USA > Texas > A pictorial history of Texas, from the earliest visits of European adventurers, to A.D. 1879. Embracing the periods of missions, colonization, the revolution the republic, and the state; also, a topographical description of the country together with its Indian tribes and their wars, and biographical sketches of hundreds of its leading historical characters. Also, a list of the countries, with historical and topical notes, and descriptions of the public institutions of the state > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
Richardson
N.Y
THOMAS WILLIAM WARD.
575
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
able integrity and purity of character. His loss was severely felt by his companions in arms.
JONES, OLIVER-One of Austin's earliest colonists. In 1824 he com- manded an expedition against the Caranchua Indians; in 1829-30, he was Alguazil, or Sheriff, of Austin's colony ; in 1834, he represented Texas in the Legislature of Coahuila and Texas, at Saltillo. He was in the Annexation Convention of 1845; died in Houston in 1868.
JONES, RANDAL-Was a captain in the war of 1812. In 1814 he visited the Sabine River, with the intention of aiding Toledo in re-organizing the Re- publican Army of the North. That enterprise was broken up by the vigi- lance of the United States officials, and for five years Jones was a trader among the Indians and Mexicans in Texas. In 1818, he enjoyed the hospi- tality of Lallemand on the Trinity River, and of Lafitte in Galveston. In 1819, he joined Long's expedition ; on his way, he conducted Mrs. Long from her sister's, Mrs. Calvitt's, on Red River, to Nacogdoches. He was immediately dispatched by Long to the Brazos, intending to descend that river to Galveston, which was then supposed to be at the mouth of that river. While the party were at the mouth of the Navisot, preparing skiffs, they were attacked by the Mexicans, under Perez, and driven into the woods with nothing on which to subsist. They made their way to the villages of the friendly Indians on the Trinity River, and thence to Louisiana. He re- turned to Texas as a colonist in January, 1822, and settled at Richmond, then known as Fort Bend. The next year he revisited Louisiana, and traded a negro boy for sixty head of cattle, which he succeeded in bringing, without loss, to his new home on the Brazos. This was the first considera- ble stock in Brazoria county, though Mr. Morton before this had one or two milk-cows. In 1824, Austin appointed Jones captain of the militia, and he had a severe fight with a party of Caranchua Indians, on what has since been called Jones Creek, in Brazoria county. October 12th, 1824, he was married to Miss Polly Andrews. As there was no priest in the country, they were married by bond. They named their first child Wiley Martin. In 1835, Captain Jones was a member of the Consultation at San Felipe .. Late in life, he lost his eyesight. He died at the residence of his son-in-law, Judge Gustave Cook, in Houston, in 1873, aged 86 years.
JONES, DR. ANSON .- Was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in 1798; licensed to practice medicine in 1820; and after spending two years in Venezuela, came to Texas, and settled in Brazoria, in 1833. At a public meeting in Brazoria in December, 1836, he strongly advocated the declara- tion of Texas independence, and presented a resolution calling for the Convention which met in Washington, in March, 1836. When the war broke out, Dr. Jones enlisted as a private in Captain Acalder's company, but was soon afterward appointed surgeon in Burleson's regiment. At Harrisburg he was left with the sick, but after providing for their proper care, he left them under charge of Dr. Wm. P. Smith, and hastened on to the battle-field and took his place in the ranks, until he was summoned to
32
576
HISTORY OF TEXAS
the care of the wounded. In 1837 he represented Brazoria county in Con- gress. In 1838 he was Minister to the United States, and while absent was elected to the Senate, of which he was elected President in the absence of the Vice-President. On the 17th of May, 1840, he was married to Mrs. Mary M'Crory. During Houston's second term, Jones was Secretary of State, and conducted with marked ability the foreign correspondence; and at the close of the term, was elected President of the Republic. This was in 1844, a most critical period in our history. The question of annexation to the United States was publicly discussed, and amicable relations had to be maintained with other foreign powers.
