Varga Chappel

 

FOOTNOTES:

1.         The Paul Varga Family:  Paul Varga was born May 28, 1841, in Baas, Hungary, to Benjamin and Magdaline (Vita) Varga.  Paul Varga came to the United States in 1858.  He settled in San Antonio where he later volunteered for service in the Confederate States Army.  After the war, he returned to San Antonio where he met and married Blanch Delaware Russell on September 8, 1866.

            In October, 1876, Paul Varga bought 640 acres of land in northwest San Saba County from his father.  He moved to this land in the Bowser community in 1877.  In 1880 Paul Varga and wife Blanch deeded a certain parcel of this land to the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the establishment of a church.  In 1890 Paul and Blanch donated an additional parcel of land (beyond the flood plain) to be used as a cemetery for the Bowser community. (See Deed Records Vol. F, p. 417 and Vol. T, p. 430.

2.         Mrs. Paul Varga:  Blanch Delaware Russell was born Dec. 11, 1837, in Kentucky to Zachrai and Elvira P. (Sugart) Russell. She met and married Paul Varga in while living in San Antonio, Texas. After their marriage, Paul and Blanch moved to Bell County where all their children were born.  She died Sept. 7, 1930, and is buried beside Paul in the Varga Chapel Cemetery.  Her mother, Elvira P. Sugart Russell, was born Dec. 23, 1907, and died Feb. 10, 1890, and is buried in the old Bowser Bend Cemetery.  (For more on the history of the Varga family see page 331 in Vol. I of San Saba County History 1856-1983).

3.         The Bowser Community was named in honor of Able Bowser who was among the first to settle in the area in the early 1950’s.  The community was first situated in a bend in the Colorado River and became known as Bowser Bend.  The community developed around a gin, a general store and a post office. By the mid 1880’s the community had a population of between 140 to150, including a physician and a constable.  In the late 1880’s, after Bowser Bend had been flooded several times, the little town was moved to a new location out of the flood range of the Colorado River.  The Texas historical marker at the Varga Chapel Cemetery states, “Due to river floods, Paul Varga donated land at this site for a chapel and a cemetery in 1890…and the town of Bowser relocated.”

            The town of Bowser no longer exists except for the Bowser Community Church, the schoolhouse and a few residential homes.  (See pages 428 and 429 in Vol. I of San Saba County History 1856-1983.

4.         The Bowser School was the second School District to be organized in San Saba County and was the center of community activity over the years.  Classes were held there through the 1942 school year when Bowser consolidated with the Richland Springs Independent School District. The school building now serves as a community center.  See P. 406-407 in Vol. I of San Saba County History, 1856-1983.