I stumbled onto this lovely site that is extremely user friendly, and I imagine may be of interest to those with Texas roots:

Portal to Texas History

Through this site you can search for surnames and specific people, not only in newspapers, but in books and other collections. And it's free!

Over the last few weeks, I have been poking at my brick walls as one does, and a few records have popped up, much to my surprise. 



Still not much luck actually 'proving' W.A. Lavelle's parents, as I am still unable to locate him in the 1860 or 1870 census records. I have found him in theater cast lists in various newspapers which trace him through the 1870s and 1880s, I believe I found him on a Chicago directory living with his mother one year - cannot…