Celebrate Texas Independence at "Independence Eve"

March 1

 

Descendants of the Fearless Fifty-Nine, Jesse Grimes

“Descendants of the Fearless Fifty-Nine” JESSE GRIMES by Fred Averill Burns, Jr. My third great grandfather, Jesse Grimes, was born in Duplin County, North Carolina February 6, 1788. Jesse and my third great grandmother, Martha Smith, moved to Georgia and then to Alabama. Martha died in Alabama and Jesse remarried widow, Rosanna Ward Britton. In  Read more


Descendants of the Fearless Fifty-Nine, Collin McKinney

“Descendants of the Fearless Fifty-Nine” COLLIN MCKINNEY by Ann Green Collin McKinney’s family came from Hunderton Co, New Jersey. His father was Daniel and his mother was Mercy Blachley McKinney. He was one of 10 children. As was with most people of the times they moved to Kentucky while making their way across the country.  Read more


Descendants of the Fearless Fifty-Nine, Stephen William Blount

“The Descendants of the Fearless Fifty-Nine” STEPHEN WILLIAM BLOUNT by Judy Hough-Goldstein. Stephen William Blount was born in Georgia in 1808 and moved to Texas in 1835. On August 7, 1843, eight years later, Stephen’s father wrote him a letter (which has been passed down in our family) hinting at the dark reason that Stephen  Read more


Descendants of the Fearless Fifty-Nine, James Collinsworth

“Descendants of the Fearless Fifty-Nine” JAMES COLLINSWORTH by James B. Collinsworth, Jr. James Collinsworth was born to Revolutionary War Veteran, Edward Collinsworth who served at Valley Forge, Monmouth Courthouse, the Creek Indian War, and The Battle of New Orleans. In 1823, James Collinsworth was admitted to the bar in Tennessee and began practicing law with  Read more


University of North Texas

The University of North Texas was founded by Joshua C. Chilton as a private college in 1890. With the help of local civic leaders, Chilton established Texas Normal College and Teachers’ Training Institute to prepare teachers and educate business and professional men. The first classes were held in September 1890 on the second floor of  Read more


Texas Wesleyan University

Texas Wesleyan University, originally Polytehnic College, was founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1890. Under the direction of Bishop Joseph S. Key, a committee searched out locations for a campus. They settled on 300 acres east of Fort Worth donated by area pioneers, A.S. Hall, W.D. Hall and George Tandy. Only 50 acres  Read more


Howard Payne College

Howard Payne College was founded by the Pecan Valley Baptist Association at Indian Creek in June of 1889. J.D. Robnett, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Brownwood, and Noah T. Byars, a blacksmith, are considered the founders of the college. Robnett became president of the first board of trustees and sought out the funds  Read more


University of Texas

The University of Texas opened in 1883 but the idea originated in 1839 when the Congress of the Republic of Texas ordered a site set aside for a university. That same year an act allocated fifty leagues of land to the establishment of the college or university. Nothing more was done until 1858 when the  Read more


University of the Incarnate Word

University of the Incarnate Word was founded by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. The sisters originated in Lyons, France and was established in Galveston in 1866 by its founder Claude Marie Dubuis. Dubuis went back and forth to France recruiting priests and nuns to come to Texas. Bishop Dubuis made frequent trips  Read more


Southwestern University

Southwestern University was formed initially as Texas University by the five Methodist Episcopal Conferences of Texas in a convention of April 1870 that merged four earlier colleges – Rutersville College, Wesleyan College, McKenzie College and Soule University. Rev. Dr. Francis Asbury Mood was named president of Soule University in Washington County in 1868. After he  Read more


TCU

Texas Christian University was founded in 1873 in Thorp Spring, Texas as Add-Ran Male and Female College by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark. The school was taken over by the Christian Church in 1889 and named change to Add-Ran Christian University. Once the school moved to Waco in 1895, the name changed again to Texas  Read more


Sam Houston State University

Sam Houston Normal Institute was created in 1879 by an act of the Texas Legislature “to elevate the standard of education throughout the State, by giving through instruction and special training to as many as possible to our present and future teachers.” The law detailed that two students from each senatorial district and six from  Read more


St. Edwards University

St. Edwards was founded by the Rev. Edward Sorin of the Holy Cross Fathers and Brothers. The same congregation had established the University of Notre Dame in the 1840s. In the 1870s, Sorin learned that Mary Doyle of Austin wanted a Catholic school established in Austin and was willing to donate her 398-acre farm just  Read more


Texas A&M

Texas A&M was started by the passing of the Morrill Act in 1862 that allowed donation of public land to the states for the purpose of funding higher education whose “leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to  Read more


Trinity University

Trinity University was founded in 1869 after three small antebellum Presbyterian schools in Texas – Ewing College, Chapel Hill College and Larissa College all failed during the Civil War. Cumberland Presbyterians wanted to establish a single institution of higher learning in Texas. Trinity opened its doors in Tehuacana (near Waco) with around 100 co-ed students  Read more