In Texas, annexation was a very popular measure, and a class of noisy politicians raised a clamor against President Jones, because he did not hasten it forward more rapidly. So bitter was the feeling, that at a called session of Congress in June, 1844, a proposition was introduced to depose the President, and institute a government ad interim. This was voted down, and so was another resolution, giving the President a vote of thanks for his services. But Dr. Jones had been misunderstood, and when all preliminary questions had been satisfactorily adjusted, he issued his procla- mation for an election of delegates to the Annexation Convention. This was a popular move. By fixing the ratio of representation according to population, he satisfied East Texas; and by convening the Convention in Austin, the capital which had been abandoned by President Houston, he satisfied the West.
When annexation was consummated, Dr. Jones retired to his place, called Barrington, in Washington county ; and for eleven years remained in pri- vate life. In 1857, some of his friends brought his name forward as a candidate for the United States Senate. He had not filled out half the time of his Presidential term, when he was displaced by the act of annexation. Almost every other prominent Texan had been rewarded with either a State or Federal office. He alone had remained secluded upon his planta- tion. He felt that he had been overslaughed, and when his name was brought forward conspicuously for the Senate, he felt gratified at the pros- pect of being at last remembered, for his sacrifice in prematurely surren- dering the Presidential office. But even then, he had forebodings that he would be defeated. Commenting upon a letter, in which Hon. Hamilton Stuart had said to him, " Public opinion will yet do you justice," Dr. Jones writes, " But it will probably be after I am dead." Wigfall and Hemphill, two South Carolinians, were elected to the Senate, and Jones was left in private life.
In 1857 he sold his Barrington place, with a view of settling on the coast, between Galveston and Houston. On the 7th of January, 1858, he was at the old Capitol Hotel in Houston; he then seemed in low spirits, and in a sad tone remarked to a friend, " Here, in this house, twenty years ago, I commenced my political career in Texas, as a member of the Senate, and here I would like to close it.". Not long afterward, a pistol shot was heard in his room, and Dr. Jones was found in a dying condition. The country was shocked at this sad occurrence. The next year, a biographical sketch appeared in the Texas Almanac, prepared by his friend, ex-Presi-
577
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES
dent Burnet. Referring to this case, in connection with that of the late lamented Rusk, Judge Burnet says:
" Both these distinguished patriots had succeeded in all the objects of an honorable ambition, probably even beyond their own aspirations. What, then, are the unfortunate circumstances that so prey upon the mind as to render life a burden, even in the midst of family endearments, of friends, and honors and distinctions? All we can say in explanation, is to refer to the undoubted fact that Dr. Jones was subject to occasional paroxysms of mental gloom and deep despondency, which he could not overcome or con- trol, and which often well-nigh destroyed his balance of mind. During the latter years of his life, this unhappy temperament had gradually assumed more and more the character of a disease, under the influence of a physical derangement to which he was subject. . Those who have any knowledge of this painful mental depression will need no further explanation, and those who best understand the intensity of suffering from this cause, to which the most sensitive and noble minds are chiefly subject, will be the last to cast reproach upon the memory of the unhappy victim. In this connection we may appropriately conclude by giving an extract from Dr. Jones's journal, kept while he was performing a journey to the North, in 1838. He was in New Orleans when he made the following entry in his journal, on hearing of Col. Grayson's death : 'I shall be surprised at no one's committing suicide, after hearing of Col. Grayson's doing so. It is the first time in my life that any one in the circle of my acquaintance has done such an act, and it has shocked me more than the death of a dozen others would have done, in the usual course. I believe party abuse has been the cause, acting upon some predisposition to morbid melancholy. Collingsworth's drowning himself was a thing in course ; I had expected it, as I knew him to be deranged, and when excited, almost mad. In all the annals of suicide, perhaps no parallel to these two cases can be found. Two years ago they were both in this house, and on their way to Washing- ton together, as Commissioners on the part of Texas, to procure recogni- tion, etc., and at the time of their death, both were candidates for the highest office in the Republic, and both committed suicide about the same time, and at the distance of 2,000 miles from each other, both at the time holding high and responsible offices in the Republic of Texas. Grayson's death is a great national calamity.' Further on in his journal he says his suspicions as to the cause of Col. Grayson's suicide were fully confirmed."
