that the postcard of the William Windom failed to reach him he was 18 and just beginning his final year at Marion Military Institute in Marion, Alabama, another of the South’s exclusive military schools, often called America’s Eaton.
"Louie" sends a message that sounds as if written for a school annual by a favorite chum, maybe one a trifle older, counseling his “younger brother” on the ways of women and the benefits of privilege. If this is true, he was most probably one of Wales’ classmates at Marion. There were only five Texans at Marion in the 1913-1914 class, and of those only John Hunter Pope had connections to Texas City where the postcard was mailed. He was a medical student at the University of Texas Medical School at Galveston 1913-1914. His signature on the World War I draft document of 26 May 1917 is a reasonable match to the handwriting on the postcard. This may not be a definitive match, but it is highly compelling. John Hunter Pope, born 30 November 1894, was the son of Irvin Pope and Sunshine Bonner of Tyler, Smith County, Texas, and brother of Irvin Pope, Jr. Both sons went to Marion Military Institute, both went to Galveston Medical School, and both finished medical school and became physicians. By 1920 they formed a corporation, Pope, Pope and Pope, Physicians and Surgeons practicing at 112 Bois D’ Arc in Downtown Tyler. Doctoring ran in the Pope family. An Uncle for whom John Hunter Pope was named was a physician in Marshall, TX; another Uncle, Asa Pope was a doctor as well; the other Uncles were lawyers: Judge W. H. Pope, Judge James W. Pope, and Alexander Pope. All were influential in Texas Politics of the era. John Hunter Pope died 12 February 1943 of a pistol wound to the head at the age of 48 and is buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Tyler. Wales was born April 19, 1896 in Amarillo, TX, the oldest child of Squire Hunter Madden (1860-1927) of Campbell County, Tennessee and Orie V. Hendrix (1870-1955) of Mexico, Missouri. Squire was the first District Attorney of Potter County, and was instrumental in bringing the Santa Fe Railway through Amarillo to the West Coast, insuring the central role of Amarillo in the Panhandle region of Texas. Wales Hendrix Madden’s education at Washington and Lee was interrupted by World War I, serving from June through December 1917 before returning to college to finish his degree at Washington and Lee. He graduated Harvard Law School and returned to Amarillo where he became a prominent attorney. During World War II he served as regional chairman of the War Labor Board. He married Kathryn Nash, daughter of Robert Milton Nash (1858-1939) and Anna Connelly (1864-1955) and they had one child, Wales H. Madden, Jr. Wales, Sr. died on January 25, 1951 of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 54, and is buried at Llano Cemetery in Amarillo, TX. Kathryn died in 1962 and is buried beside her husband. Wales H. Madden, Jr. Followed in his father and grandfather’s footsteps and became a lawyer. Born 1 September 1927, he attended local public schools and served in the Pacific Theater in World War II. He was elected student body president at The University of Texas before graduating with a bachelor’s and a law degree. He began his working career at Shamrock Oil and Gas Company, but soon formed his own legal firm in Amarillo. He served on the University of Texas Board of Regents from 1959 until 1965, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board 1969-1973. He worked on Texas Panhandle issues, but had an interest in national politics as well. He served on President Ronald Reagan’s Export Council and was chair of President George H. W. Bush’s International Board on Economic Cooperation. He was a director of the First National Bank of Amarillo and elder of the First Presbyterian Church. Governor George W. Bush appointed him to the Texas Water Development Board in 1998. (See e-book: The Life Story of Wales H. Madden Jr. as Told to Jon Mark Beilue.) |
The Coast Guard Cutter USS Windom was commissioned in Baltimore, MD 30 June 1896, and served along the Chesapeake and Cape Hatteras until the Spanish American War in 1898. For much of the war, she was part of the blockade of Cuba, then returned to the Chesapeake Bay area. The William Windom served two tours guarding the port of Galveston and the Gulf of Mexico from August 1906 until August 1911, and from June 1912 until November 1914. Renamed the Comanche, she served in Galveston again from February 1916 until June 1930.
The cutter was named for William Windom (May 10, 1827 – January 29, 1891), a Congressman and Senator from Minnesota, as well as the Secretary of the Treasury under President Benjamin Harrison. It was in this capacity that he was one of the political figures initiating organizations that later led to the Coast Guard. He was also the great-grandfather of actor William Windom, principal actor for the television series, My World and Welcome to It, as well as roles in To Kill as Mockingbird, Star Trek, Twilight Zone and other performances from the 1960’s on, including Murder, She Wrote of the 1980’s.
William Windom Links:
The cutter was named for William Windom (May 10, 1827 – January 29, 1891), a Congressman and Senator from Minnesota, as well as the Secretary of the Treasury under President Benjamin Harrison. It was in this capacity that he was one of the political figures initiating organizations that later led to the Coast Guard. He was also the great-grandfather of actor William Windom, principal actor for the television series, My World and Welcome to It, as well as roles in To Kill as Mockingbird, Star Trek, Twilight Zone and other performances from the 1960’s on, including Murder, She Wrote of the 1980’s.
William Windom Links:
I purchased the glass negative for this image from an eBay auctioner in Syracuse, NY, and because of the great clarity of the negative, it was easy to date. The American Flag flying on the stern of the ship carries 45 stars, a flag that came into effect in 1896 when Utah was admitted to the Union and was superseded in 1908 when Oklahoma became a state. The grain elevator is identical to Elevator A, once found on the 17th street pier in Galveston, now long since demolished, and it seems clear that the photograph was taken in Galveston on the William Windom's first tour of duty - August 1906 / August 1911.
