Hispanic histories celebrate heritage
By BARRY HALVORSON bhalvorson@journal-spectator.com

Staff Photo by Burlon Parsons Wharton County Historical Museum Director Marvin Albrecht reads some of the local Hispanic family histories which are now on display at the facility. He hopes to garnish more histories from other ethnic groups.

A community's history shouldn't be just a record of events and activities but also the stories of all its people - with emphasis on the "all."

Locally, the Wharton County Historical Museum is sponsoring a Ethnic Family Histories project designed to preserve those stories in the people's own words.

The project is in its second year and the museum currently is displaying the Hispanic family histories that have been collected as part the September celebration of Fiesta Hispano Americana and Mexican Heritage Month.

"I was talking to Frank Solorzano about the project a year ago and he said that he would help with it in the Newgulf area," Museum Director Marvin Albrecht said. "He contacted people and got them to start filling out the biography forms and, when available, providing pictures of the people. We collected 40 biographies last year and another 32 this year."

While many in the county have seen this as a Hispanic project because the initial museum exhibit was done as part of the Fiesta program, Albrecht said the intent is to document all the various ethnic groups that make up the county's population.

"We have seven major groups," Albrecht said. "There are the English, Germans, Czechs, Jewish, Hispanic, African-American and Danish populations. And the Asian population is growing with the India, Japan, China, Vietnam and other countries represented. We also have some very distinct groups such as the Wendish in the Lissie area and Amish in the El Campo area. Each group contributes to making Wharton County one of the most ethnically diverse in the entire state of Texas."

Albrecht said that the museum has only a limited number of histories for some of the cultures, a situation he hopes to correct.

As an ongoing collection of historic information, interested persons can stop by the museum any time and collect as many copies of the Ethnic Family Histories form as they need. Forms are also available by mail with a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Requested information includes names, dates of birth, where and when people settled in Wharton County and where they arrived from. It also requests church membership, names of children and has a space for general comments.

"A person can get a form and fill it out for themselves along with one for their parents, grandparents and other family members for as many generations as they can," Albrecht said. "We can also scan in copies of any pictures they might have to be included in the record and then return those pictures to the family. And all of this is done at no charge."

And as the museum gathers more histories, Albrecht hopes to give each group its own regular, annual exhibit.

"I'd like to tie it to a particular month like we've done with the Hispanic histories," he said. "February is Black History month and I think October is Czech History month. Each group would get a month, hopefully tied to a particular celebration unique to that culture."