JORDAN, S. W .- Rendered efficient service as a captain in the Texas army, in 1836-38. At the organization of the expedition for the establishment of the " Republic of the Rio Grande," in 1839, Jordan was elected Colonel. At the battle of Alcantra, he commanded the Americans, while Col. Zapata commanded the Mexicans. Zapata himself was a good soldier, and a good Republican, but most of the Mexicans abandoned the field and left the Americans to bear the brunt of the battle. After this, Jordan thought Ca- nalis. their commander, was no match for his opponent, General Arista, and he returned to Texas. A year later, such is the uncertainty in Mexican politics and politicians, Arista appeared in Yucatan, and " pronounced "
578
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
against the Centralists. Jordan hastened to New Orleans, to enlist men for the new revolutionary leader. By some mishap, the vessel in which he and his recruits expected to embark for Yucatan, sailed without them. This, with other disappointments, preyed upon his mind, and while depressed in spirits he took an overdose of laudanum and terminated his life.
KARNES, HENRY-Was a native of Tennessee; early in life he attached himself to a company of trappers on the frontier of Arkansas. The com- pany disbanded on the head of Red River. Karnes and three companions crossed the country to the Trinity River, where, the Indians having stolen their horses, they constructed a canoe and descended the stream to Robbins' Ferry. From there Karnes crossed over to the Brazos, and for a consider- able time found employment as an overseer on the Groce plantation. He responded to the first call for volunteers at the breaking out of the revolu- tion in 1835, and distinguished himself at the taking of the city of San Antonio. He siezed a crowbar and dashed forward and dug a hole through a stone wall, into a house, for a new and advanced position. He proved one of the best cavalry scouts and spies, and commanded a company of cavalry at San Jacinto. After the battle he went west to Matamoras to ef- fect an exchange of prisoners, and was himself thrown into prison; he, however, soon effected his escape. In 1837, he was Indian Agent; in 1838-9, in the Ranging service, and in the latter year received a severe wound in a single combat with a chief. At one time he was taken prisoner, and the savages attempted to wash his red hair white. He died in San Antonio, in 1840, from the effects of the wound received the previous year. Captain Karnes was wholly uneducated. It is questionable if he knew how to spell his own name, which in early documents is variously spelled ; but he was inured to hardships; cool, reticent, watchful, and a stranger to the sensa- tion of fear; one of a class of men to whom Texas owes a lasting debt of gratitude.
KAUFMAN, DAVID S .- A native of Pennsylvania; came to East Texas in 1837, and was the next year elected to Congress. He was aid to General Rusk in the Kickapoo fight, in 1839. In 1845, President Jones sent him as a diplomatic agent to Washington, but as that government had already adopted the bill for annexation, he was not received in his official capacity. In 1846, he was selected to represent the Eastern District in the United States Congress, a position to which he was twice re-elected. IIe died in the city of Washington, on the last day of the year 1851, from the effects of a wound received some years previously, in Austin.
KEENAN, DR. C. C-Had been a surgeon in the United States army ; came to Texas in the days of the Republic; was elected to the first Legislature of the State, and was Speaker of the House; died in Huntsville, in 1870.
KEMPER, SAMUEL-Was a native of Virginia, and an officer in the expedi- tion organized by Magee for the invasion of Texas, in 1812. After the death of Magee, at Goliad, Kemper was elected to the command, and was
579
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
the commander of the Americans at the battle of Rosillo. To him Salcedo surrendered, as he declined to hand his sword to his former friend, Gutier- res. After the massacre of the Mexican officers by Delgado, Kemper re- turned to his native State. We may add, that Kennedy is authority for the statement that Kemper returned to Texas just in time to participate in the disastrous battle of Medina, but we believe this a mistake. He lived and died in his native State.
KENDALL, GEORGE WILKINS-The founder, and for a long period, the ed- itor-in-chief of the New Orleans. Picayune; was, in 1840, connected, as an in- vited guest, with the Santa Fe expedition. Though a citizen of the United States, with a passport from the Mexican Consul at New Orleans, he, with the other members of the ill-fated party, was disarmed and treated as a pris- oner of war. After suffering untold hardships and indignities, he was finally, at the solicitation of the American Minister at Mexico, released. He wrote a history of the Santa Fe expedition, in two interesting volumes. After annexation, Mr. Kendall established a sheep-ranche in Western Texas, in the county that bears his name, where he died in 1867.
