"Sunday" holster a pattern copy

[arabensburg]

“The closeup photographs are of holsters made for my brother and me by Mr. Rabensburg from the exact pattern of this “Sunday” holster. These are sturdy, practical, and beautifully made; form following function exemplified. To the discerning eye, comparison of these holsters with the much later Threepersons/Myres and the Keith/Lawrence styles show almost identical profile and forward pitch.”
Some Thoughts on Gun Leather by Stan Nelson January 2008

Please Note: The photograph of the attached “S. N” initialed holster is one of the holsters mentioned above. This holster, as a pattern copy of the “Sunday” holster, will be donated in the near future to the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco, Texas.

“Of major interest to us was his acquaintance with Captain John R. Hughes. Hughes had spent much of his long career down on the Mexican border, but during 1906-07 was stationed at Ranger Headquarters in Austin. One day he stopped at the saddle shop where Mr. Rabensburg was employed and asked to have a particular style of holster made.”
Some Thoughts on Gun Leather by Stan Nelson January 2008

Hughes met with Rabensburg according to Nelson at his “saddle shop”, which could very well mean in La Grange or possibly in Austin.

If in Austin, then Brigadier General Ross H. Routh, USA Ret. of El Paso, Texas writes in his book on a genealogy of “William Wroe (1670-1730) And Some Descendants” compiled and published in 1980 about the children of Hiram Seaton Wroe, who include William Thomas Wroe and James Polk Wroe, who are matches to those of Austin and La Grange.

Yes, then W. T. Wroe of Austin and James Polk Wroe of La Grange are indeed brothers and represent a link between La Grange and Austin on the likely scale for the introduction of the “Sunday” holster by N. J. Rabensburg to Captain John R. Hughes of the Texas Rangers stationed in Austin.

This is handgun holster history in Texas.

By Neale Rabensburg

 

[rednichols]

Yesterday I did the research again, via ancestry.com, and discovered I was wrong; indeed J.P. Wroe and W.T. Wroe were brothers. Mea culpa, Neale, I want the forum to know that on this connection you are right and I am wrong. We'll have to continue to disagree about this connection being material to your quest, though.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Never ever heard of anybody named ‘Wroe.’
If I located two folks with that name living close together-
Would jump to the obvious they must be related.
I have a Lady MD named Dr. Bungo.
When I told her the only place I ever heard that name, she looked at me like, yes he’s different!

 

[arabensburg]

Thank you.

Yesterday I did the research again, via ancestry.com, and discovered I was wrong; indeed J.P. Wroe and W.T. Wroe were brothers. Mea culpa, Neale, I want the forum to know that on this connection you are right and I am wrong. We'll have to continue to disagree about this connection being material to your quest, though.

Thank you.

Neale Rabensburg

 

[rednichols]

Thank you.

Neale Rabensburg

There IS evidence of a connection between J.P. Wroe in LaGrange and LaGrange Saddlery there. J.P. assigned a half interest in a 1902/03 patent to H.A. Lange when it was filed then issued, and Lange's inventory was bought out by LaGrange Saddlery in 1904 (but not the business because Lange Saddlery is still listed in LaGrange 1907).

J.P. had been bankrupted by his creditors in 1899 at which point he could have taken his toys and gone just about anywhere between LaGrange and Austin where his brother was located. His mark does not ever include the city/state as w/b usual for saddlers then.

The earliest appearance of N.J. I have just found is in LaGrange, late 1907; a newspaper mention. Does this all add up to something more compelling than the Kluge connection? Dunno.

 

[arabensburg]

N. J. Rabensburg is in Austin at W. T. Wroe and Sons 1906-1907

There IS evidence of a connection between J.P. Wroe in LaGrange and LaGrange Saddlery there. J.P. assigned a half interest in a 1902/03 patent to H.A. Lange when it was filed then issued, and Lange's inventory was bought out by LaGrange Saddlery in 1904 (but not the business because Lange Saddlery is still listed in LaGrange 1907).

J.P. had been bankrupted by his creditors in 1899 at which point he could have taken his toys and gone just about anywhere between LaGrange and Austin where his brother was located. His mark does not ever include the city/state as w/b usual for saddlers then.

