Steinhart - Angleton Cemetery, Angleton, TX - Graves Mentioning a Cause of Death on Waymarking.com

Storm of 1915 blew in tragedy for 2 families

By Marie Beth Jones Jun 29, 2009

Even though many county residents still are dealing with the damage wrought by Hurricane Ike last September, weather forecasters are warning hurricane season is upon us again.

Our storms generally occur a bit later in the season, of course — usually in late August or September, and occasionally in October.

Some exceptions have occurred, though, and longtime residents of Brazoria County usually begin a daily ritual of watching weather segments on TV news now.

While hurricane-force winds certainly are destructive, they are nowhere near as deadly as the danger posed by Gulf waters in low-lying coastal areas.

Back in mid-August of 1915, John Florea, editor and publisher of The Texas Coaster, a Richmond newspaper, was spending the weekend with his family and friends — a party of 13 — at the Floreas’ beach cabin.

Although the Galveston Weather Bureau had urged everyone to evacuate beaches in this area and go to high ground, Florea and his family did not believe the storm would be serious. He, his wife, two daughters, a son and several other relatives and friends remained at Surfside.

The winds slowly increased in strength as the storm neared, but still none of their party decided to leave the beach, though they did elect to spend the night at the lifesaving station, rather than in their vacation house.

In 1915, Oyster Creek, which has since sanded up, emptied into the Gulf about 2 miles from the jetties toward Galveston, and the lifesaving station was on the creek, about a quarter of a mile inland.

Among the 21 people who stayed at the Surfside lifesaving station when the storm struck were members of the lifesaving crew led by Capt. John P. Steinhart.

Because others remained on the beach during the storm, this crew considered it their duty to stay in order to protect them.

Capt. Steinhart’s wife, Minnie, 34, and their 3-year-old daughter, Anita, refused to leave their husband and father.

Only three people, two members of the lifesaving crew — Capt. Steinhart and Follett Shannon — and Florea’s 16-year-old daughter, also named Minnie, survived the storm.

Shannon shared his memories of the storm with Faye Haygood of The Angleton Times in 1959. Then 74 years of age, Shannon vividly recalled the storm he said splintered the timbers of the lifesaving station as though they were matchsticks.

He described the ominous black cloud that hung low over the Gulf on Aug. 16 and 17, and the mountainous waves that washed far inland with such force they destroyed structures of all kinds.

Commenting that he had no idea why he was spared, Shannon said he certainly did not look back on that storm as a “great experience,” but added he remained grateful for the years of life he had enjoyed since then.

Among the lifesaving crewmen who perished in the storm was J.C. Maddox. Another of the Maddox family, a member of the lifesaving crew at Surfside during the 1909 storm, was killed in that hurricane.

A story about the 1915 hurricane that appeared in the Times on Aug. 20 states it “spent its greatest violence east of us and Angleton escaped with little damage other than the injury that was inflicted upon the crops.”

According to this story, “Not a building was destroyed in Angleton. No lives were lost, and no one was hurt. ?”

The story noted, “The saddest feature ? is the loss of the life saving crew and others at Surfside. ? The station and the Captain’s residence were washed away by a tidal wave said to have been 10 feet high. ?”

The article gave credit to Capt. Steinhart’s “heroic effort” to save his wife, stating for a long time he “clung to a salt cedar, holding her in his arms. But finally a drift log struck him and she was borne away from him. ?”

Shannon recalled that Anita Steinhart was lost when the group of vacationers and the lifesaving crew “made one last attempt to launch their 27-foot boat against the angry winds and waters which were about to take the station.”

He said the force of the waves already had collapsed two huge tanks of oil, creating what looked like “a black platform of water.”

In handwritten recollections of that storm, which are on file at the Brazoria County Historical Museum, longtime resident George Schuster wrote that Steinhart had told him Anita’s last words before she was swept away was, “Papa, come get me.”

The water swept all those inside the station out to sea, but Steinhart and Shannon were fortunate enough to come into contact with salt cedar trees.

Shannon said he was holding onto a scrubby salt cedar tree while Steinhart clung to his wife. According to Schuster, Steinhart strapped his belt around one of the three limbs and around his arm, to remain anchored to the tree while holding onto his wife.

When a tank of crude oil broke, floating on the water as it came over them, Mrs. Steinhart apparently got some of the oil in her throat and strangled to death, Schuster said.

Minnie Steinhart’s body was identified by her husband after a group of cattlemen reported having seen the hands of a woman atop a log near Galveston. Although many thefts from the bodies of storm victims had been reported, her rings still were intact, helping with her identification.

A tangible reminder of the tragedy to his family was erected by Capt. Steinhart at the Angleton Cemetery.

A square of granite inscribed with the name “Steinhart” serves as the base for a broken shaft, symbolizing the breaking of the family circle through the deaths of his wife and daughter.

The body of Anita never was identified, but the monument commissioned by Steinhart lists her name, as well as that of his wife.

On the upright portion of the shaft is inscribed:

MINNIE L.

AGE 34 YRS. 7 MOS.

ANITA

AGE 3 YRS. 7 MOS.

WIFE AND DAUGHTER OF

CAPT. J.P. STEINHART

WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN

HURRICANE AUG. 17, 1915

AT SURFSIDE

Capt. Steinhart continued as captain of the lifesaving crew after its facilities were rebuilt near the mouth of the New Brazos River. Some time after the death of his first wife, he married Miss Lucille Hickerson, a Freeport telephone operator.

He lived until Jan. 29, 1927, succumbing to blood poisoning from a scratch on the hand he received while working with a tool, and was buried in the Angleton Cemetery, beside his first wife.

Marie Beth Jones, a published author and freelance writer based in Angleton, is chairwoman of the Brazoria County Historical Commission.

Type of Death Listed: Killed by something Website (if available): [Web Link] Cause of death inscription on headstone: Not listed

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