By Tracy Gupton
Former West Columbia Mayor C.B. “Bubba” Gilbert was posthumously honored with induction into the Sons of the Republic of Texas at a recent meeting of the Stephen F. Austin Chapter 6 of the SRT. A Sons of the Republic of Texas medallion was presented to the World War II veteran’s children by SFA Chapter 6 President Ray Beall last week at the Stephen F. Austin statue museum in Angleton.
Retired West Columbia school teacher Sherrie Gilbert Hester and former West Columbia City Councilman Randy Gilbert, two of Bubba and Betty Gilbert’s four children, were in attendance to accept the medallion from Beall. Randy Gilbert, who serves on the Columbia Historical Museum Board of Directors, said the SRT medallion will either be added to his father’s headstone at Cedar Lawn Haven of Rest Cemetery in West Columbia or treasured as a family keepsake.
Randy Gilbert’s father joins Chris and Ryan Gilbert–Randy’s sons–and Josh Harris and Randy as members of the Gilbert family in the Stephen F. Austin Chapter 6 of the Sons of the Republic of Texas. Josh is the son of Debbie Gilbert Harris, another daughter of Bubba and Betty Gilbert who was unable to attend the ceremony last week.
The Gilbert family’s bloodline connection to the Republic of Texas is Johann Karl Philipp Haffelder who came to America from Nauroth-Nassau, Germany, on the ship “Washington” in 1845. Johann married Catherine Klaerner in Comal County on March 29, 1847. Johann departed Antwerp, Belgium, September 25, 1845, and arrived in Galveston, Texas, two months later on November 25, 1845, according to research done by Chris Gilbert who also serves on the Columbia Historical Museum Board of Directors with his father.
The Republic of Texas became the 28th state in the United States of America on December 29, 1845. U.S. President John Tyler concluded negotiations with the leaders of the Republic of Texas at the tail end of his presidency and his successor, President James K. Polk, was in office at the White House when he successfully persuaded both houses of Congress to approve the annexation of the Republic of Texas in 1845.
The 1850 U.S. Census lists Johann Haffelder’s occupation as a tailor when he and his family resided in New Braunfels in Comal County, Texas. According to Chris Gilbert’s research, his great-great-great-grandfather served with the Comal Reserves in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
Chris’s great-great-grandmother, Mary Haffelder Gilbert Vogelsang, was born in 1848 in Comal County. She was one of Johann and Catherine Haffelder’s three children. Following Catherine’s death, Johann married Maria Barbara Schneider Haffelder in 1860 and together they had two more children. Johann Karl Philipp Haffelder was the son of Johann Philipp Adam Haffelder and Johanna Maria Meier Haffelder of Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. The younger Johann, who arrived in Galveston in late November 1845, died on December 24, 1903, in Menomonie, Wisconsin, when he was 82 years old.
Photo by Tracy Gupton
Sons of the Republic of Texas Chapter 6 President Ray Beall, right, presented a medallion and SRT posthumous induction certificate for C.B. “Bubba” Gilbert to his children Randy Gilbert, left, and Sherrie Gilbert Hester
Randy Gilbert said his grandfather, Henry Gilbert, came to West Columbia to work in the oil fields when this area of Brazoria County was a boom town in the earlier part of the twentieth century. Henry Gilbert was the son of Johann and Catherine Haffelder’s daughter Mary and her first husband, Eugene Gilbert. After the death of Eugene, Mary became the wife of Gus Vogelsang, according to Chris Gilbert. Mary Haffelder Gilbert Vogelsang died in San Marcos, Texas, in 1926.
Born in San Marcos in 1868, Henry Gilbert eventually made West Columbia his home. He married Mary Matilda Alborn, the daughter of West Columbia blacksmith Henry Alborn. Chris Gilbert said that the Alborns came to West Columbia in the late 1800s, first appearing as residents of the first capitol of the Republic of Texas in the 1900 U.S. Census.
Henry and Mary Gilbert’s son, Clifton Bevil “Bubba” Gilbert, was born in Batson, Texas, in 1911. Growing up in West Columbia during the “Great Depression,” Bubba Gilbert went to work in the oilfields for a year or two before returning to West Columbia in 1941 from St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, and spent the rest of his life as a community-minded citizen. His wife, Betty June Karr Gilbert, was born in Rock Island, Illinois, in 1922 as the granddaughter of Union Civil War veteran David Dennis Karr. Betty and Bubba were living in Opelousas, Louisiana, when their first child, former Bailey’s Prairie Alderman Bevil Eugene Gilbert, was born in 1940. They moved back to West Columbia before Bevil’s first birthday.
Bubba Gilbert was a private in the U.S. Army during World War II. He lost his mother, Mary, before the war. She died in 1936 at 55 and Bubba’s father, Henry, died on Bevil Gilbert’s ninth birthday, December 5, 1949, at the age of 81. Bubba Gilbert’s parents are interred at historic Columbia Cemetery in West Columbia.
Chris and Randy Gilbert check off Bubba Gilbert’s many accomplishments with great pride when speaking of one of the newest members of the Sons of the Republic of Texas. He served on city council in the 1960s and was the mayor of West Columbia from 1970 to 1976. In later years Bubba Gilbert was the city judge in West Columbia.
Randy Gilbert said his father was instrumental in forming and serving as a charter member of the Mattson-Ringgold American Legion Post 503 in West Columbia. And Chris Gilbert said his grandfather was involved in the formation of the West Columbia Little League in the 1950s and served as one of the first coaches.
C.B. “Bubba” Gilbert died at 81 in 1992. He is interred at Cedar Lawn Haven of Rest Cemetery in West Columbia where his wife, Betty, was laid to rest next to him when she passed away at 75 in 1997. Their first-born child, Bevil Gilbert, was buried near his parents when he passed away at 74 in 2015. Mrs. Gilbert was preceded in death by son-in-law, Johnnie Bob Hester who died in 1994 at the age of 50. Sherrie Hester’s husband Johnnie Bob Hester is buried near his brother-in-law Bevil Gilbert and Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert. The Gilbert’s grandson Kent Harris who passed away in 1998 at the age of 18 is also buried close to his two uncles and grandparents.
Sherrie Hester and Randy Gilbert beamed with pride while accepting the SRT medallion from Ray Beall at the recent meeting of the local chapter of the Sons of the Republic of Texas in Angleton. In listening to their comments during the ceremony, it is obvious that their Daddy meant a great deal to both of them.
Randy Gilbert said his grandfather, Henry Gilbert, and nephew, Kent Harris, are next in line in the Gilbert family to receive posthumous Sons of the Republic of Texas inductions and medallions for their headstones. Family members unable to attend the ceremony included daughter Debbie Harris and daughter-in-law Sharon Gilbert, wife of Bevil Gilbert. Grandchildren Brent Gilbert and wife Mary Pat, Corey Gilbert and wife Marissa, Jennifer Hester, Julie Hester, Josh Harris, Chris Gilbert and wife Erica and Ryan Gilbert, as well as great-grandchildren Lindsey Gilbert Laubach and husband Gage, Mikaela Gilbert, Skyler Forrest, Summer Forrest, Daniel Gilbert, Alaina Gilbert, Jacob Gilbert, Nicholas Dettmer and Nathan Dettmer are also descendants of Bubba and Betty Gilbert.