Tunbridge to Texas to Teignmouth

It’s not often that you get a story straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, so it’s a great pleasure to be able to share this one.

We were contacted by Wallace (Randy) Langston after the discovery of his great-grandfather’s grave in the cemetery and he has subsequently sent this amazing story about his great-grandfather’s journey through life.

Herbert William Douglas Langston

Born – January 17, 1843 – Channel Island of Jersey
Died — January 12, 1920 – Teignmouth, Devon

By

Wallace R. Langston, Jr.
Great Grandson of Herbert Langston

Herbert William Douglas Langston

The Langston family can accurately trace its origins in England back to the late 16th or early 17th century. Herbert enters this story in 1843, born in St. Helier, Jersey, the son of an Anglican vicar, Stephen Hurt Langston and Maria Rotch, the daughter of Benjamin Rotch, a wealthy whale oil merchant. Herbert’s father settled in Tunbridge Wells (Now Royal Tunbridge Wells) as vicar of St. Peter’s Church. This background sets the stage for a multi-continent story.

Herbert matriculated at Oxford, but apparently did not graduate. I suspect he had a wandering soul as his mother, who still had strong relationships in the shipping industry,decided around 1862 that he needed to receive a more worldly education. She shipped him to Sydney, Australia with a letter of introduction and funds to support an apprenticeship with an old family friend who happened to be the Lord Mayor of Sydney. When Herbert boarded that ship he was not yet twenty years old.

The four month voyage was not without excitement. During the trip the crew mutinied and since Herbert had sided with the Captain, the mutineers put him in chains until they reached Sydney. Upon arrival he was released but discovered that his only contact had recently died. Being the indomitable spirit that he was, he found work raising sheep and horses and continued his education.

Sometime around 1864 he found passage to the United States and landed in Galveston, Texas. Upon landing he managed to meet George Wilkins Kendall who happened to own a large ranch called “Post Oak” (Now a wealthy suburb of Houston, Texas). The Post Oak ranch had lost all its shepherds in a gun fight and Herbert convinced Mr. Kendall that he could assist him in managing his ranch and sheep until a new crew could be hired. It seems apparent that Herbert had become a very resourceful young man, and before 1868 he had already purchased 1700 acres of land, near San Antonio, Texas for 1700 gold dollars.

When Herbert arrived in San Antonio he was a polished, well-spoken, and landed young man. It was said that he saw “the prettiest girl in San Antonio” and decided to win her hand. That young woman was Margarita Navarro, the grand daughter of Jose Antonio Navarro, an original signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The Navarro family was near royalty and at the peak of the San Antonio high society. Herbert again let nothing stop him and in 1871 he married Margarita. He significantly increased the size of his ranch, became a local Justice of the Peace, and had seven children, five of whom lived into their nineties.

I was lucky enough to know all five of these children, as one was my Grandfather. The tales of this family growing up on the Texas frontier in the late 1800’s is complete with stories of gunfights, Indians and everlasting friendships. Regretfully, in 1895, when my Grandfather was only five years old, Margarita died, leaving Herbert with five children under the age of seventeen. Sometime after 1900 he sold his ranch and moved his family, by wagon train, to Galveston and started over.

Herbert arrived in Galveston after the great hurricane which struck on August 27th 1900 and is still recognized as the worst natural disaster to ever occur in the United States; an estimated 12,000 people died and the city was totally destroyed. Herbert met the Manageress of his hotel and she became his second wife. Together they took advantage of the rebuilding of the city. They became managers of the Seaside Hotel. In 1908 they also became managers of the brand new Boulevard Hotel. At one time he was running three First Class hotels and Galveston was booming again. Herbert was on top again when tragedy struck and his wife died in 1910.

He was terribly despondent and after a year alone he was beguiled by a younger woman who turned out to be nothing but a lazy gold digger. The marriage lasted less than two months and at the end Herbert sold everything, again, and purchased a one way ticket on the R.M.S. Oceanic to Southampton.

From there he reconnected with his sister, Gertrude, in Wimbledon. In one of his letters, written to his oldest daughter Mary, he described his happiness at returning to England after forty four years:

“All England seems to fill me with a sense of rest and peace. There is no strenuous life here, everyone seems to take it easy and have plenty of time.”

Gertrude was the beneficiary of the Langston family wealth that Herbert had left behind. Texas must have seemed like another world as he was waited on by butlers and other servants. Never the less he went to visit a widowed half-sister who lived at the Leamington Spa. He ended up staying with her for two years; after which she moved with him into a very nice local hotel. It was here, in 1913, that Herbert met and married his fourth wife, Lavinia Phillips, known as Vinny; who was the manageress of the hotel.

Northam, 43 Higher Brimley

They lived a happy life but in 1916 his sister Mary died and left him with an inheritance which allowed him and Vinny to retire from the hotel business. They looked for a quiet place in the country and magically ended up in a nice home on Higher Brimley in Teignmouth. On January 12, 1920, Herbert passed away just short of his seventy seventh birthday and was buried in the Teignmouth Cemetery.

During his life he had crossed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, been on three continents, worked as a cowboy, a sheep herder, a judge and hotel manager. He married the granddaughter of a Texas icon, and raised five children. His progeny were all strong and wonderful people, with great stories to tell of the old west, each an example of the strength and fortitude given to them by Herbert William Douglas Langston.

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POSTSCRIPTS

The SS ‘Ibex, Photo Credit: Jersey Heritage

It turns out that in the year before his death Herbert and Lavinia paid a nostalgic trip to his birthplace, Jersey. According to the Jersey passenger lists they arrived on 5^th June 1919 aboard the SS Ibex and left just over three weeks later.

Here’s his birth registration in the parish of St Saviour, showing his father as the minister of St James Church (click on the picture for a clearer view of the registration) .

And finally, Herbert’s wife Lavinia is also buried in Teignmouth Cemetery but not in the same location (MM32). She is across the other side of the cemetery in an area yet to be fully uncovered (OO71). However, someone else is buried in Herbert’s plot – Ethel Mabel Hutchings, who died in 1917.