Bayland Orphans Home

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Bayland Orphans Home. Now, the Civil War had a way of leaving wreckage long after the guns went quiet. Families shattered.

Fathers gone. Mothers left destitute. Children with stepfathers who couldn't — or wouldn't — step up.

It was into that particular kind of heartbreak that a man named Henry Gillette decided to do something. In 1866, Gillette led a group who sat down together with one purpose: to form an orphanage for the children of Confederate soldiers. The Texas Legislature took notice, and on September 24 of that same year, they chartered the institution — officially, formally, by name — as The Orphans Home at Bayland.

Now you need a board to run a thing like that, and on January 15, 1867, a group of men gathered at the Houston home of Dr. John L. Bryan to organize one.

Gillette was there. Bryan was there. And so was the Reverend C.

C. Preston — who, as it happened, had already purchased Bryan's property on the west bank of Goose Creek, looking out over Tabbs Bay. That property, including a two-story brick house, became the physical home of The Orphans Home at Bayland.

Preston took on the role of first superintendent. But August of 1867 arrived, and Preston died — and just like that, the job fell to Gillette. Then in 1870, Gillette's sister, Jeanette Duke, a Confederate widow herself, raising two young sons of her own, became the matron of the home.

Dr. Ashbel Smith served as the home's physician. These were real people, pouring real effort into something they built almost from nothing.

And here's what nothing can grow into, given enough care: the home started with two sisters enrolling in February of 1866. Two children. By 1870, the orphanage was serving seventy-six young people.

That is not a small thing. Of course, a place that size costs money to run. In 1873, the state legislature granted the home more than forty-eight thousand acres to sell for operating funds.

And the generosity didn't stop there — William and J. J. Hendley of Galveston made additional large gifts, including land and stocks.

People believed in this place. Now, not everything about this story is triumphant. There is an orphans home cemetery out at that Bayland site, now unmarked, containing at least eight burials.

Eight children who came to that place seeking shelter and never left. That deserves a moment of quiet acknowledgment before we move on. By October 1886, the number of children in the home had dropped to thirty-seven.

And the practical reality was that Houston had always been the center of things — most board meetings, most of the support, most of the community connection. So in 1888, the board made a decision: close the Bayland site, and move the home to thirty-five acres north of Houston, in what is now the Woodland Heights neighborhood. From there, the story keeps moving.

The home changed names. It changed location. It changed governance and mission.

But it did not disappear. Today, that long chain of charity reaches all the way to Harris County's Burnett Bayland Rehabilitation Center — still carrying, in its very name, the memory of where this all began. Out at Bayland Park, where the original home once stood on the west bank of Goose Creek, the marker calls that site the beginning of a story of charity and hope for young Texans.

And when you think about two little sisters walking through a door in February of 1866, and everything that followed — well, that's exactly what it was.

What the marker says

The Civil War shattered many families, leaving orphans, destitute widows, and children whose stepfathers were unable or unwilling to support them. Motivated by such conditions, Henry Gillette led a group who met in 1866 to form an orphanage for children of Confederate soldiers, which the Texas Legislature chartered on September 24 as "The Orphans Home at Bayland." A board of trustees organized on January 15, 1867 at the Houston home of Dr. John L. Bryan included Gillette, Bryan, and Rev. C. C. Preston, who had bought Bryan's property on the west bank of Goose Creek overlooking Tabbs Bay. This site, including a two-story brick house, became "The Orphans Homat at Bayland." Preston was the first superintendent but died in August 1867; he was succeeded by Gillette. Gillette's sister, Jeanette Duke, a Confederate widow with two young sons, became matron of the home in 1870. Dr. Ashbel Smith served as the home's physician. From two sisters enrolling in February 1866, the orphanage grew to serve 76 youths by 1870. The Orphans Home Cemetery, now unmarked, contains at least eight burials. In 1873, the state legislature granted the home more than 48,000 acres to sell for operating funds. Additional large gifts included land and stocks donated by William and J. J. Hendley of Galveston. By October 1886, the number of orphans had decreased to 37. Through the years, Houston was the site of most board meetings and support for the school, so in 1888, the board closed the Bayland site and relocated the home to 35 acres north of Houston (now in Woodland Heights). In Houston the home changed names, location, governance and mission but lives on today in Harris County's Burnett Bayland Rehabilitation Center. The original orphans home site in Bayland Park is remembered as the beginning of a story of charity and hope for young Texans. (1964, 2012)