Books by
Michael Barr
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Anna
Henriette Mebus was born in Rhineland, Germany on December 10, 1843
into a wealthy and aristocratic family. She was educated in the best
private schools in Europe. She was fluent in German and French. She
was raised in comfort and luxury, and she experienced the very best
the civilized world of the 19th century had to offer.
Then she came to Hedwig's Hill in Mason
County.
Anna and her family immigrated to Texas in 1858 after her father's
business failed. Their pride would not let them to stay in Germany.
The embarrassment of poverty was too much. |
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Anna
Mebus Martin
Wikipedia |
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They landed
in Galveston
on Anna's 15th birthday with a few clothes and $150 cash. No one
spoke a word of English.
From Galveston
they took a steamship to Indianola
where Anna's Uncle, Louis Martin, met them at the dock. The entire
group traveled by oxcart from the Texas coast to Louis
Martin's house at Hedwig's Hill
on the Llano
River. They made the 350 mile trip in 14 days.
One can only imagine what went through Anna's mind when she first
saw the wild Texas frontier. There are no words in High German or
fashionable French that do justice to Hedwig's
Hill.
But Anna made the best of it. This daughter of a once wealthy father
and aristocratic mother soon found herself killing rattlesnakes,
milking cows and plucking chickens on the West Texas frontier.
In 1859 Anna married her cousin, Karl Martin, Louis Martin's nephew.
Karl built a store at Hedwig's Hill,
the first store west of the Llano
River. But Karl was not healthy. He suffered from rheumatism
and was an invalid by 1864. Anna worked her fingers to the bone
taking care of Karl, running the store, and raising their two sons,
Charles and Max.
When Karl died in 1878 the store closed. At age 35, Anna found herself
with no husband, no money and no way to make a living.
She had nowhere to turn, so she went straight ahead.
She borrowed $150 from a friend and reopened the store. Fortunately
for Anna, Hedwig's Hill was on the
San Antonio to El
Paso stage route; an important road in this part of Texas. The
stage passed through daily, and Anna catered to its passengers.
She established a way station and a boarding house. She sold whiskey,
guns and groceries. Suddenly things were going her way.
Anna Martin proved to be an amazing, pragmatic businesswoman. Because
money was rare on the Texas frontier, she took just about anything
in payment for goods she sold at the store. She bartered dry goods
for cattle. She speculated in wool.
And she bought land. By the turn of the 20th Century she owned 50,000
acres in Mason,
Llano and Gillespie
counties. She strung the first barbed
wire in this part of Texas.
Because Anna's store had an iron safe, and because her honesty was
never questioned, she acted as a banker for cattlemen - keeping
their hard-earned money in her safe and cashing their checks. That's
how she got into the banking business.
Then in 1901, with a capital stock of $3000, Anna Martin established
The Commercial Bank of Mason. She served as its president for 24
years.
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Anna Martin
is an entrepreneurial legend. She is believed to be the first woman
bank president in Texas and one of the first in the United States.
She thrived in a man's world. More often than not she was the only
female in the room. She is an amazing role model for young women
of any generation.
In her last
years she traveled extensively in Europe and tore through Mason
County at the wheel of her black Cadillac.
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The grave of
Karl & Anna Martin at Martin Cemetery
Click on image for inscription
Photo courtesy Michael
Barr, November 2016 |
She died in Mason
at age 81 in 1925 and is buried in the Martin Family Cemetery in the
shadow of Hedwig's Hill.
In 2011 Anna Martin was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of
Fame and Museum in Fort
Worth. |
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© Michael
Barr
"Hindsights" January
15, 2017 Column
Sources:
The Mason County News, July 9, 1981, "The Commercial Bank of Mason,"
p4.
The San Antonio Express, July 14, 1925, "Texas Woman Banker Who
Built Success From $150 Borrowed Capital Dies At 81," p2.
Kristin Fawcett, "Anna Martin: Was She The First Female Bank President?"
Cowboys and Indians Magazine, April 2016.
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