Thomas Noakes – Diary of War, Drought and Hard Times
Thomas Noakes would be a forgotten man, possibly known for his painting of the Civil War Battle of Corpus Christi or the 1875 bandit raid on his Nueces town store. But he kept a diary of his mundane life, telling of his struggles to exist in South Texas during the hard years of the Civil War. From 1858 to 1867 Noakes recorded his life as a British immigrant to South Texas as he attempted to establish a cattle-raising operation. His struggles were interrupted by the Civil War. His diary details the hardships of life in South Texas exacerbated by a severe drought and freezing winters. Murphy Givens, as Editor, has extensively annotated the diary to clarify Noakes entries.
Streets of Corpus Christi
Murphy Givens recounts the histories of various streets in Corpus Christi, telling who lived on them, worked on them and what were the businesses and residences that gave life to the streets. This volume provides many photographs from different eras and locations on each street. Givens has chosen photographs that most people have never seen to illustrate each street. Many were taken by Doc Frederick McGregor in the 1930s. However, others come from many sources including Karl Swafford postcards and business and family records. They provide a visual history of Corpus Christi showing bygone scenes.
Great Tales From the History of South Texas
The history of the Old West has deep roots in South Texas where the Wild Horse Desert was a lawless land controlled by no authority. This western region of South Texas, from San Antonio to Corpus Christi, stretching west and south to the Rio Grande, was the birthplace of the big cattle ranches, the cattle barons, rustlers, hide thieves, outlaws, and bad men operating on both sides of the border. Murphy Givens brings the stories of the Old West to life in “Great Tales From the History of South Texas”
Corpus Christi – A History
Corpus Christi – A History documents the stories of the people who strove to make South Texas their home. Adventurers, outlaws, settlers, cowboys, ranchers and entrepreneurs from the United States, Europe and Mexico all came to the Coastal Bend of Texas, struggling against nature and their fellow man to make their homes and livelihoods. Corpus Christi nearly disappeared during two wars, but grew and prospered in another. In this account, the tales of its growth are combined with the stories of its residents to reveal the intriguing history of the city and South Texas. Included are the contributions of Henry L. Kinney, Zachary Taylor, Richard King, Mifflin Kenedy, Uriah Lott, Ben Garza and Roy Miller. All left their indelible mark on South Texas.
Columns IV 2016-2018
South Texas has a long and interesting history from the time it was first explored by Cabeza de Vaca in 1528 to LaSalle in 1685 through the Texas Revolution, Mexican War, cattle drives after the Civil War to the present day. Much of the work centers on Corpus Christi, but as the dominant settlement in the area, it also covers the history of all of southern Texas. Since 1998, Murphy Givens has been documenting this history in a weekly column in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times newspaper. Columns IV is a collection of 122 of those columns from 2016 through Murphy’s retirement in May 2018. Almost every column is four pages long and includes a photograph or illustration.