Joseph "Joe" Lentz

Birth: Born around 1923 in Wisconsin.  

Family Information: Son of Nick Lentz and Olive Pearl Lentz.

Brother of Philip, Jane, Noel and Martha Lentz.  

Description:  

Pre-Colony History:  

Home in Colony:  

Job in Colony:  

Other Info: In 1931 the first number on the program at the theater was a playlet entitled "The Royal Tailor Shop." The characters were Joe as the royal tailor; the king played by Bill Busick; and the servant played by Ernest Ogden. The boys were all third grade students and each did his part very well.

In June 1933, Oscar Needham loaned his big Buick coupe so the fourth grade could have their spring outing on the banks of the Sabine river. They enjoyed swimming, fishing, ice cream, mud baths and a perfect day. The group included: Hulda Mahler, Frances Roe, Genevieve Quipp, Billy Busick, Eugene Hewett, Ernest Ogden, Raymond Campbell, Joe and their teacher. When they left the colony, four children were hanging on the outside, while five rode on the inside with plenty of eats and an ice cream freezer filled with vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries. Their picnic included biscuits with egg, honey and peanut butter filling and raw carrots for relish. While the teacher read to some, others threw stones far out into the stream, with Ernest and Raymond claiming to have thrown into Texas. The 'colored' ferryman, having come down, went into convulsions of laughter after spotting Eugene, who had covered every square inch of his body, except his eyes and mouth, with mud.

In July 1934 Lloyd Potter took ten boys including Joe and Phillip Lentz, Sylvester Watson, Byron Busick, Billy Busick, Jimmy Dix, Quentin Quipp, Kenneth Dean, Eugene Hewitt and Clarence Fread on a camping trip to Hadden's Ferry on the Sabine River. They swam for a while; borrowed the ferryman's rowboat and plowed up the river; ate fried potatoes and eggs, bread and jelly, and a fine icing cake. Come evening they set out trout lines and picked moss from the trees to make a bed. They played through the night, getting very little, if any, sleep.

Member of the junior band organized in September 1934; members included Joe (Lentz), Billy (possibly Busick or Ketchen), Byron (Busick), Ernest (could be Ogden or Joynes), Jimmy (Dix), Bill Quinton, Howard (Stansbury), Clarence (Fread), Jack (Lewis or Barnette), Sylvester (Watson) and Lenin Tabb.  

Post-Colony History: In 1940 he still lived with his parents and siblings in a home in the unincorporated New Llano, Louisiana (site of the old colony).  

Death:  

Sources: "Llano Colonist": September 19, 1931, June 17, 1933, July 7, 1934, September 22, 1934; US Census: 1940