Latest news with #KarenCollins
CTV News
01-06-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
An iceberg resurgence reminds N.L. and its visitors of nature's beauty
An iceberg near St. John's has drawn residents of the provincial capital to take in the views. (Image courtesy Laura Chisholm White) A resurgence of icebergs near Newfoundland and Labrador has been met with plenty of celebration this month - especially after a relatively quiet year in 2024. The sightings have prompted a flood of posts, photos, and stories on social media. An iceberg near St. John's, closer to the town of Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove, has delighted residents of the provincial capital this week. Icebergs are more often seen in central and western parts of the province, requiring a commitment to visit. 'We live in a great part of the world where we can actually experience this on a regular basis,' said Patrick Collins, a Newfoundland ex-patriate who returns to St. John's regularly to visit family and friends. His partner, Karen Collins, has been making those visits too. But this was the first time she had seen an iceberg in person. 'It's amazing,' she concluded. 'I thought it would be just a little speck, but it's quite larger than I thought.' An iceberg near St. John's, closer to the town of Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove, has delighted residents of the provincial capital this week. Icebergs are more often seen in central and western parts of the province, requiring a commitment to visit. 'It looks like a crystal, a pearl on the ocean,' added Jing Wu, who moved to Newfoundland with his wife in 2018 for work but has only seen icebergs twice. The province's iceberg resurgence has prompted a flood of posts, photos and stories on social media. Iceberg in Newfoundland An iceberg sits off the shore of Newfoundland. (Image courtesy Mark Gray) There's no question there's been an uptick in visible sightings compared to last spring, but iceberg spotting experts at C-CORE, a remote sensing lab in St. John's, say it's still well below historical numbers. In 2024, vice-president Desmond Power explained, an El Nino weather pattern brought warmer-than-usual water temperatures to the North Atlantic. That has rebounded somewhat, Power says, though temperatures were still warmer than usual throughout the winter. 'We had expected the Iceberg situation to be pretty light this season, and in fact, we are pretty light this season,' he explained. 'Just not as light as last year.' There are regional variations too, Power said. Communities further west and north are seeing relatively more icebergs, and south and east relatively fewer. 'I look at this as, hey, you know what, this might be actually a new normal year.' Power's C-CORE lab has been hired to track icebergs for offshore oil and gas vessels — who can find them rather troublesome — and for the provincial government, who advertises their positions for tourists trying to take a peek. It's a big driver for visitors from out of province. But after a little bit of time away, many locals find they're drawn to the spectacle for themselves just as much. As 81-year-old Roy Chaytor observed, it brings to mind a conflict between stillness and motion — how is it, he asked, the icebergs could appear so stationary while the cold Atlantic Ocean whips so quickly around them? 'You can come and drink a cup of tea, and look at the Iceberg and try to figure out: Is it on the bottom?' Chaytor said. 'It must be because it's staying there. If it were not on the bottom, it'd be moving inward and coming in, coming in, coming in.'