The earliest appearance of N.J. I have just found is in LaGrange, late 1907; a newspaper mention. Does this all add up to something more compelling than the Kluge connection? Dunno.

The Wroe family historically has a presence in central Texas. William Thomas (W. T.) Wroe and his younger brother James Polk (J. P.) Wroe are a part of the equation as saddle, harness and holster makers.

When the Hiram Wroe family moved from Wilson County, Tennessee to Fayette County, Texas in 1852, W. T. was ten years old but one of 8 siblings. W. T.’s father had two wives and children by both. Seven children by the 2nd wife grew up in Fayette County. J. P. was born at the time of the move. Both W. T and J. P. were full brothers by the 2nd wife. J. P. is also known for his holsters, which sport a lining and have a fine basket weave finish as did those by N. J. Rabensburg.

The Wroe family is important to Rabensburg and the introduction of the “Sunday” holster, which probably happened in Austin and not in La Grange.

Rabensburg most likely did work at W. T. Wroe and Sons Saddle and Harness Company in Austin following his high school graduation in 1906 to the following summer of 1907 but completed the balance of his apprenticeship in La Grange leaving November 1909 for Dallas for more training but in the wholesale trade. His 1907 to 1909 time in La Grange at La Grange Saddlery is noted in clips by the La Grange Journal newspaper.

This scenario fits well with the Nelson-Rabensburg interview of the early 1950s, where there were multiple meetings, at least two, between Rabensburg and Captain John R. Hughes of the Texas Rangers, concerning the initial design and the finished holster product. I would suspect that Rabensburg had examples of his holsters in advance to show Hughes during his first visit at his “place of employment”, which has to be W. T. Wroe and Sons in Austin, Texas and made possible by the Wroe family connection in Fayette County.

Rabensburg was probably sent to W. T. Wroe and Sons in Austin by W. T.’s brother J. P. Wroe of La Grange to gain Rabensburg maximum exposure on a fast-track basis at one of the largest saddleries in central Texas. W. T. Wroe and Sons has a factory employing many, who appeared to be mostly young men as evidenced by a photo of the period, which shows 27 posed at their workstations in a building located on Congress Avenue.

The Wroe family connection gets deeper with the Rabensburg and Ehlinger families of Fayette Counties. J. P. Wroe may have more than a business relationship with Rabensburg as an apprentice but more personal like father to son.

There is also the real possibility that James Polk Wroe not only helped to train N. J. Rabensburg as a young apprentice, but did the same for Rabensburg’s father, Henry B. Rabensburg, who came to Fayette County during the early 1880s as a teenaged apprentice to learn the saddlery business.

James P. Wroe opens his La Grange saddlery in 1881 at the age of 29 years on the southwest side of the town square in a building more recently known as Prause’s Meat Market. La Grange is the County Seat and was and still is the largest population center for Fayette County and should have been the destination for Henry B. Rabensburg coming from Bastrop.

Remember, La Grange was supposed to be the Capital of Texas and not Austin. The citizens of La Grange are still reeling during the 1880s of this fact even though the congressional leaders during the Republic of Texas in 1837 voted it so. The kicker came from President Sam Houston, who vetoed the choice and referred it to the next President Mirabeau B. Lamar and elected officials. The new choice was the town of Waterloo, which was renamed Austin.

In 1886, N. J. Rabensburg’s mother, Wilhelmina Ehlinger of Live Oak Hill, Fayette County, Texas meets and marries a 22 year old Henry B. Rabensburg living and working most likely in La Grange at Wroe and Company, a large saddlery according to one historical account. With the two (Henry and Wilhelmina) living in La Grange, Wilhelmina Rabensburg gets to know J. P. Wroe and his family. This early relationship between the
Rabensburg/Ehlinger families and the J. P. Wroe family will help to make the one year exposure in Austin not only possible but probable many years later.

Rabensburg has no family in Austin, but the W. T. Wroe family is a close substitute. With these pieces of the puzzle falling into place, Rabensburg’s mother was able to consent to her son’s one year employment in Austin following his high school graduation in 1906. The introduction of the “Sunday” holster in 1906 to 1907 thus happened right on cue according to the Nelson-Rabensburg interview of the early 1950s.

By Neale Rabensburg