Talk:Sam Houston Area Council: Difference between revisions
(Much too much information on which boy scout troop was Houston's first and when it was organized.) |
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"In September, 1910, 12-year-old Nelson Duller and his friends convinced his father, David M. Duller to organize the first Boy Scout Troop in Houston." | "In September, 1910, 12-year-old Nelson Duller and his friends convinced his father, David M. Duller to organize the first Boy Scout Troop in Houston." | ||
:: BSA councils and districts have had tons of changes in the last 3 years. Feel free to update as you see fit. Your info is probably much better than mine! [[User:MainTour|MainTour]] ([[User talk:MainTour|talk]]) 02:55, 2 August 2022 (UTC) | |||
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My source is a 20-year anniversary article in the Houston Chronicle (February 2, 1930). According to the article, David Duller said "Nelson came to me one afternoon, just after he was 12 years old, with a group of his youthful friends and told me of a new organization called 'Boy Scouts' they had heard of. They asked me to be what they called a 'scoutmaster' and take charge of a troop and accompany them on out-of-door trips. I didn't know what it was at first, but believing that it was for the pleasure and welfare of the boys, I accepted. We organized a troop of boys, mostly from Houston Heights, where we lived, that later grew to about 25 boys. This was the first troop in Harris County. Soon there were two troops in Houston. Other boys, hearing of the good times we were having, wanted to be in on the fun. The other two troops were organized by R.G. Crake of the Y.M.C.A and T.G. Black , assistant school superintendent, who was then principal of the Woodland Heights School." [CORRECTION #1: H.L. Crate of the Y.M.C.A.; CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION #2: F.M. Black was principal of the Travis School which was located in Woodland Heights.] | My source is a 20-year anniversary article in the Houston Chronicle (February 2, 1930). According to the article, David Duller said "Nelson came to me one afternoon, just after he was 12 years old, with a group of his youthful friends and told me of a new organization called 'Boy Scouts' they had heard of. They asked me to be what they called a 'scoutmaster' and take charge of a troop and accompany them on out-of-door trips. I didn't know what it was at first, but believing that it was for the pleasure and welfare of the boys, I accepted. We organized a troop of boys, mostly from Houston Heights, where we lived, that later grew to about 25 boys. This was the first troop in Harris County. Soon there were two troops in Houston. Other boys, hearing of the good times we were having, wanted to be in on the fun. The other two troops were organized by R.G. Crake of the Y.M.C.A and T.G. Black , assistant school superintendent, who was then principal of the Woodland Heights School." [CORRECTION #1: H.L. Crate of the Y.M.C.A.; CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION #2: F.M. Black was principal of the Travis School which was located in Woodland Heights.] | ||
Revision as of 02:55, 2 August 2022
The following sentence from the article is not accurate:
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"In September, 1910, 12-year-old Nelson Duller and his friends convinced his father, David M. Duller to organize the first Boy Scout Troop in Houston."
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My source is a 20-year anniversary article in the Houston Chronicle (February 2, 1930). According to the article, David Duller said "Nelson came to me one afternoon, just after he was 12 years old, with a group of his youthful friends and told me of a new organization called 'Boy Scouts' they had heard of. They asked me to be what they called a 'scoutmaster' and take charge of a troop and accompany them on out-of-door trips. I didn't know what it was at first, but believing that it was for the pleasure and welfare of the boys, I accepted. We organized a troop of boys, mostly from Houston Heights, where we lived, that later grew to about 25 boys. This was the first troop in Harris County. Soon there were two troops in Houston. Other boys, hearing of the good times we were having, wanted to be in on the fun. The other two troops were organized by R.G. Crake of the Y.M.C.A and T.G. Black , assistant school superintendent, who was then principal of the Woodland Heights School." [CORRECTION #1: H.L. Crate of the Y.M.C.A.; CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION #2: F.M. Black was principal of the Travis School which was located in Woodland Heights.]
DULLER'S HOUSTON BOY SCOUT TROOP 5 BEGAN IN 1911, NOT 1910. 1) Yes, in his book Sam Houston Scouts (1985, page 12), Minor Huffman wrote that Duller's boy scout troop 5 began in 1910. However, most of what Huffman wrote about Houston's early boy scout troops is wrong. Here are a few of Huffman's errors: Houston's first Eagle scout, H. Palmer "Peg" Melton, did not get his Eagle rank in 1916. Troop 11 did not begin in 1912 with J. Alston Clapp as scoutmaster and First Presbyterian Church as sponsor. The Y.M.C.A. troopdid not begin in 1912 with Roland Shine as scoutmaster. Minor Huffman's book is an invaluable reference, but many records were not available to him and he relied on what others remembered.
2) Nelson Mark Duller was born on July 19, 1899. Nelson Duller would have turned twelve in 1911. David Duller's quote from the article suggests that Houston's Troop 5 began in September 1911.
3) The Feb 2, 1920 Houston Chronicle article confirms that Houston's first boy scout troop began in 1911. The article says "The inception of scouting in Houston only a little more than a year after it was founded in America in 1910 came as the direct desire and love of a boy for the outdoors and of a father’s interest in his son."
4) At the time, a boy had to be age 13 to join the boy scouts. Nelson Duller was 12. Article in November 3, 1912 Houston Daily Post lists Tyler Duller as Troop 5 mascot. Was Tyler waiting until he turned 13? So is it possible that Nelson Duller was Troop 5's mascot for one year until he reached the proper age?
Y.M.C.A. BOY SCOUT TROOP BEGAN IN 1910 AND WAS THE FIRSI HOUSTON BOY SCOUT TROOP (MAYBE?) 1) News article from Houston Daily Post (November 3, 1912) identifies the troop's activity as "... the first hike made by the organization." A troop that began in 1910 would not have its first hike at the end of 1912. 2) News article from Houston Chronicle (October 2, 1910) mentions the Y.M.C.A. boy scout troop and describes their uniforms. Article says the troop went on hikes, studied woodcraft, and parade drilling, signalling astronomy. Two Y.M.C.A. men worked with the boy scouts. A later article (Houston Daily Post, September 15, 1911) identifies Herbert L. Crate as the adult leader on their hike to Galveston. 3) If not for the fact that David M. Duller identifies his troop, Troop 5, as the first boy scout troop in Harris County (February 2, 1930, Houston Chronicle), I would assert that the Y.M.C.A troop was the first in Houston. Houston was a small place back then, so David Duller would have been well aware of the Y.M.C.A troop.
FINAL THOUGHTS My sources conflict and I cannot resolve. If the Duller scout troop actually did begin in 1910, everything is explained. But Duller's Troop 5 began in September 1911, about a year and a half after the Y.M.C.A troop began. Why then, does David Duller (and everyone else) assert his troop was the first in Houston? I do not know.