CTV News
01-06-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
An iceberg resurgence reminds N.L. and its visitors of nature's beauty
An iceberg near St. John's has drawn residents of the provincial capital to take in the views. (Image courtesy Laura Chisholm White) A resurgence of icebergs near Newfoundland and Labrador has been met with plenty of celebration this month - especially after a relatively quiet year in 2024. The sightings have prompted a flood of posts, photos, and stories on social media. An iceberg near St. John's, closer to the town of Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove, has delighted residents of the provincial capital this week. Icebergs are more often seen in central and western parts of the province, requiring a commitment to visit. 'We live in a great part of the world where we can actually experience this on a regular basis,' said Patrick Collins, a Newfoundland ex-patriate who returns to St. John's regularly to visit family and friends. His partner, Karen Collins, has been making those visits too. But this was the first time she had seen an iceberg in person. 'It's amazing,' she concluded. 'I thought it would be just a little speck, but it's quite larger than I thought.' An iceberg near St. John's, closer to the town of Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove, has delighted residents of the provincial capital this week. Icebergs are more often seen in central and western parts of the province, requiring a commitment to visit. 'It looks like a crystal, a pearl on the ocean,' added Jing Wu, who moved to Newfoundland with his wife in 2018 for work but has only seen icebergs twice. The province's iceberg resurgence has prompted a flood of posts, photos and stories on social media. Iceberg in Newfoundland An iceberg sits off the shore of Newfoundland. (Image courtesy Mark Gray) There's no question there's been an uptick in visible sightings compared to last spring, but iceberg spotting experts at C-CORE, a remote sensing lab in St. John's, say it's still well below historical numbers. In 2024, vice-president Desmond Power explained, an El Nino weather pattern brought warmer-than-usual water temperatures to the North Atlantic. That has rebounded somewhat, Power says, though temperatures were still warmer than usual throughout the winter. 'We had expected the Iceberg situation to be pretty light this season, and in fact, we are pretty light this season,' he explained. 'Just not as light as last year.' There are regional variations too, Power said. Communities further west and north are seeing relatively more icebergs, and south and east relatively fewer. 'I look at this as, hey, you know what, this might be actually a new normal year.' Power's C-CORE lab has been hired to track icebergs for offshore oil and gas vessels — who can find them rather troublesome — and for the provincial government, who advertises their positions for tourists trying to take a peek. It's a big driver for visitors from out of province. But after a little bit of time away, many locals find they're drawn to the spectacle for themselves just as much. As 81-year-old Roy Chaytor observed, it brings to mind a conflict between stillness and motion — how is it, he asked, the icebergs could appear so stationary while the cold Atlantic Ocean whips so quickly around them? 'You can come and drink a cup of tea, and look at the Iceberg and try to figure out: Is it on the bottom?' Chaytor said. 'It must be because it's staying there. If it were not on the bottom, it'd be moving inward and coming in, coming in, coming in.'
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
A US Congressman, his enslaved half-brothers and the history of an Austin log farmstead
The Moore-Hancock Farmstead, built by Elizabeth and Martin Moore in 1849, includes the last surviving log house on its original site in Austin. Owned, rehabilitated and interpreted by Karen and Michael Collins since 1989, it also comes with an encompassing African American history both during slavery and after freedom. Over the years, Michael, the archaeologist responsible for the remarkable discoveries at the 20,000-year-old Gault Site, north of Austin, pulled all sorts of artifacts out of the Moore-Hancock Farmstead in the Rosedale neighborhood. For her part, Karen, a historian who met Michael in a government class at the University of Texas, contributed her well-honed research skills, and considerable physical labor, to the project of reviving the log structures. The research never really stopped. In fact, Karen Collins is still uncovering fascinating, sometimes unsettling material about the families, free and enslaved, who lived here. "When I started finding documents about people as property, it was shocking," Collins says. "It's a part of the history of the place. You don't discount family stories. You research them." Among the landowners, for instance, was U.S. Congressman and Judge, John Hancock. His father, John Allen Hancock, likely fathered four brothers — Orange, Ruben, Salem and Payton — by an enslaved woman. The judge kept his half-brothers in bondage in Austin until Juneteenth in 1865. The judge himself fathered at least two boys, whom he freed. One, Hugh, became