Two Brothers & Their Uncanny Deaths

Family Facts

On October 10, 1872, in Austin, Texas, Johanna Wilcox LaFrance gave birth to her first child, a son. Paul Ozwin LaFrance was name for his father, Paul LaFrance, and maternal grandfather, Ozwin Wilcox.

Four sons and two daughters later, still living in Austin, Texas, Johanna gave birth to her eighth and last child February 15, 1894, a son named Jacob Benjamin LaFrance.

In 1897, at the age of twenty-five, Ozwin (as Paul Ozwin LaFrance was called) married sixteen year old Nora Seay. In September 1898 she gave birth to their only child, a son named Golie LaFrance.

The Dam

In 1871 the idea of a dam on the Colorado river transpired. It was the focus of the municiple elections of 1889. With bonds sold and plans in place, building began in 1890. Three years later, despite numerous set-backs, the McDonald Dam (named for Mayor John McDonald, elected in 1889) was complete. In 1895 the power house was finished. Even after completion, the dam had yet another set back. The economic boom that was promised a result of building the dam wasn't being realized. Then the rains came.

A Calamitous Storm

From the rolling prairie near San Saba county, through the beautiful and rugged hill country, into the Llano basin, through a series of canyons, the mighty Colorado river bursts forth from the Balcones Escarpment at Austin. It's principal tributaries include the Pedernales, Llano, San Saba and Concho rivers along with Pecan Bayou. The tremendous rainstorm of April 5 - 8, 1900 that so tragically affected Central Texas began as two separate storms. One erupted over Val Verde county on the Rio Grande river. The other erupted over Swisher county on the high plains in the Texas Panhandle. Prior to the two merging over Travis county, torrential rain had already fallen along the Colorado river & it's tributaries, from Llano all the way to Austin. The result was catastrophic flooding on the Brazos, Colorado and Guadalupe rivers. 

Destructive and Deadly Flooding

At Austin, from 1 p.m. April 6, 1900 through 4 a.m. on April 7, five inches of rain fell on a saturated, rugged and hilly landscape.  Unlike now, there was no upstream dams to capture excess run off. Swollen by the deluge, the Colorado River surged onward and unbridled. On it's furious trek downstream anything in it's way was gathered by, and carried forth in, the torrent. At 11:20 a.m. on April 7, the floodwaters crested at 11 feet at the top of McDonald Dam. The pressure proved too much for the dam and it crumbled as the middle section gave way. The following is exerpted from The Austin Statesman dated Sunday, April 8, 1900, pg. 7:

From midnight until daylight yesterday morning so terrific was the downpour that creeks were transformed into surging torrents and rivers were swollen to a width of a mile within the hour. It is estimated that within an hour yesterday morning 4 inches of rain fell in this immediate vicinity. By daylight it became evident the situation was serious. The river began rising three feet an hour and by 10 o'clock it had increased to four feet. ...The water rose so rapidly that it soon became evident that the power house would be inundated within an hour. The surging torrent bore on its crest tons and tons of trees, houses and debris by the wagon load. All this immense mass piled up on the crest of the dam very rapidly, forming a solid mass twenty feet high and 1,000 feet thick over which the water surged and fretted before taking its sixty foot plunge over the crest. ...At 11:15 exactly the crash came and a slice of granite eight feet thick, twenty-five feet in depth and 500 hundred feet long rolled out of the middle of the dam and into the river below.... This released the immense quantity of debris, trees and houses and the vast volume of water bellowing on its way down the river carrying death and destruction in its wake.

The powerhouse was destroyed, seven workers there drowned. Two workers miraculously escaped a watery grave. At around midnight, the powerhouse succumbed and fell into the tempestuous river, it's destruction complete. The gem of Lake McDonald, the celebrated steamboat Ben-Hur, was destroyed. Fish camps along the river, consisting of 8 families, each fairly large in number, according the above article, "disappeared with the breaking of the dam." Hundreds of observers that had gathered below the dam to view the spectacle of the flood waters scrambled out of harms way when the weakened dam gave way. For some the escape was quite narrow. Eight men standing at the river's edge when the dam broke were caught up in the torrent but were rescued about a quarter mile down river. 

Also from pg. 7, source cited above, is the following account:

One man crossing the valley south of the wagon bridge was caught by the raging torrents. His buggy and horse were swept away and he himself was landed on top of a telephone post. He swung on there for a while but the water soon undermined the post and it gave way and as it fell the man was seen to go under and never come up again.

This man, based on comparing other accounts, despite a few inconsistencies, is surely Ozwin LaFrance (named erronously as Osborne, Oswald and LaFrantz in other articles). 

The New York Times,  April 8, 1900, no pg. # noted, published a "Special To The New York Times", from Austin, Texas, April 7, reads in part:

Raging Colorado River Engulfs Fifty People At Austin

GREAT DAM BROKEN AWAY

Stream A Mile Wide Sweeps Away Electric Power House Leaving City In Darkness--Over 100 Buildings Destroyed

The great dam across the Colorado River, near this city... was swept away this morning by an unprecedented flood in that river. The break occurred at 11:15 o'clock, causing an instant rise of fully fifty feet in the river below the dam.

