Celebrate Texas Independence at "Independence Eve"

March 1

 

The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Robert Potter

Robert Potter was the 36 year old Nacogdoches representative. Potter was in the United States Navy, a lawyer in North Carolina, in the North Carolina House of Commons and a Jacksonian Democrat in the US House of Representatives before coming to Texas. He served six months in prison in 1831 for maiming his wife’s cousin  Read more


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Sydney O. Penington

Sydney O. Penington was the 27 year old Shelby representative. Penington moved to Texas in 1834 where he engaged in surveying in Shelby County. At the beginning of the war, he enrolled in a company of volunteers for the Texas Army and was soon elected second lieutenant. He was honorably discharged from the army in  Read more


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Martin Parmer

Martin Parmer was the 58 year old San Augustine representative. Before coming to Texas, Parmer was active in Missouri where he served a two-year term in the Missouri General Assembly, served as a delegate to the Missouri Constitutional Convention and did a one year term in the Missouri State Senate. He also served in the  Read more


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Jose Antonio Baldomero

Jose Antonio Baldomero Navarro was the 41 year old Bexar representative. Navarro, along with his uncle, Jose Francisco Ruiz, were the only two delegates actually born in Texas. His friendship with Stephen F. Austin is what spiked his interest in Texas colonization. He was elected to both the Coahuila and Texas state legislature and to  Read more


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Junius William Mottley

Junius William Mottley was the 24 year old Goliad representative. Mottley came to Texas sometime between 1833 and 1835. He attended the medical college of Transylvania University in Kentucky but the college has no record of him receiving his degree. However, upon coming to Texas, he soon became the appointed surgeon at Goliad. After he  Read more


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, John W. Moore

John W. Moore was the 39 year old Harrisburg representative. After moving to Texas in 1830, Moore was elected as the comisario of San Jacinto in 1831. He was with his close friend William B. Travis when a company of volunteers under Travis forced the capitulation of Antonio Tenorio at Anahuac fort. During the earlier  Read more


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, William Menefee

William Menefee was the 40 year old Colorado representative. Before coming to Texas in 1830, Menefee served as a lawyer and lived in Tennessee and Alabama. By 1840, he had 1,300 acres of land and owned fifty cattle, four horses and seven slaves. Right before the Convention, he was elected the first judge of Colorado  Read more


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Michel Branamour Menard

Michel Branamour Menard was the 31 year old Liberty representative. Menard joined the fur trade at 15 in Detroit. He was illiterate until he worked with his uncle, Pierre Menard, the former lieutenant governor of Illinois. He became a resident trader to a band of Shawnees and was chosen as chief and moved with them  Read more


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Collin McKinney

Collin McKinney was the 70 year old Pecan Point and vicinity representative. In his early years, McKinney had to support his family while his father fought in the Revolutionary War. While living in Tennessee, he managed the estates of Senator George W. Campbell from 1818 to 1821 and operated a trading post. McKinney and many  Read more


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Samuel Augustus Maverick

Samuel Augustus Maverick was the 29 year old Bexar representative. In his early years, Maverick attended Yale University and became a lawyer in South Carolina. Upon arriving in San Antonio in 1835, he was put under house arrest by Mexico. Once released, he guided a division in the attack on Bexar. He left Texas after  Read more


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Edwin Oswald LeGrand

Edwin Oswald LeGrand was the 33 year old San Augustine representative. LeGrand received a land grant from the Mexican government in 1835 upon moving to Texas. He is said to have served at the siege of Bexar but there is no officially record of him doing so. At the Convention, he was appointed to the  Read more


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Albert Hamilton Latimer

Albert Hamilton Latimer was the 36 year old Pecan Point and vicinity representative. Latimer is said to have come to Texas in 1833 with a large caravan that included 11 of his brothers. He was not officially elected to the Convention but was one of the five delegates from Pecan Point. After the Convention, he  Read more


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, William Demetris Lacey

William Demetris Lacey was the 28 year old Colorado representative. Lacy was born in Amherst, Virginia, but spent most of his childhood at the Shaker religious community in South Union, Kentucky, where he eventually served as a tanner’s apprentice. In 1830, at the age of 21, he left Kentucky for Texas, settled near present-day Columbus  Read more


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Samuel Houston

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


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Augustine Blackburn Hardin

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


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Bailey Hardeman

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


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Robert Hamilton

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


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Jesse Grimes

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


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Benjamin Briggs Goodrich

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


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Thomas Jefferson Gazley

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


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, James Gaines

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


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Samuel R. Fisher

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


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, John Fisher

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


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Stephen Hendrickson Everitt

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


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Richard Ellis

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


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, William Carroll Crawford

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


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Edward Conrad

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


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, James Collinsworth

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


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Robert M. Coleman

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


The Fearless Fifty-Nine, William Clark

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