a teacher, saloon owner and, during Reconstruction, an Austin city alderman. Karen Collins has since met many descendants of Orange and Ruben, but none from Payton's large family. She was determined to find out where those families are today. With some help from genealogists who are experts in tracing African American ancestors, she was able to guide the living descendants to learn more about not only their forebears, but also the land and the home where they lived. "The labor of enslaved people is there in what is left," Collins says. "Be we don't know enough of that." She is currently working with Austin multimedia artist Darryl Demps to produce explanatory plaques for the public parts of the property. They will be in addition to a small museum filled with high-quality display cases and located in a log barn that she has dedicated to what she has learned about the Black history of the farmstead. She and Michael plan to place the complex in a trust so that it can continue to educate visitors as a nonprofit in the future. It is still a work in progress. Collins aims the textual material at a seventh-grade comprehension level, one of the years when students generally study Texas history. To honor Black History Month, Michael and Karen Collins will open the farmstead and small museum during a free open house, 2 to 4 p.m. on Feb. 23. The farmstead is located at 4811 Sinclair Ave. Karen Collins was born in Brenham. After Pearl Harbor, her father moved back to Austin, where he volunteered for the Red Cross. He made four landings with the Red Cross in the Pacific with the 77th Infantry during World War II. Back home, she lived near West 29th and Guadalupe streets. Her grandmother took care of the children while her mother worked in the seed-testing bureau at the Texas Department of Agriculture. As a UT student, she took classes with top historians. Her favorite course was bibliography, which helped out when she later worked for the Austin History Center and the Texas State Historical Association. Married on Jan. 27, 1962, Karen and Michael Collins bought the two log cabins in Rosedale on Jan. 6, 1989. Karen was driving by and saw the "for sale" sign. Right away, she could detect the evidence of distant history: square nails, glass with a heavy patina, old china and a roofline that hinted at its construction in 1849. "We started work that day," she remembered. "The two lots were badly trashed. The city had posted a 'repair or demolish' order. It took us two and a half years to rehabilitate it. We hired a rock mason for the chimneys and a carpenter for the addition, but otherwise did it ourselves with help from a lot of volunteers." One day, a man who looked familiar stopped his car in front of the property. He was the county attorney, Ken Oden, and at the time he was overseeing the punishment phase for students who had violated new anti-hazing laws at UT. "Fraternity members needed to work off 2,000 hours of community service," Karen recalls. "We had the help of about 150 young men, maybe two to 40 workers at a time. We finished six months ahead of schedule." Karen, Michael and the volunteers unearthed loads of artifacts at the site, but nobody seemed to know who had actually lived there. Karen: "We needed to know that." Among the tools she employed in her research: Deeds at the Texas Land Office Tax, census and court records Newspaper articles Records of roads, including the old Upper Georgetown Road, which ran across the eastern edge of their property Records of boundary disputes Data on the sale of enslaved persons in deed, tax and probate records Records from Bastrop, through which many settlers passed or paused on their way to Austin Interviews with descendants Key to one stream of evidence was Cynthia Evans, past manager for the George Washington Carver Genealogy Center and, before that, African American community archivist for the Austin History Center. More on genealogy: When looking for an African-American ancestor, start at the Carver Genealogy Center 'Slavery and the issues relating to slavery are the biggest obstacles for African Americans seeking their ancestors,' Evans told the American-Statesman in 2019. 'Lack of documentation and missing documentation are significant issues for the African-American community. That said, the obstacles for every family search can be different and varied.' The following account is drawn from a much more detailed report by Karen Collins on the Black history of the farmstead. Here are some of the more interesting finds: In a case of exceptional Austin history, Collins was able to track down the names of the people enslaved by the Moores, the Hancocks and their relatives. Enslaved persons were not named in census counts; she found them mostly in business and legal documents. Cynthia Evans helped find records on Renty Lott, the Moores' enslaved cowboy. "That was something I thought impossible, but she did it," Collins says. "I have not been successful in contacting descendants who still live here in Austin. He and a house slave named Harriet worked here and helped make it a successful farm and maybe are part of the reason it is still here. Renty married one of Judge John Hancock's slaves, Julia. At the last open