The Munsons of Texas — an American Saga
Appendix I
THE MUNSON PAPERS
The Munson Papers are a sizable collection of genealogical data on the Munsons of Texas. They are derived from two major sources: the personal papers of Mordello Stephen Munson and the research data of Erma Munson Rich.
The papers of Mordello Stephen Munson, including a few from his father, Henry William Munson, were no doubt held in his home, Ridgely Plantation, at Bailey's Prairie from 1850 until his death in 1903. His home is said to have burned in about 1905, and fortunately his youngest son, Milam Stephen Munson, had removed these papers to the attic of his home at 600 S. Walker Street in Angleton, Texas. The papers remained there for about forty-seven years, until they were discovered by Erma Munson Rich on a severely cold winter day in 1950. She was so excited that she carried them to her car until her family forced her to stop in fear of her becoming ill from the cold. To the last she regretted that she did not finish the job and retrieve them all. Erma kept, studied, and transcribed the documents for the next thirty years, and to her goes major credit for determining their content. When age forced Erma to give up her home, her daughters offered the papers to this writer.
During the 1960s and 1970s this writer, noting the severe deterioration of many of the older documents, urged Erma to give the Munson Papers to the Eugene C. Barker Texas History Library at the University of Texas at Austin for permanent preservation. This library contains the Austin Papers, the Perry Papers, the Bryan Papers, and the Adriance Papers, along with many other collections. In 1985 the Munson Papers were transferred to the Barker Library for permanent safekeeping. A copy of every document was returned to this writer for his further study and use. The original collection will reside permanently in Austin, Texas, where it is available for use by anyone at any time.
