This photograph of the Bouldin family homestead appears in an old book in the Austin-Travis County collection. It stood where Becker Elementary School now stands. Bits ofBouldin Family's land lies underneath many buildings in area today Th e Bouldin na me is a familiar one to folks who live in th e area south of Town Lake to Ben Wh ite and between South La mar Bou le vard and South First Street. However, there is not a lot of in formation available about t he Bouldin family. Man y male mem bers of the Bouldin family share the same first names, which makes understan d ing the family tree a challenge. Bouldin Avenue and East Boul din Creek and West Bouldin Creek a r e named for settler who came here in 1852. James Edward Bouldin was born in Virginia in 1797 as was his wife, Molind a, who was born in 1805. The y married in 1825 and moved to Missouri in 1832. Twen ty years later, Ja mes a nd Molinda m oved to Austin , leaving their son J ames E. Bouldin J r. be hind with his family. The y br ought with them their three other chil dren, David Wooldridge, Mary Vir ginia and Ann Eliza. Th e first Ja mes E. Bouldin bought a great deal of land to the south of Aust in, part of the original Isaac Decker tract, and eventually he owned propert y from the river almost to what is now William Cannon Drive. He was known as a prominent rancher in the area. Th e Bouldin family built a house which stood where Becker Elemen tary Sch ool, at 906 W. Milt on, n ow stands. J am es E. Bouldin lived until 1876; his wife pr eceded h im in death in 1869. A May 16, 1948, dedicat ion pro- gram for Becker Elementa ry School in the Aust in-Tra vis Coun ty Collection, says "Becke r Sch ool is built almost exactly on the old homesite of the Bouldin Ma ns ion, which w a s one of th e fash ionable h o mes of Austin in its day. T he Barton Creek home in an old book, Art Work ofAustin, copyrighted in 1894, which shows that the home was a large, two-story frame h ouse with porch- es across the fron t. Th er e was also a bay win dow in the front of the house. Either the first Ja mes E. Bouldin or his son, David Wooldridge Bouldin, built the house. The Austin city directory s hows that th e David W. Bouldin family lived in the house in 1892, but b y 1899 non e of the original Bould in family mem bers is listed, nor is the address. Th e f irst David W. Boul din had thr ee sons, David W. Jr., and W. Powhata n, who both dealt in Austin real estate, and Ja mes E., who later moved to Dallas. Grace Bouldin, widow of Howa rd Bouldin , who was a great -grandson of the original Ja mes E. Bould in, recalled that she and her hus band sett led in Aust in by acciden t. Her father-in-law, Robert Early Boul din, was th e son of the Ja mes E. Bouldin wh o had stayed behind in Missouri (his moth er was named Minnie). He was one of five childr en, Jam es Edward, Mentor, Robert, Willeen and Minn ie (Mildred). Robert's son Howard married Gra ce in 1925 and th ey cam e to Austin in 1926. The y were trans ferred to Austin by Kellogg Corp. in Dallas after he had requested a tran sfer to a warmer climate be cause of continuin g problems with tha t it mus t have been gone by 1926. She remembers being chastized by David Bouldin for namin g her son James Robert instead of James E., being told "You have broken a tra dition of a number of genera tions — ther e is always a Jam es Edward." In the early '30s, her father -in- law Rober t Bouldin came to Austin for a visit. At that t ime they m ade a trip to Sout h Austin to see if they could find the old place. All they found was an old watering trough where they thou ght the house must have been. On that s am e South Austin trip, the Bouldin s stopped t o visit an el derly Black woman who lived by the sprin g on Bouldin Creek at Ol- torf. Her last name was Bouldin and she had been a slave of the original Jam es E. Bouldin family. When emancipation came, Ja mes E. apparently deeded land to a nu mber of the slaves, a n um ber of slaves took the Bouldin na me, and several were mentioned in his will some years later. Also, Ja mes E. Bouldin willed parts of his estate to his childr en and grandchildren. Grace Bouldin said she remembers that her hu s band's Missour i aunts, Willeen and Minnie, who never married, were left som e land. "It was some river bottom land near Barton Spr ings Road on the rocky river bed between Lama r an d Congress Avenu e. Thi s was before we had Town Lak e. Bouldin R ec tor, a cousin of some sort , was a real estat e agent and arr anged th e sale. Th ey got abou t $35 for the property." Ther e is also a nota tion in t he Austin -Travis Coun ty Collection tha t there was a family cemeter y located on the Bouldin hom estea d where Bouldins, Terrells (Ann Does anyone remember seeing the cemet ery ? Is it still in exis ten ce? Does an yone know what hap pened to the old house? Grace Bouldin think s that she heard that the house burned, but she does not know for sure. If you have inform at ion about the early settlers in South Austin , call this Barton Creek correspondent and let her k now. Candidate forum Th e Zilker Neigh borh ood Asso ciation and the Zilker PTA have joined forces again to present a candida te forum for the April 4 City Coun cil election. All 18 cand idat es have been in vited to attend. Each cand idate will have time to present his or her views an d ther e will also be time for questions. Th e forum will be Mon da y from 7 to 9 p.m. at Zilker Elemen tary School at 1900 Bluebon net Lane. Resident s of the Bart on Creek area are encoura ged to att end this meeting. T a x help a t Becker Becker Comm un ity School at 906 W. Milt on St . is offering sp e cial help for folks who are st rug gling with th eir taxes. VITA, Volunteer Income Ta x Assista nce, will be available Th ur s day evenings from 6:30 to 9 through April 10. Call 442-0584 for an appoin t men t and one of the three volun teers will work with you on this often pu t-off task. To help Pat keep up with activi ties in the Bart on Creek area, bordered by Town Lake on the north, Ben White Boulevard on the south, Austin American-Sta tesm an/Neighbor Thursday, March 26, 1987