... From the meager reports coming in... is estimated that fully fifty people have met death in the floods.

The article refers to two different men, each with their horse and buggy, being swept away. The first is not named. It reads

One man, attempting to cross the roadway leading to the bridge across the river just as the big wave rolled down, was caught and he and his horse and buggy went down with the torrent and were heard of no more.

The second man is named, and his circumstance is much like Ozwin's as has been reported. This second man is Claude Franklin, of South Austin. The article says he was-

... driving along the river road in a buggy on the south side of the bridge when the flood struck him. He was able to get a hold of a telegraph pole and climbed up into the cross-arms, to a position of apprant security. When a large framed house came down the stream, and striking the telegraph pole, broke it off and precipitated him into the flood. He was drowned in sight of many spectators.

I feel confident the unnamed man could well be Ozwin LaFrance. 

The Austin Statesman, Monday, April 16, 1900, pg. 8, column 3, reads:

A Mr. Davis found the body of Paul Osborne Lafrance yesterday at Webberville in a pile of debris on the bank of the river. Lafrance was drowned here near the bridge in the flood of April 7.

The Austin Statesman, Wednesday, April 18, 1900, pg. 3, reads:

The funeral of Paul Osborne Lafrance, drowned April 7 in the flood from the dam, and found last Sunday in a pile of debris on the river bank at Webberville, was held at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon.

The Dallas Morning News, Monday, April 18, 1900, pg. # not noted, published a report that ran in the Bastrop Advertiser, dated April 17, 1900, reads:

LA FRANCE'S BODY DISINTERRED.

The Man Drowned Below Austin Was Found Near Bastrop

Special To The News

 Bastrop, Tex., April 17. - The body of the man found by W. Bryan in the river above Bastrop, supposed to be that of the missing Mr. La France, was disinterred by his parents last night and taken home for burial. He was caught on the public road just below Austin when the dam broke and sought safety by climbing a telegraph pole. Soon after he reached the top a house struck the pole and he was thrown into the water and lost.

The Bastrop Advertiser, Saturday, April 21, 1900, pg. 3, column 4, reads:

LAFRANTZ'S BODY FOUND

    The body of the dead man taken from the river Friday morning last, by Bill Bryant, at his farm above Bastrop, has been recognized as that of LaFranz, the man who made such a noble battle for life, near Austin, when the Dam broke. It will be remembered that he was caught riding along the river in a buggy, and after climbing to a place of apparent safety up a telephone [post/pole], which was struck by a floating house, knocking him into the water. Friends from Austin came down Monday, recognizing the clothing, even to the patched shoe. The body was taken up and carried back to Austin Monday night. He went to the city that morning after medicine for his wife and was returning home when caught by the flood. He was warned against attempting to re-cross the river, and not heeding the warning, cost him his life. It is supposed his great anxiety about his wife cause him to take the risk.

    Frank Hierman, Clarance L. Woodward and Jos. A. O'Reiley were the parties who came down from Austin, recognized and carried the body back to the city. 

Inconsistency and Confusion

I have to admit, at first reading, I was confused. I found a website where calendars from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries could be found (www.vpcalendars.net). It helped to look at the April 1900 calendar to get a bearing on the dates.

The post, or pole. Telegraph or telephone? Both existed, could have been either. Was it undermined by the force of the torrent or did a house knock it down? Either is possible. The first article mentioned above, from the Austin Statesman the day after the calamity, was an early account, when it was still unknown as to how many died and what all the damage was. Nothing is quite accurate on the first reporting.

And the man who found him, Bryan/Bryant or Davis? I'm inclined to go with Bryan/Bryant who is named more than once. As to Mr. Davis, perhaps he could have worked for Mr. Bryan/Bryant or been a neighbor. It's highly probable that the 'W', as in 'W. Bryan' must stand for 'William' as Bill, so called in the above Bastrop Advertiser of Saturday, April 21, is a common nickname for William. And it would have been easy to either omit, or add, a 't' to Bryan/Bryant. 

While I know I'm drifting into the weeds here, my curiosity compelled me to check census records for Bastrop, 1900. The enumeration district is 2. On sheet 6/B I found a W B Bryant living in Precinct 1. To be sure I looked up the census in Bastop, 1910. Same enumeration district & precinct as 1900. On sheet 15/A, he is listed as Wm B Bryant. Other family names match those in 1900. Still, I checked Bastrop, 1920. The enumeration district is 17 and the precinct is the same as the previous two censuses. On pg. 25 I find W Bryant. Family names match up. In the margin is noted 'Bastrop Road'.  In all three censuses he listed as owning his farm. I feel sure this is the man who found Ozwin LaFrance. 

I don't think Ozwin's parents would have taken part in recovering his body, as reported. It's more fitting the friends, named above, did it for them, as reported in the Bastrop Advertiser Saturday, April 21, 1900 and published in the Dallas Morning News. Looking at the dates on the April 1900 calendar, it seems he must have been buried not long after being found.

