One never knows what amazing relics they will see at our Central Texas Treasure Club regular monthly meetings! At our meeting last Tuesday, Member Benny Ezzell invited a lady he had met at the Red Wagon to attend that meeting. I didn't know the reason until she arrived and passed around a 3 lb. brass Spanish cannonball she'd found in her yard in Early in Brown County, Texas! After years of trying to tell people that the Spanish frequented this area over many years and even had a settlement, that was wiped out by Lipan Apaches, right here where Brown County is now, I was fortunate to hold the second Spanish cannonball in my hands. Both were found in Brown County. The first one was found by former Brown County Judge Frank Griffin. It was made of solid silver and was somewhat smaller than this lady's was. He showed it to me a year or so back. He found it with his metal detector when he was a kid in the late 1960s or early 1970s less than a mile from my home in Brownwood! I wish I had gotten someone to photograph the brass cannonball, but I didn't because I was too busy presiding over the meeting. I've been researching the Spanish in Texas ever since I was a kid, after reading J. Frank Dobie's "Coronado's Children". It's exciting to hold a piece of solid proof that my beliefs about Spanish occupation of this area are true.
I took the first photo of Frank Griffin holding the silver Spanish cannonball last year. The second photo is of an old Spanish stirrup that was found many years ago near Indian Creek, Brown County, Texas close to the Colorado River.
I was happy that we had the best attendance of the year at Tuesday's meeting so many people got to witness this important historical discovery. Our Central Texas Treasure Club monthly meetings are always open to the public and are held on the first Tuesday of every month. Our next monthly meeting will be on Tuesday, September 1st.
Jay Longley, President, Central Texas Treasure Club
