This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/4kB.2ACI/1472 Message Board Post: For most of my 58 years I have heard my Bateman family members speak of Porter's Bluff on the Trinity river near Styx, TX. They all attest to the fact that my ggrandfather William Porter Bateman ran a ferrycrossing north of his homeplace (just north of the Berry cemetery) on the Trinity river. Recently I researched Porter's Bluff in The Handbook of Texas Online. There it stated that the bluff was located on the Trinity river near Trinidad, TX in Navarro county and was named after a Capt. Porter Bateman who navigated the Trinity with small cargo boats. It also stated that the entire location of Porter's Bluff was wiped out by a flood several years ago. This week I visited with Putman Bateman (a grandson of William Porter Bateman. He swears to the fact that his father (Hayden Bateman) had worked on the ferrycrossing with William Porter Bateman and my grandad Willis Bateman helped them. Putman said that some of the dock timbers were still sticking out of the water on the north river bank on the west side of hwy 85 where it crosses the Trinity river. He also stated that a landing house or building had stood in the now wooded area north of the docking site. I asked Putman about the flood and he told me the site had undergone a large flood years ago and the buildings destroyed. Others who live in the Styx and Kemp area have told me similar stories concerning this site. Could The Handbook of Texas staff been given incorrect information? I think it is very possible. My granddad William Porter Bateman definately owned hundreds of acres on both sides of the Trinity river and there are still signs of an old wagon road through the wooded area which leads down to the river where the ferry crossing was located. I stood on the hwy 85 bridge this summer and observed several timbers jutting up from the water near the north bank. They did not appear to have grown there. For several years I have heard of people in the area diving near the sunken ferry, removing some of the timber and using it in their homes as the quality of the wood was very desirable. I would appreciate any information and comments on this subject. Please contact me with your thoughts and facts. Thanks! Jerry