Annual Symposium
Each year the Mason County Historical Commission hosts a historical symposium which includes noted western history writers and historians. Subjects vary but generally deal with historical events tied to Mason County. Past symposiums covered the Hoo Doo War (Mason County War), Indian Captives, post civil war reconstruction, Cattle Drives in Mason County, German Immigration and Fort Mason.
Coming in 2010!!!
Texas Rangers in the Hill Country
Where: Mason High School Auditorium
When: May 16, 2010
Time: 2 PM
Speakers:
Bob Alexander – “Texas Rangers of Company D – The Winchester Warriors”
Dave Johnson – “The Effectiveness of the Texas Rangers & the Hoo doo War”
Bill O’Neal – “Reel Rangers: Texas Rangers in Movies, TV, and other Forms of Popular Culture”
Chuck Parson – “The Taylor-Sutton Feud” and Texas Rangers
Bios of speakers:
Bill O’Neal is a retired college professor and an American historian who has penned more than thirty books on such subjects as the American West, including gun fighters, lawmen, and ghost towns. Among his books are Arizona Rangers; Ghost Towns of the American West; The Wild West; and Border Queen Caldwell, Toughest Town on the Chisholm Trail. A member of the Western Writers of America, he has appeared in television documentaries on Turner Network Television, The History Channel, the British Broadcasting Corp., the Discovery Channel, and the Arts and Entertainment Channel. In 2005, O’Neal received the National Association of Outlaw and Lawmen Association (NOLA) award for his The Johnson County War, a study of the 1892 struggle between small farmers and wealthy ranchers in Johnson County in northern Wyoming. In 2007, he was name the “Best Living Non-Fiction Writer” by True West Magazine. He resides in Carthage in east Texas.
Bob Alexander is an award-winning author, a native Texan and veteran lawman. He began a policing career in 1965 and retired as a special agent with the U.S. Treasury Department. He taught criminal justice courses while actively pursuing his interests in writing western nonfiction. He is the author of numerous books, among them Fearless Dave Allison, Border Lawman; Desert Desperadoes: the Banditti of Southwestern New Mexico; and Lawmen, Outlaws, and SOBs, all winners of the Best Book Award from the Western Outlaw/Lawman History Association. His latest book is Winchester Warriors: Texas Rangers of Company D, 1874-1902. He lives in the Central Texas ranch country near Maypearl. Dave Johnson - to be added later. Chuck Parsons is the author of eleven books and numerous articles on Texas and Western history including his latest book The Sutton-Taylor Feud: The Deadliest Blood Feud in Texas. Other books include Captain L.H. McNelly: The Life and Times of a Fighting Man; Clay Allison: Portrait of a Shootist; The Capture of John Wesley Hardin; John B. Armstrong, Texas Ranger and Pioneer Ranchman, and Texas Ranger N.O. Reynolds: the Intrepid. His main focus of writing and research deals with the outlaws and the lawmen of Texas, especially the Texas Rangers. He concentrates on researching and writing the facts of the Old West. He lives in Luling, Texas.
Moderator:
Pat Parsons was past President of Caldwell County Genealogical & Historical Society and in that capacity planned and hosted annual workshops. She is co-editor of the Biggs Family Newspaper. She loves doing geneaology, research and moderating. Pat was the moderator for a symposium at The Texas Historical Commission at Corpus Christi iand is married to one of our favorite Western Writers, Chuck Parsons.
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