St. Mary’s University

St. Mary’s Institute opened in 1852 above a livery stable with five faculty members and twelve boys enrolled. The institution continued to grow under the first director, Brother Andrew Edell, until 1866 when the Marianists’s resources in personnel were stretched to the limit and consideration was given to closing the Institute. The Rev. John N.  Read more


Austin College

Austin College was established by the Brazos Presbytery of the Old School Presbyterian Church as a men’s college and theological school in 1849. The presbytery appointed Daniel Baker, James Weston Miller and William Cochran Blair to find a site somewhere between the Brazos and Trinity rivers. Huntsville was chosen as the location because the citizens  Read more


Baylor University

Baylor University was founded in 1841 by Robert E.B. Baylor, James Huckins and William Milton Tryon who organized an education society, the Texas Union Baptist Association, with the purpose of establishing a Baptist university in Texas. Baylor was charted by the Republic of Texas on February 1, 1845 and was opened in Independence in 1846.  Read more


Eighth Capital, Austin

Austin was chosen as the eighth and final capital of Texas in 1839. The area impressed Mirabeau Lamar for its healthy climate and scenic beauty. Many protested that the site was in the middle of nowhere and would require constant defense from the Comanches. However, Congress still voted to approve the new location and named  Read more


Seventh Capital, Houston

Houston became the seventh capital of Texas when President Houston ordered the seat of government to Houston on December 15, 1836. Houston was formed when the Allen brothers acquired a tract of land on Buffalo Bayou near the former town of Harrisburg. The brothers named the town Houston after Sam Houston in hopes of him  Read more


Sixth Capital, West Columbia

Columbia (now West Columbia) became the sixth capital of Texas. It was founded by Josiah Hughes Bell in 1826. It was the first official capital of the new Republic. The newly elected Texas legislature met there for the first time on October 3, 1836. Sam Houston was inaugurated president on October 22, 1836. The House  Read more


Fifth Capital, Velasco

Velasco became the fifth capital of Texas. Even though some of Stephen F. Austin’s colonists landed at the site, people did not really start arriving until Mexico set up a customs port there in 1831. A town was soon established and the port became known as the “Boston harbor of the Texas Revolution.” The battle  Read more


Fourth Capital, Galveston

Galveston Island was the fourth capital of Texas. The Spanish discovered the island sometime in the 1500s. It wasn’t occupied by Europeans until the 1800s. Stephen F. Austin petitioned the Mexican Government in 1825 to establish Galveston as a port but the island remained unoccupied until 1830 when a Mexican customhouse was established. The Island  Read more


Third Capital, Harrisburg

Harrisburg was designated as the third capital of Texas. Harrisburg was established before 1825 on the survey of New York entrepreneur John Richardson Harris. Harrisburg was chosen as the new capital when on March 17 a report reached Washington on the Brazos that the Mexican cavalry had occupied Bastrop which was only 60 miles away.  Read more


Second capital, Washington on the Brazos

Washington on the Brazos was chosen as the second capital of the Republic. In 1821, Andrew Robinson’s family and other members of the Old Three Hundred settled near the future townsite. Robinson gave one quarter league of land to his daughter and son-in-law John W. Hall. Hall then laid out a town in 1833 and  Read more


First capital, San Felipe de Austin

Before Austin became the capital of our great state, seven other cities held the title of capital city in Texas. There were previous capitals established by the Mexican government and other ruling bodies but over the next month, we will explore the eight cities that held capital positions in relation to Texas Independence. San Felipe  Read more


Courier after the victory

After the victory at San Jacinto, Ross picked up President Burnet and his cabinet and took them to view the site of the battle at the request of Secretary of War Thomas J. Rusk. The Yellow Stone then steamed back to Velasco on May 3 with the president and cabinet members along with their printing  Read more


Path towards Galveston

Houston released the boat and it set off towards Galveston. Ross knew that part of the Mexican Army would be waiting for them regardless that he and his men were not Texas army volunteers. Because they had aided the Texan rebels, they were at risk. So, Ross stacked cotton bales high on the desk as  Read more


The river crossing

On April 11, Houston received the Twin Sisters, two small cannons sent by the citizens of Cincinnati, Ohio. At 10 o’clock on the morning of April 12, Houston’s men began filing aboard the Yellow Stone. By the next day, more than 700 soldiers, 200 horses and supplies had been ferried across the swollen Brazos River  Read more


Letters between Houston and Captain Ross

On April 7, Santa Anna and his army arrive at a burned-out San Felipe. He then turned towards Harrisburg, the seat of the Texas government. Meanwhile, Houston was resting his men and waiting for supplies that never came. He moved his troops closer to the Brazos, into the canebreaks opposite Groce’s Landing. On Monday, April  Read more