Samuel Houston was the 43 year old Refugio representative. The most famous of the delegates, Houston played an integral role in Texas Independence. Before coming to Texas in 1832, he fought in the War of 1812, worked as a sub-Indian agent to the Cherokees, was elected attorney general of the District of Nashville, served as Read more
Augustine Blackburn Hardin was the 38 year old Liberty representative. Hardin was a deputy sheriff and constable in Maury County, Tennessee before coming to Texas. He moved to Texas in the fall of 1825 to escape prosecution after he fatally shot the man his wife was having an affair with. He was indicted for murder Read more
Bailey Hardeman was the 41 year old Matagorda representative. Hardeman had an active and prominent life in Tennessee before moving to Texas in 1835. He served as an artillery officer in the War of 1812 under his father’s friend Andrew Jackson. He was a store proprietor, deputy sheriff of Williamson County and lawyer. He was Read more
Robert Hamilton was the 53 year old Pecan Point and vicinity representative. Hamilton immigrated with his six brothers to North Carolina from Scotland in 1807. In 1812, he and his brothers started a very successful commercial enterprise. However, in 1834 he withdrew from the business and moved to Texas. He was considered the wealthiest man Read more
Jesse Grimes was the 48 year old Washington representative. After Grimes settled on Grimes Prairie in 1827, he was elected first lieutenant of the First Company, Battalion of Austin. He was also elected sindico procurador, the city attorney and regidor, an official in the town council in the Viesca precinct. Grimes continued his public service Read more
Benjamin Briggs Goodrich was the 37 year old Washington representative. Before moving to Texas in 1834, Goodrich practiced medicine all over the South and served one term in the state legislature of Alabama. He purchased a lot in Washington in 1835 after moving with his brother, John Calvin Goodrich, the previous year. His brother later Read more
Thomas Jefferson Gazley was the 35 year old Mina representative. Gazley was a practicing physician before moving to Texas. Once he settled here in 1828, he applied for a license to practice medicine in San Felipe de Austin. He became a surgeon in Michael R. Goheen’s company in the Texas Army for a short time Read more
James Gaines was the 69 year old Sabine representative. Gaines had a very active life before the Convention. He ran the El Camino Real ferry starting in 1819 that brought colonists across the U.S. to Texas. He served as alcalde for the Sabine District of the Municipality for Nacogdoches in 1824, sheriff in Nacogdoches in Read more
Samuel R. Fisher was the 41 year old Matagorda representative. Fisher was nominated by Sam Houston and approved by the Senate as secretary of the Texas Navy after the Convention on October 28, 1836. However, Houston later accused Fisher of abuse of office, insubordination, use of his position for smuggling, and the unjust capture of Read more
John Fisher was the 36 year old Gonzales representative. Prior being elected to the Convention, Fisher served as a secretary of the committee of safety for Gonzales Municipality. After the Convention, he joined the Runaway Scrape. In 1837, he petitioned Sam Houston for an appointment as a notary public for the port of Velasco but Read more
Stephen Hendrickson Everitt was the 29 year old Jasper representative. In the span of his lifetime, Everitt was considered a politician, merchant, speculator and even called a doctor although he was not a practicing physician. As a politician, he served as a Senator in the Texas Congress from 1836 to 1840. As a speculator, he Read more
Richard Ellis was the 54 year old Pecan Point and vicinity representative. Ellis was a lawyer and then a judge on the Alabama Supreme Court before moving to Texas. He originally came to Texas just to collect a debt in 1826 but met Stephen F. Austin. In 1834, he moved his family and more than Read more
William Carroll Crawford was the 31 year old Shelby representative. Crawford was a tailor’s apprentice and a Methodist minister before moving to Texas in 1835. After signing the declaration, he became postmaster of Shelbyville from 1843 to 1859 and treasurer of Shelby County for a year in 1844. In 1874, he moved his family to Read more
Edward Conrad was the 26 year old Refugio representative. Upon moving to Texas in December 1835, Conrad was made second lieutenant of the United States Independent Volunteer Cavalry. During the Convention, he represented the soldiers and was on the committee that drafted the constitution. However, he left the Convention early to join the Texas Army Read more
James Collinsworth was the 30 year old Brazoria representative. Collinsworth was a lawyer in Tennessee before moving to Matagorda in 1835 where he continued practicing law. Besides physically signing the Declaration, he introduced and guided to adoption a resolution making Sam Houston commander in chief of the Texas army, became chairman of the military affairs Read more
Robert M. Coleman was the 37 year old Mina representative. In the summer of 1835 Coleman commanded a volunteer company organized to attack the Twakoni Indians and in the fall of 1835 he commanded the Mina Volunteers. After the Convention, he joined the Texas Army at the battle of San Jacinto and was aide-de-camp to Read more
William Clark was the 37 year old Sabine representative. Clark moved to Sabine in 1835 from Georgia where he was a wealthy merchant and farmer. After the Convention, he helped President Burnet formulate a system of collecting and forwarding supplies to the army. He also served as a member of the Board of Land Commissioners Read more
George Campbell Childress was the 32 year old Milam representative. Childress was elected to the convention along with his uncle Sterling C. Robertson after moving to Robertson’s colony in January of 1836. He served as chairman of the committee and called the convention to order. The man is considered to be the primary author of Read more
Samuel Price Carson was the 38 year old Pecan Point and vicinity representative. Carson led a very active political life before the Convention. He was in the North Carolina State Senate from 1822-1824 and 1834, a representative in the US Congress from 1825-1833 and a delegate to the North Carolina Constitutional Convention in 1835. He Read more
Mathew Caldwell was the 38 year old Gonzales representative. Caldwell has been called “the Paul Revere of the Texas revolution” after he rode from Gonzales to Bastrop to call men to arms before the Battle of Gonzales. After signing the Declaration, the delegates sent him out to assess the situation of the Texas Army and Read more
John Smith Davenport Byrom was the 38 year old Brazoria representative. Bryom participated in what some consider the first case of bloodshed in the Texas and Mexico conflict and prelude to the Revolution, the Battle of Velasco in 1832. After Velasco, he was appointed as one of the three commissioners to organize the militia in Read more
John Wheeler Bunton was the 29 year old Mina representative. After moving to Mina (Bastrop), Bunton was elected secretary of the local committee of safety in 1835 which were organized for protection against the Indians. He was a part of the Mina Volunteers that participated in the siege of Bexar and the battle of San Read more
George Washington Barnett was the 43 year old Washington representative. Barnett was a practicing physician near Brenham when he was elected to the Convention. Along with his physician status, he was a part of several military companies and participated in the siege and capture of Bexar in 1835. After the convention, Barnett became a senator Read more
First up is Jesse B. Badget, the 29 year old Bexar representative. Badget was elected to the Convention by the Texas Army, whom he served with at the Alamo under Travis’s command prior to the convention. The native North Carolinian moved to Arkansas after contributing his signature. He wrote an account of the Convention and Read more
