Early resident left her mark on Leander home

Early resident left her mark on Leander home

By Karen R. Thompson Friday, 17 October 2008

It was commonly known Miss Dora Heinatz, who was considered an “old maid,” had a loaded shotgun and was not afraid to use it.

The barn directly across from her bedroom window in the house where she lived her entire life still shows scars from nights when Miss Dora was startled by noises outside.

Miss Dora was born to John and Emile Heinatz in 1877 and had eight siblings. Her father, a German immigrant, was one of the earliest Bagdad settlers, arriving in the 1840s.

The Heinatz house, built in 1850, is the oldest structure on Bagdad Road and one of the first homes in western Williamson County to receive a Texas Historical Medallion. It was this home that Miss Dora defended with her shotgun. Her barn bore the brunt of her often late-night warfare, and people knew to avoid unannounced visits to Miss Dora, especially after dark.

Charles C. Mason’s family, also early settlers to the area, was Miss Dora’s neighbor to the south on Bagdad Road. In the early part of 1900, the Masons had a Model T Ford in which son Sam Mason often drove Miss Dora to meetings of her spiritual group, the Order of the Eastern Star. A devoted member, her gravestone bears the group’s symbol.

Those early Ford automobiles had a stick gearshift coming out of the floorboard between the driver and passenger. On one drive to a meeting, Sam’s hand slipped off the gearshift and touched Miss Dora’s knee. Her reaction was such that Sam told people he thought she was going to insist he marry her.

Miss Dora, never having any of her own children, loved her niece Emile Heinatz, who lived in Austin. Throughout the 1930s, Emile spent her summers with her aunt and made friends with three young girls from Leander, which was east of Bagdad at the time. Frances Mason, Bonnie Darroh and Gertrude Miller had to get a ride out to the Heinatz homestead to visit Emile.

Bonnie’s father, George Darroh, was a rural letter carrier for the Leander post office, and it was customary for him to finish his rural mail route by noon each weekday. Frances, Gertrude and Bonnie eagerly waited each afternoon for the time when either George or Bessie Darroh could take them to play with Emile. The girls spent summer afternoons playing outside swinging and running, or inside playing games. At night, they knew Miss Dora had her gun ready in case she heard any strange noises.