Timeline

April 5, 1900, Thursday, two storms began is separate parts of the state, hundreds of miles apart.

April 6, 1900, Friday, the two storms collide over Travis county

April 7, 1900, Saturday, Ozwin LaFrance drowns while attempting to cross the river.

April 15, 1900, Sunday, Ozwin LaFrance was found according to the Austin Statesman article dated Monday, April 16th. This is reinforced by the April 18th Austin Statesman article. All this depite a Bastrop Advertiser article dated Saturday April 21 that refers to his being  'taken from the river Sunday last'.

April 16, 1900, Monday, the Austin Statesman article states Ozwin was "found yesterday". Ozwin disinterred late this night. 

April 17, 1900, Tuesday, it is reported in the Dallas Morning News from a Bastrop Advertiser article that 'Mr. La France was disinterred by his parents last night'. 

April 21, 1900 was a Saturday. The Bastrop Advertiser dated this day refers to Ozwin's body being taken up and carried back to Austin 'Monday', which would be the 16th. 

At the time of this catastrophe happened, Ozwin's younger most brother, Jacob, was 6 years old.

Family Facts

On Thursday, April 1, 1915 twenty-one year old Jacob LaFrance married twenty-eight year old Maggie Wooden. This date was also the 46th wedding anniversary of Jacob's parents, Paul & Johanna LaFrance.

Jacob's Demise

On Tuesday, June 18, 1918 Jacob LaFrance accidently drowned in the Colorado river not far from his Cummins Street home at the foot of Rainey Street. There was no calamitous storm or a swollen, raging Colorado river reeking havoc. 

According to an Austin Statesman article (sent to me without notation of date, but since the end refers to 'last night' I assume the correct date for the article would be June 19, 1918.), Jacob had eaten his supper and then proceeded to the river to bathe. While bathing he was overcome by cramps and began drowning. Camping with his family nearby, actually a short distance away, was one W. Earnest. He went to help Jacob but could not reach the spot before Jacob succumbed and sank. It was Mr. Earnest who notified Jacob's wife, referred to only as Mrs. LaFrance. She ran down the incline towards the riverbed where husband drowned. She was prevented from going very far by neighbors, who had begun to gather to ascertain what was going on. A pulmotor belonging to the fire department was sent to the river to attempt to revive Jacob. Dr. A. S. Woolsley, who had an office in the Littlefield building, responded to a call for a physician. After an hour he declared the effort to revive Jacob as fruitless. 

Parallel 

Now, with this information it seems it would be just coincidence that both Jacob and his older most brother, Ozwin LaFrance drowned. What makes it uncanny is that, according to the article about Jacob's drowning, he drowned at the same spot in the Colorado river as his older brother eighteen years earlier. That section of the river is called 'Satan's Sinkhole'. It may have been a problem in 1918, but it was obscured by a raging river in 1900.

More Revealed on the First Drowning

The article on Jacob's death does tell more on Ozwins (who is referred to as Oswald). The article says that he "was attempting to drive a buggy across a dike which had been submerged with water by a heavy flood. The horse was swept from his feet but Oswald [sic] gained a hold on a nearby telephone post." This supports, in part, the article eighteen years earlier from the above Bastrop Advertiser dated Saturday, April 21, 1900. However, in Jacob's article it is said that after his brother climbed above the water level the post broke off at the bottom. This supports the above Austin Stateman April 8, 1900 article (above). There is a sure discrepancy in Jacob's article regarding his brother's demise. It says Ozwin was found at almost the exact spot that Jacob drowned. It has been firmly established Ozwin was found in Webberville. 

The Dike

About the dike area, referred to in the article on Jacob's death, where Ozwin apparantly tried to cross the river eighteen years earlier. In the previously mention Austin Statesman article on April 8, 1900, it said this of the dike- 

The entire stretch of the dike between the Bouldin bridge and the river bridge at the foot of the avenue was swept away.

EPILOG

Little more than a year after her husband's death, Nora Seay LaFrance married John T. Mangham April 22, 1901. They had a few children. They would eventually settle in Waco in McLennan county. Ozwin's & Nora's son, Golie, married Bettie Brock (I have been unable to find a date). Of Golie and Bettie LaFrance's five children, only one survived to adulthood- Walter Lee LaFrance.

In 1920, Maggie LaFrance shows up in Waco. On the census, she listed as a roomer in the home of Lee and Bessie Merritt. I have be unable to find out if she remarried. I also haven't found a death date for her. 

Sources:

Copies of news articles as cited from the Austin Statesman, Bastrop Advertiser, Dallas Morning News and the New York Times. These were sent to me via snail mail from John Chapman who responded to my inquiry on the Rootsweb Travis County Texas mailing list. I have transcribed from the articles verbatim, errors and all.

Information about the river, dam and weather from the following:

Lower Colorado River Authority:

http://www.lcra.org/about/overview/history/timeline/historycenter.html

'The Austin Dam Publication':

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/landscapes/publications/txu-oclc-2564523/txu-oclc-2564523-011.html