KERR, JAMES-A native of Missouri; came to Texas in 1825, and was surveyor in De Witt's and DeLeon's colonies. He first settled in Gonzales, but that settlement having been broken up by the Indians, he settled on the Lavaca River, in Jackson county; was a member of the Convention at San Felipe, in 1833, and of the Executive Council, in 1835. In January, 1836, he issued an address advising against a declaration of Texas indepen- dence, as he then thought it premature. When it was made, he entered heartily into the measure; was elected to the Convention, in 1836, but could not leave his family in their exposed condition to attend its sessions. He died at his plantation, in 1850.
KINNEY, H. L .- A native of Pennsylvania; came to Western Texas in 1838 ; in 1840, was one of the founders of Corpus Christi; after annexation, served several times in the Legislature ; in 1855, he attempted to get up a filibustering expedition to Central America. He contracted for 30,000,000 acres of land, for which he was to pay $500,000; the land was in the Mus- quito Territory. He became a candidate for Governor of Greytown, but failed to be elected. All his Central American schemes fell through, and his men went to Nicaragua and joined William Walker, who was then called " The Grey-eyed Man of Destiny," though his star, too, went speedily into eclipse. Kinney returned to Texas, and was filling some minor office on the Rio Grande, when, in 1861, he became involved in the contests in Matamoras, between the Rohos and the Crinolinos. In one of their petty fights, while attempting to pass through a breach in a wall, he was shot and instantly killed.
KUYKENDALL, ABNER-A son-in law of William Gates; came with the Gates family to the Brazos, 111 1821-2. He brought several head of cattle and a few hogs. In colomal times, he was a captain in several expeditions
.
580
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
against the Indians. In 1834, he was killed in the town of San Felipe, by a man by the name of Clayton. Clayton was arrested, tried, convicted, and hung for the murder. This was probably the first regular legal execution in Texas.
LABADIE, DR. N. D .- A surgeon of Anahuac, in 1832, and also in the battle of San Jacinto. He was one of the first to engage in business in Galveston, where he opened a drug store. He died in that city in 1869.
LAFITTE, JEAN .- Who has been called the Pirate of the Gulf, was a Frenchman by birth, and a sailor by profession. In a duel in Charleston, South Carolina, about an affair of the heart, he killed his antagonist; after which he adopted the life of a buccaneer. In 1810, he took up his headquar- ters at Barataria. In 1813, Governor Claiborne, of Louisiana, offered $500 reward for Lafitte's head. The latter, not to be outdone in that species of generosity, offered $5,000 for the head of the Governor. Lafitte's cruisers were seriously interfering with the commerce of the Gulf, and on the 16th of June, 1814, the establishment at Barataria was broken up by Commodore Patterson, of the United States navy. Lafitte declined a commission in the British navy, during the war with the United States, but was finally employed by General Jackson, in the defence of New Orleans. For his services in the great battle, January 8th, 1815, Lafitte received a full par- don from the President of the United States. But after peace he returned to his old piratical calling. In 1817, after the departure of Aury from Gal- veston, Lafitte established his headquarters on that island, where he built a village called Campeachy. Lafitte, at that time, had a commission from Herrera, the Minister of the Republicans in Mexico, then at New Orleans; and in the name of the Mexican Republic he denominated himself Gov- ernor of Galveston. Lafitte's orders were not to interfere with American commerce, but his men were reckless, and rarely permitted a valuable cargo to escape. This became so notorious that, in 1821, Lieutenant Kear- ney, with the United States brig Enterprise, was sent to warn Lafitte to leave the island. The pirate received Kearney, and entertained him with a princely hospitality ; but when he found that the Lieutenant's orders were imperative, he called together his followers, and paid them off; and taking his favorite ship, the Pride, with Lieutenant Cochran and about 100 picked men, he sailed out of the harbor, leaving forever the Texas coast. On the day Lafitte left Galveston, Long and Milam entered the harbor on their way to the West. Cochran became a Commodore in the Mexican navy. Lafitte died at Silan, in Yucatan, in 1826.
