Ernie Deats will join us on Saturday, July 19, from 2:00-4:00 to sign copies of his historical novel set in Dickinson in the late 1800s.

Saturday, July 19, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

The Last Karankawa

In 1885 along the Gulf Coast of Texas the once numerous Karankawa Indians had all but disappeared. The story unfolds as an orphan Indian boy, Kola, finds that he is the last living member of his people. Kola is taken in by W.S. and Jane Deats and their family, after their son finds him floating in a canoe in Dickinson Bay. The Deats family soon realizes that Kola is extremely smart and more than willing to do his part in becoming a member of their family.

Many of the white settlers still have memories of problems with the nomadic Karankawa tribes and the embellished tales of these conflicts have been passed on over the years. When the Deats family enroll Kola in school, there is an outcry from many of the citizens of Dickinson because Kola is an Indian boy.

Ernie Deats is a resident of Dickinson and bases the novel on local history and his own family’s story.