By SANDRA TUMBERLINSON
San Benito Historical Society
“Our Roots run deep, our Love runs deeper.” This past weekend, San Benito had the unique honor of hosting the Sayon – Callandret 21st Annual Family Reunion at the Callandret Black History Museum located on property owned by the family since the turn of the century until Fannie Callandret donated it to the school district in 1948 to facilitate a school for black children.
At the reunion, attendees wore shirts with the Sayon-Callandret roots and love theme. Some of the younger visitors took advantage of the proximity to the beach and observed that the South Padre Island beach is lovelier than those in Corpus Christi, Houston, or Galveston. They went fishing and enjoyed the beautiful weather to swim and walk the beaches and shop, but the majority, the older attendees, enjoyed sitting with their many cousins and discussed common memories.
When the group met at the Black History Museum, they examined the photos, the classroom replica, details from the 115 year old school district board minutes on wall panels and inspected the large combined family trees lining an entire hall in the building. For some, it was their first time visiting the family-based black museum in San Benito.
Pointing at the names on the wall, Catherine Cole Wagoner, Dallas, stressed how common names were repeated from generation to generation. She made the crowd laugh when recounting how her Great Uncle Joe Sayon gave her two shiny dimes every weekend, one for tithing at church and the other so she could buy “little gingerbread pigs” at the local bakery, a treat she never forgot and which are still being made today.
Many of the families brought pictures to share but the biggest surprise was a representative from the Sayon family. For 20 years, the Callandrets met with little or no representation from the Sayon side. This year, as Cathy said, “We needed to unite the families to show the links to our common past.”
The Sayons and Callandrets were all originally from Louisiana, as were many of the white founders of San Benito. This reunion opens the door to many more Sayon, Callandret, and newly confirmed Sanco relations who still live in the Bayou state to come visit the museum. It was Gabrielle Burrell who came prepared to share Sanco and Sayon birth/death certificates, marriage records, old Valley Morning Star and San Benito Newspaper clippings of the activities of the black residents, their business advertisings and 1910 census reports. The information presented by guests allowed for the tweaking of early San Benito history, reflected in the family trees.
The newest project by the San Benito Historical Society for the Callandret Black History Museum was a pleasant surprise for the families. A seven-foot wide by six-foot tall black granite monument, with the same sloped roof as the museum, will be placed in the foreground of the building. On it, will be inscribed over 400 names of the black residents of San Benito from the turn of the century to the present. Money is being collected on a Go Fund Me page and the visitors donated generously.
Lonnie Davis, board member, encouraged the crowd to think about the future of the Black History Museum. He encouraged the youth to use their college education and strong backs to “step forward and come up with a plan to keep the Callandret open.” “We worked hard to do this, and put the Texas Historical Marker out front, and it takes all of us to keep this place open,” he stressed.
San Benito Historical Society looks forward to hosting meetings, class or family reunions, neighborhood reunions, Christmas and holiday events in the building or on the playground/park throughout the year.
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