house, I was asked if I knew of an enslaved Hancock named Julia, and at that time I didn't, but with the help of two genealogists, I now know about Julia. I'm anxious to share this newly found bit of history with Renty and Julia Lott's descendants." The inheritance, sale and purchase of enslaved persons during the Moore period was accompanied by the interracial mixing of persons who were enslaved or freed by the Hancocks, or who ran away. After the Civil War, some of those formerly enslaved people became landowners, and at least one was imprisoned, likely because of the Black Codes. By 1850, 48% of the heads of household in Austin enslaved people, and one fourth of the population was enslaved. The Gideon White / Martin Moore family had no problem with splitting up enslaved families and selling children. But Judge John Hancock and some of his siblings may have tried to keep enslaved families together. Martin Moore, an Irish immigrant, was born in 1816. He arrived in Washington County, Texas, in 1838 and moved to Austin the next year, when it was selected as the capital of the republic. It seems he began enslaving people in 1845 after his marriage to Elizabeth White. Elizabeth's family moved from Dallas County, Alabama, to Brazoria County, Texas, in 1838, and the next year to Bastrop and Austin. The entourage included Gideon White, his wife, Elizabeth Carson, five daughters, at least eight enslaved persons, and business partner Edward Seiders, whose family is the namesake for Seiders Springs, located on Shoal Creek downstream from the farmstead. Gideon White was killed by Native Americans in 1842 on Shoal Creek a half mile from his house, which was a log cabin built on the creek at about 34th Street. According to the 1845 tax rolls, Elizabeth and Martin enslaved three people, and by the next year they were claiming five. The enslaved people's names are known because Elizabeth and Martin sold them, and the bill of sale noted their names and ages. Only Allen, Mary and Ujena were accounted for by inheritance. The others were obtained by gift, an exchange for goods, or an unrecorded purchase. On Oct. 5, 1849, they sold Allen, age 13, a 'slave for life,' for $500 (about $20,000 today) to A. B. Hemphill of Fayette County. Elizabeth had inherited Allen from her father's estate, and he had been with them for several years. It is likely that his mother was named Eda or Maria. Apparently, none of the White family women were against splitting up slave families and selling even little children without their mothers. On Nov. 14, 1849, Elizabeth bought Harriet, age 21, a 'slave for life,' as a house servant for $600 ($24,000 today) from Mary Ann Wallace. Harriet had previously been enslaved by John Craft. During the 16 years that Harriet was with Elizabeth, she apparently had no children. It is unknown which, if any, of three Black Harriets in Austin after the Civil War was this Harriet. In the 1870 census, she would have been a 42-year-old woman with very young or no children. It is a mystery worth solving, since for 16 years she helped Elizabeth raise five children, including Kate, the future wife of gunfighter Ben Thompson and ancestor of the only descendants of the original builders. And her labor helped run the Moore-Hancock Farmstead. Beginning in 1846, Martin began advertising cattle for sale. He owned 200 head by then. Martin may have rented or otherwise obtained the labor of enslaved persons, possibly including Renty, to tend his cattle. But by 1853-54, Martin was listed as Renty's owner. Renty (Reno, Renta) Lott was born circa 1830 in Florida Territory and arrived in Travis County in 1842 as an enslaved 12-year-old. No bill of sale or gift for Renty is known, but he appears as Moore's taxable 'property' worth $1,000 in 1854 ($37,000 today). Renty married Julia, who was an enslaved person born in 1834 in Alabama, likely on the John Allen Hancock plantation. She was brought to Onion Creek in Bastrop County as a young child by John Allen's son, William Ryan Hancock. When William died in 1852, his orphaned 10-year-old son, James, was taken in by his uncle, Judge John, in Austin. James inherited 18-year-old Julia and her mother, Polly Hancock, so they joined the enslaved people on Judge John's farm, which was a five-minute walk from the Moore home, where Renty lived. Martin was killed by a horse in 1859. After the Civil War broke out, Renty continued to work with widow Elizabeth as she increased her horse herd, but he had left Elizabeth's ownership by about 1862-63. After slavery, Renty registered to vote in Travis County. In 1871 he was listed as delinquent in taxes, indicating that he owned tools or livestock. Late in 1871, Renty began serving a two-year sentence in the Huntsville Prison. At that time in Southern states, it was not uncommon for African Americans to be incarcerated on flimsy charges and then rented out to work for farmers and others who needed manual laborers, to the great financial benefit of the state. Renty and Julia Lott have descendants who live in the Austin area today. Married in 1878 to Fannie Franklin, their oldest son, Butler, helped build the Texas Capitol. He died in 1930. Two of Butler's sons, Harry and Butler Jr., married, had families, and