Interwoven: A Pioneer Chronicle

by Sallie Reynolds Matthews, E.M. Buck Schiwetz (Illustrator)

Sallie Reynolds Matthews wrote Interwoven so that her children and their children would know how their family and the Lambshead Ranch legacy grew on the Texas frontier. Far beyond her modest intentions, the book became a classic soon after its original publication in 1936.As Robert Nail wrote in his introduction to the 1958 edition designed by the renowned bookman Carl Hertzog, “When you read her account of the day her family moved into a mysterious, abandoned ranch house on the very edge of the unconquered prairie and see, as her small girl eyes saw, the broken window glass littering the floor, the fang marks left by a wild animal on the door, you sense quite keenly what it must have been like . . . “Sallie Reynolds was born on May 23, 1861, during a period on the prairie frontier when settlers were almost as nomadic as the Indians and building material was as scarce as trees. Her family moved around Texas, frequently living near the Matthews family, whom they had known in Alabama before both families headed to Texas. In 1867, the first marriage between a Reynolds and a Matthews formally sealed the informal bond between the clans. Four more Reynolds siblings married into the Matthews family, including Sallie Ann in 1876, and other Reynolds relatives followed suit. As daughter, sister, wife, or mother of three generations of cattle ranchers, Sallie Reynolds Matthews writes from the perspective of a woman intent upon embodying the strength and gentleness required of a wife and business partner. She describes traveling by wagon through the wilds, encountering Indians, and setting up housekeeping with little more than buckets, blankets, and cast-iron cookpots. Tragedy and illness often visited the interwoven Matthews and Reynolds families, but those who settled on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River—the Lambshead range—put down roots that tornadoes, droughts, Indians, and disease could not dislodge. As her memoirs so clearly show, Sallie Reynolds Matthews had an intelligence, warmth, and zest for life that nourished her family through difficult times.Nine children were born to Sallie and John Matthews. Their first child Annie died in infancy, and their last, Watkins Reynolds Matthews lived to be ninety-eight. This new printing of Interwoven, which includes the original E. M. Schiwetz drawings and Sam Newcomb’s diary of his trip through the Clear Fork range in 1864, is dedicated to the memory of Watt Matthews, who did so much to preserve his family’s legacy. Readers have to be given more than a personal story. Successful memoirs creat a world, a spirit of place, and re-create a time. Sallie Reynolds Matthews has done just that. Interwoven is not just Sallie Reynolds Matthews’s personal story. It is a book about two families who built ranches in West Texas and intermarried to form a dynasty. It is the story of pioneering on the Brazos in the years following the Civil War. Interwoven is a narrative about the great years of the Cattle Empire in Texas. And woven into this chronicle of the plains is the story of Sallie Reynolds as a girl and Mrs. Sallie Reynolds Matthews as a young wife and mother as Texas entered the twentieth century.

Genres: Memoir, History, Nonfiction

248 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 1936

About the author

Sallie Reynolds was born on May 23, 1861, during a period on the prairie frontier when settlers were almost nomadic and building material was as scarce as trees. Her family moved around Texas, frequently living near the Matthews family, whom they had known in Alabama before both families headed to Texas. In 1867, the first marriage between a Reynolds and a Matthews formally sealed the informal bond between the clans. Four more Reynolds siblings married into the Matthews family, including Sallie Ann and John Matthew on Christmas Day 1876. She was 15. They had nine children together.

Later in life, Mrs. Matthews wrote an autobiographical account of life on the Texas frontier, intended for her children. Published two years before her death, Interwoven: A Pioneer Chronicle far exceeded these modest ambitions and became a classic reference on West Texas pioneer life and customs. The work was later used as the basis for the Fort Griffin Fandangle, and partially reprinted in 1961 under the title True Tales of the Frontier.

In 1981, Matthews was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

Reviews

[Linda_G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I asppreciated the descriptions of East Texas, life on the Texas frontier. Wonder nature details. Also interesting observations on relations with Indians and African Americans.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

First hand account of what being a pioneer in West Texas was like during the post Civil War years. Plenty of familiar events are recounted in a kind of scatter shot way. The true value of this book is derived from the authenticity in which the author speaks. I was a little bored during the constant weddings and births. I could hardly keep her relations straight. But this is a book that was not written for the amateur Texas history enthusiast. It was written for her progeny who presumably gave a hoot when Jack Texas married double plus cousin Mattie Albany. Sprinkled throughout are totally engaging anecdotes. The writing throughout is crisp and homey. A worthwhile read. Charlie Siringo is more fun, but Sallie Reynolds has more soul.

[Michiel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saying that this book was OK, does not mean it was bad. It was just OK. The author, Sallie Reynolds Matthews, tells us of her childhood and young adulthood in west Texas shortly after the Civil War. We get a great feel of how thing were back then. I am sure I would have really liked her in person.

However, often there is a whole lot of writing about nothing much in particular, or else huge swathes of time pass in one sentence. Basically, the chronicle has no real focus. It is just a litany of where she has lived and what it was like.

It's great for getting a feel for the place and time, but that's about it.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Factual stream-of-consciousness recollections of growing up on the Texas frontier in the latter half of the 19th century. The only time Sallie displayed any emotion was when she recounted the death of her first child. Perhaps the dispassionate tone of the book is why this book did not resonate with me. Perhaps of interest to those researching Texas history.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A most interesting tale of true Texas history in the Albany-Weatherford area. Includes a contemporary's version of the Goodnight-Loving trail drive where Loving died and his body was brought back to Weatherford for burial as used by McMurtry in Lonesome Dove.

[Lara Pearson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historically interesting while meandering without a story.