Chapter 9: Life in Early Texas

Section 2: Daily Life on the Frontier

Bellwork

•Define “self-

sufficient”

Settlers in Texas learned many skills because they had

to do so many things for

themselves.

Frontier Homes

•Had to rely on materials on hand

•South and West—many Tejanos lived in flat-roofed adobe or stone houses

Frontier Homes

• Jacales—small huts made of sticks and mud

• Log cabins built where lumber trees were plentiful Modern-day replica of a

log cabin

Frontier Homes

•Dogtrot Cabin—log homes with two rooms separated by an open passage; type of shelter found in early settlements

Frontier Homes

• Settlers furnished items in home

• Furnishings were simple, sturdy, and handmade

• Some furnishings both beautiful and functional—quilts

Frontier Homes

•Quilting Bees—quilting groups

Clothing in Early Texas

•Settlers used local materials to make clothes

•Leather clothing common

Clothing in Early Texas

•Buckskin—tanned deer hide

Buckskin Clothing

Clothing in Early Texas

•By the 1830s homespun cotton replaced buckskin

•Cotton used for dresses, bonnets, shirts, and suits

•Ponchos: cotton blankets with a slit for the head

Clothing in Early Texas

•Ready-to-wear clothing becomes available as Texas towns grow

•Expensive due to shipping costs

Clothing in Early Texas

•Even after stores began to import ready-to-wear clothing, most

Texans continued making their own.

Frontier Foods

•Self-reliant for food

•Settlers depended on crops, livestock, and wild game

Frontier Foods• Most settlers

grew corn

• Grew well in Texas

• Easy to harvest and prepare, nutritious

Frontier Foods

•Learned to prepare corn from the Native Americans

•Roasted or boiled corn on the cob

•Made cornmeal—used to make tortillas or corn bread

Frontier Foods

•Corn used for feeding livestock

•Used for fuel

•Even used for items such as back scratchers, bottle stoppers, and fishing floats

How is corn being used for fuel

today?

Ethanol

Frontier Foods

•Vegetables

•Wild fruits sometimes available

•Pecans grew along many rivers

Frontier Foods

• Settler’s typical meal: fried meat, cornbread, and black coffee

• Common meats: beef, pork, and venison

• Fish common around rivers and coastal areas

Frontier Foods

•Venison—deer meat

Religion in Early Texas

•Roman Catholicism was the official religion of Mexico

Religion in Early Texas

• Most settlers in Texas were Protestant and unwilling to change their beliefs

• Protestants would publicly declare they supported the Catholic Church, but privately worshipped how they pleased.

Religion in Early Texas

•No organized Protestant churches existed in Texas under Mexican rule

•Protestant activity did occur—traveling preachers, camp meetings, Sunday schools

Religion in Early Texas

•Thomas J. Pilgrim—organized a Protestant Sunday school in 1829

•Mexican officials usually ignored such activity

Education on the Frontier

•Protestant teachers opened private schools

•Frances Trask—opened a boarding school for girls in 1835

Education on the Frontier

•Education limited to home schooling or small private schools

•Wealthy Texans would send children to U.S. schools

Education on the Frontier

• Coahuila y Texas constitution provided for the creation of a public school system

• Few towns had the funds for a school

• Capable teachers in short supply

Education on the Frontier

• 1836: Texas had more than 20 schools

• Most children did not have access to education

• Demands of farm life kept many children in the fields