died in Austin. Descendants include families with the surnames Nunn, Barrs, Womack and, possibly, Jones. Some of Renty's descendants, surnamed Johnson and Jerry, live near Atlanta, Georgia. Judge John Hancock (born in 1824 in Jackson County, Alabama) came to Texas in 1847 with one enslaved person, possibly 17-year-old Salem, his half-brother. Judge John boarded at the Swisher Hotel. In 1852, he purchased the adjoining tract northwest of the Moore farm and added a second enslaved person. In May, Judge John became a presiding district court judge; the job required traveling through a seven-county territory. That summer, one of the people Judge John enslaved ran away and joined a group of enslaved people hiding in the hills west of Austin. That person drowned in the Colorado River. Judge John purchased the farmstead from Elizabeth Moore in 1866. Some of his male relatives in Alabama, including his father, John Allen Hancock (1780-1855), had "bred" their own enslaved men with enslaved women, according to descendants of both Orange and Ruben Hancock. Orange, born in 1837, Ruben, born in 1835, and probably their brothers Salem, born in 1830, and Payton, born in 1841, were mixed-race half-brothers of white Judge John Hancock, the second owner of this farmstead. To solve the problem of putting to work and housing his 10 enslaved people, Judge John added several small log houses to the tract of land adjacent to Moore's farm. For himself, he continued to board or rent quarters in town and to travel his territory to hear court cases. To supervise his enslaved workers, he imported a white overseer from Alabama, James Doughtry. Even though Judge John was a Unionist and encouraged his nephews to join a Union cavalry unit during the Civil War, he enslaved more than two dozen people and kept five slave houses in 1865. All or most of those people were born on Hancock plantations in Alabama or Texas. The emancipation of the 26 people he enslaved in June 1865 halved the value of his $25,000 estate (about $484,000 today). It should be noted that other Texas enslavers, including two governors, were ardent Unionists. The accepted story of Texas typically underestimates Unionist sympathy in the state, as argued by historian Benjamin Heber Johnson in his thoughtful and accessible new book, "Texas: An American History" — to be discussed in this column soon. Following the Civil War, Hancock's formerly enslaved half-brother Orange and his family lived in the log farmstead house that Judge John had purchased from Elizabeth Moore. There, Orange's daughter Emma practiced writing her name on the walls and luckily also wrote the date 1868 in a tiny room painted turquoise with a pink ceiling. Orange worked for Judge John 'by the month,' according to Emma. The farmstead probably housed more than Orange's family; likely one or more of his brothers also lived here. In a difficult time for formerly enslaved people who owned nothing, Orange and his brothers all purchased farmland in the 1870s around Waters Park and Duval, now in north Austin. Family stories agreed that Judge John helped them, but no records have been found. The fact that their benefactor — and half-brother — was a lawyer and Congressman may have shielded them from a resurgent Ku Klux Klan and some of the worst treatment legalized by the Black Codes. They all registered to vote, along with John, Salem's son. Orange, Ruben and Payton Hancock, Judge John's half-brothers, had large families, descendants of whom still live in the Austin area. In the 1870 census, Salem, Orange, Payton, Lucky, Thomas, Scott and Clairon show up as the heads of Black households with the last name Hancock. Not only did Judge John's father have mixed-race children, but the judge himself also had at least two sons with Eliza, a woman he enslaved. When the oldest, Hugh Berry, was 5 years old, Judge John sent him, his brother and their mother to Oberlin, Ohio, thus freeing them. Hugh's mother and brother died shortly after 1860, and he was boarded and cared for by a Black family, the Pattersons, in Oberlin. He was educated at Oberlin College at Judge John's expense. Hugh visited his father in Washington D.C. when Judge John was a Congressman. He returned to the Oberlin campus with enough spending money to support his love of hunting. Hugh returned to Austin, married Susie James O'Connor in 1879, and had four daughters: Elizabeth M. (Mrs. Avila), Bertha James (Mrs. Thomas M. Doram), Nettie Blair (Mrs. Booker T. Washington Jr.) and Hugh Ella (Mrs. Montgomery Gregory). Hugh taught school and later owned a saloon, the Black Elephant, at 424 East Sixth St.; the building is still there. In 1892 he was elected representative from the 8th Ward to the Austin City Council. Hugh was in numerous fights and altercations over the years. Later he left his family and died in Pocatello, Idaho, in 1910. Michael Barnes writes about the people, places, culture and history of Austin and Texas. He can be reached at mbarnes@ Sign up for the free weekly digital newsletter, Think, Texas, at or at the newsletter page of your local USA Today Network paper. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 1849 log farmstead contains harrowing tales of Black and white Austin
