Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Summer 1984
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly Vol. 4, No. 3, Summer 1984, pp. 179.
Abstract
Written as a memoir for her grandchildren, Sallie Reynolds Matthews's Interwoven was first printed in 1936 and reissued in 1958 in a handsomely designed edition by Texas's famous printer and designer Carl Hertzog with illustrations by E. M. (Buck) Schiwetz. As the reputation of the Matthews book grew, copies became harder and harder to find, and both the 1936 and 1958 editions are now rare and expensive. Happily this 1982 volume is an exact duplication of the 1958 Hertzog edition.
Born in 1861 in Stephens County, Texas, Sallie Reynolds grew up on the edge of the Great Plains, a harsh, often violent land, especially during the Civil War years. Matthews first details the background of her family; the problems of life at Fort Davis, a small fortified community; the family's move farther west to Stone Ranch in what is now Throckmorton County; and the history of the army post Fort Griffin and its adjacent civilian community. The next section recounts the Reynolds's moves first to Parker County, Texas; then to Colorado; and finally back to the vicinity of Fort Griffin. The final chapters document Matthews's life and that of her family from her marriage to Bud Matthews in 1879 until the turn of the century. Throughout the narrative the author skillfully blends an amazingly accurate history of the region with the complex, intermarried, and "interwoven" lives of the Reynolds and Matthews families. This is family and social history as it should be written, for Matthews does not confine her narrative to trail drives, Indian raids, desperados, or other epic adventures. Rather she tells us how people, and especially women and children lived, how they coped with the trials and triumphs of helping develop a new frontier. She writes, as reviewer A. C. Greene noted, with "simplicity, dignity, good humor and fairness." And, unlike characters in many pioneer narratives, Matthews's women, and her men as well, are vivid, human, and believable.
The companion volume Lambshead Before Interwoven, by historian Frances Holden and illustrated by John Guerin, fills in the pages of Matthews's narrative. Focusing on the 50,000- acre Lambshead Ranch, Holden describes the flora and fauna of the West Texas area, presents an excellent account of the local history of the region, and provides new insights on well-known figures such as Robert E. Lee, Randolph Marcy, Robert S. Neighbors, Jesse Stem, Charles Goodnight, and John Selman, whose lives, for a period of time, were closely related to the region. This is local history at its best; Holden helps to place Matthews and her family in historical perspective and makes a valuable contribution to West Texas history.
Texas A&M University Press is gaining a reputation as one of the West's finest publishers of regional history, and this handsome set is additional proof of the care and attention with which it approaches its publications projects. Fascinating history, sensitive illustrations, superb design, and a damn fine job of bookmaking are an unbeatable combination.
Comments
Copyright 1984 by the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln