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Belgians in the Civil War

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BELGIANS IN AMERICA:    Biographies of Belgian settlers  

PETER SHINER, a native of Luxembourg, Belgium, settled in 1842 at Victoria, Texas, where he became a prominent merchant, land speculator and stockraiser. In 1858 he delivered 1,300 horses purchased in Mexico to a buyer in Illinois. This was one of the first major trail drives north.
About 1860 Shiner sold his holdings in Victoria and moved to San Antonio, where he opened a store on Military Plaza. He also opened a rendering works near the stockyards, buying large numbers of cattle and killing them for the hides and tallow. During the Civil War he was an outspoken Union man.
In 1865 and 1866 he served on the San Antonio City Council under the provisional government. Later he was a Bexar County Commissioner for two terms before resuming duties as a city alderman. After the war he purchased ranches in Frio and Lavaca Counties and in 1869 established a candle and soap factory at San Antonio. Operating under the name of P Shiner & Sons, this was one of the first major manufacturing industries in the Southwest.                                

M. Charles Shiner, a capitalist of San Antonio, who at one time was well known in connection with the live stock interests of Texas, was born in Victoria county, this state, in 1852, his parents being Peter and Amie (Hemis) Shiner. This is one of the prominent families in the business and cattle history of southwestern Texas. The father was born in Belgium of French and German parentage, and came to [Texas] in the early '40s, locating at Victoria, in Victoria county. He soon became heavily interested in the cattle business and was for many years one of the largest and most successful operators in cattle in the "lower country." He was a fine business man, of native shrewdness and ability, and with a keen insight into the splendid future of the then new and undeveloped country. His cattle interests in those days extended principally over Victoria and Lavaca counties. He also became a prominent merchant in Victoria, and was interested generally in large business affairs which proved important elements in the development and upbuilding of his section of the country. As an instance of his intrepid nerve and enterprise it is recorded that as early as the year 1858 he drove a bunch of thirteen hundred horses from Mexico to Illinois, that period being long before the establishment of the first trail from Texas to the north. The first part of the journey was made through a country infested with thieves and other notoriously bad characters, and further north the hostile Indian element was encountered.
In 1860 Peter Shiner decided to remove to San Antonio, where he arrived with his family and outfit in wagons on the 16th of July of that year. He went into the mercantile business in this city, having a store on the south side of the Military Plaza, and he also extended his cattle interests in this section of the state. Watchful of business opportunities and possessing resourceful ability, he enlarged the scope of his activities in 1869 through the establishment of the first candle and soap factory in the southwest at San Antonio, under the firm style of P. Shiner & Sons, this becoming, like all his other ventures, a success, and, moreover, it was the first important manufacturing industry of the city. Prior to this Mr. Shiner had established here a rendering works, buying cattle in large numbers and killing them for the hides and tallow, and it was this that led him to establish the soap and candle business. He was also a stockholder in the original company that was organized for the manufacture of extract of beef. In 1865 and 1866 he was a member of the city council of San Antonio under the provisional government then in force under Governor Hamilton. He was likewise county commissioner of Bexar county, by re-election holding the office for two terms, and in other ways he was one of the prominent, substantial citizens of the county and state. He was also uninterruptedly successful in business and at his death, which occurred in 1881, he left valuable real and personal property, much of which is still in possession of the family. One of the largest of these interests is the well-known Shiner ranch, scarcely surpassed in the southwest. It is in Frio county and is very valuable. The town of Shiner in Lavaca county, where he held large interests for many years, was named for him. His wife, who is also deceased, was born in New Orleans and belonged to one of the original French families of that city.
M. Charles Shiner was reared and educated in San Antonio, completing his education, however, at Soule's University in New Orleans. For some years, as a boy and youth, he obtained valuable business experience as a clerk in his father's store in San Antonio, but the most interesting part of Mr. Shiner's life and for which he is best known in Texas was in connection with his career as a cowman, "hitting the trail" soon after he left school. He was one of the first to go over the Chisum trail with cattle to the north, and his numerous adventures from the Mexico border to Kansas with the notoriously bad elements of the lower country and the border, and the hostile Indians here, in themselves would fill a book, and the tale would be more thrilling than any invention of fiction. He has seen people scalped by the Indians and knows all of the difficulties, hardships and dangers of life on the frontier. The whole of Texas was his camp ground in those days. With headquarters principally in Lavaca county he operated all over southwestern Texas and was in the cattle business exclusively for thirteen years. His home has always been in San Antonio, however, and for the past few years he has been devoting his time to his real-estate and other property interests, having disposed of his cattle interests. He represented his ward-the first-for two terms in the city council.
Mr. Shiner was married to Miss Addie Jones, a daughter of the late Captain A. H. Jones, of Gonzales county, a noted pioneer soldier and Indian fighter, who was a veteran of the Mexican war and the owner of an extensive plantation in that county. In the more remote period his history is connected with that of military movements resulting in Texan independence. Mr. and Mrs. Shiner's children are Dr. Milton Shiner, Gordon, Jack and Adeline Shiner. Two of Mr. Shiner's brothers, Henry and Bee Shiner, also live in San Antonio. The life history of Mr. Shiner, if written in detail, would present an accurate picture of conditions in the southwest during the days of the free range and the open trail. He has watched with interest the onward march of civilization and progress and has kept pace with the work of uniform improvement until now, well known as a capitalist of San Antonio, he is regarded as one of its representative citizens.

Source : (collective work) : A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas; Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1907, 1313 pgs.