The Wendish Research Exchange

            With its immense physical size, Texas presents a formidable challenge in the location of our Texas ancestry. Mr. Kubicek will take us down this path of challenges using historical events as our guide.

            From 1865 to 1875 the Reconstruction Era was upon Texas and the South. Among the many things, the Federal government had devised was a plan (Voter Registration Act) to control and register all male citizens of Texas after the Civil War. This is just one of the many facets of the Reconstruction records overlooked by many genealogists.

            The Reconstruction Plan failed, but as Mr. Kubicek has discovered the government records remained, giving genealogist’s untapped sources of locating our ancestors. Traditional genealogical sources are enhanced during this time period by more precise records required by the Federal government, as well as the non-traditional sources discovered by Mr. Kubicek’s research.

Pride in our heritage, an understanding our past, a concern for the present and a vision for our future, stems from a close attachment to our cultural roots. The close attachment to our heritage, the ability to locate and understand their lives comes from this amazing snap shot of a turbulent time period in the State of Texas and of our ancestors.

Doug Kubicek is a native Texan, born and raised in Shiner, Texas. He graduated from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville with a degree in U. S. History and Cultural Geography.  He is a 45 year member of the Texas Historical Commission and Lavaca County Historical Commission and currently is serving aschairperson and Archeological Steward.

Specializing in Lavaca County History and Cultural Geography his publications include Grand, Complete and Perfect: The Lavaca County Courthouse 1897 – 1899 and has had articles printed in various genealogical publications including Stripes, the quarterly of the Texas State Genealogical Society. He is a popular speaker at the Texas genealogical/historical conferences and has spoken all over the state to groups such as, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Sons of the Republic of Texas, Texas State Historical Association, East Texas Historical Association, Houston Genealogical Forum, International Genealogical/Cultural Conference in Houston, Texas and the Alton C. Allen Historical Conference.

He was selected to receive the Lucy Posey Texas History Teacher Award, Captain Augustus Jones Chapter of the U. S. Daughters of 1812 in 2000.

 In 2003 was selected as Educator of the Year by the Sons of the Republic of Texas.

In March 2009 at the 113^th Annual Meeting of the Texas State Historical Association, Doug presented a paper entitled: An Uncompromising Line Between Yankee Rule and Rebel Rowdies, Reconstruction in Lavaca County.

In 2011 he was the recipient of the Linden Heck Howell Award as Texas History Teacher of the Year.

In 2012 he presented a paper as part of the Texas Folklore Society session at the East Texas Historical Association annual meeting entitled “I thought I saw a ghost on Boggy Creek, The Story of Sarah Creath.”

Also in 2012, he coauthored a chapter in “Still the Arena of Civil War, Violence and Turmoil in Reconstruction Texas 1865- 1874 entitled “An Uncompromising Line Between Yankee Rule and Rebel Rowdies, Reconstruction in Lavaca County” Edited by Kenneth W. Howell.

Doug, a 7^th grade Texas History teacher has 26 years experience in the education field and is currently employed by the Hallettsville Independent School District. 

His current projects include research on:

* Tucker Foley, the First Fatality of the Great Comanche Raid of 1840

* “Long on Work but Short on Information”; New Deal Cotton Farming in Lavaca County, 1934 - 1938

* BlackLand Cotton Farmers & Soldiers; Lavaca County in World War I

* One of FDR’s Ugly Ducklings; The Story of the USS Lavaca (APA 180) in World War II.

* The Petition Papers From LavacaCounty 1846 - 1926.

On the back burner: The Personal Papers of Captain Charles Welhausen; Welhausen’s Battery, C.S.A.