LALLEMAND, GENERAL .- An exiled officer of Napoleon, in 1817 attempted to form a settlement on the Trinity river, in Texas. Randal Jones, who visited the settlement, thought they intended to revive the French claim to the province. The Spaniards viewed them with suspicion; the Indians were troublesome, and the exiled Frenchmen were poor colonists. The attempt to raise grapes for a vineyard was unsuccessful, and the settlement
.
581
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
dissolved. Lallemand became a citizen of the United States, and published a Treatise on Artil ery.
LAMAR, MIRABEAU B .- Was born in Louisville, Georgia, August 16th, 1798 ; belonged to an old Hugenot family. In early life was private secre- tary to Governor Troupe. In 1828, he was editor of a States'-rights paper and a candidate for Congress. The nominating Convention imposed some conditions, to which he was unwilling to submit, and he was defeated. In 1835, he visited Texas, and made a formal declaration of his intention to become a citizen, and in a public speech at the town of Washington, advo- cated the declaration of Texan independence. He revisited his native State to complete his arrangements for a removal. When he heard of the invasion of the country by Santa Anna, he hurried back, landing at Vel- asco in March; where, not finding any mode of conveyance to the interior, he started up the river on foot. He reached the army when encamped at Groce's and enlisted as a private soldier. In the preliminary skirmish at San Jacinto, on the 20th of April, he greatly distinguished himself by rescu- ing Col. Lane, who was surrounded by a body of Mexican cavalry. Lamar heroically dashed over one Mexican, killed another, and disarmed a third. On the next day, so famous in our history, Lamar commanded the cav- alry. General Houston, in his official report, says: "Our cavalry, sixty- one in number, commanded by Colonel M. B. Lamar, (whose gallant and daring conduct on the preceding day had attracted the admiration of his comrades, and called him to that.station,) placed on our extreme right, completed our line. Our calvary had charged and routed that of the enemy upon the right, and given pursuit to the fugitives, which did not cease until they arrived at the bridge."
Soon after the battle, Lamar was invited into Burnet's cabinet, as Secre- tary of War. He opposed the treaty by which Santa Anna was set at liber- ty, but generously sustained the President when that officer was threatened with a drum-head court-martial. He even said that posterity would, with great unanimity, approve the humane policy pursued towards the captive President of Mexico. General Rusk having asked to be relieved from the command of the army in the West, Lamar was sent to relieve him; but when he arrived, there was a prospect of another Mexican invasion, and the men desired Rusk to retain the command, and he did so. At the first election, Lamar was elected Vice-President. The duties of this office he discharged with such satisfaction that, when Gen. Houston's first term was out, Lamar was, by a very handsome majority, elected President of Texas.
The Texas Almanac for 1858 contains a biographical sketch of President Lamar, from which we take the following extracts .
" The policy of Lamar's administration embraced four leading objects. First-the defense of the country, and especially that of the frontier, which was crying aloud for protection against the merciless savages. Second- the obtaining of the recognition of our independence by the principal mari- time powers of Europe, and of establishing with them the best commercial relations. Third -- the purification of the different departments of Govern- ment, and establishing a rigid responsibility among public officers of every
582
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
grade and class. Fourth-the creation of an educational fund by adequate appropriation of land for that purpose. These ends were not only carried out effectually by Lamar, to the honor of himself and glory of the nation, but the blessings that flowed from them were immediately felt by the peace and safety that reigned at home, as well as by the character and import- ance which the country acquired abroad."
"We will close this part of our hasty and imperfect sketch with one remark respecting the expenses of Gen. Lamar's administration. It will be remembered that he came into office when the nation had neither credit nor money. Yet he had the frontier to protect-the seat of Gov- ernment to remove on the extreme borders-to erect all necessary public buildings-to support the Government-pay our foreign ministers-provide for the army-keep the navy on the Gulf-extensive mail routes to estab- lish-and to meet a multiplicity of demands, growing out of unforseen contingencies, incidental to the condition of the country ; and yet he con- trived to achieve all these ends, without exceeding in a single instance, to the amount of one cent, the annual appropriations made by Congress for the support of the Government, including even the expenses of the Santa Fe Expedition, the surveying of the University lands, and other heavy dis- bursements which he was compelled to assume the responsibility of making. It may be safely asserted that no Chief Magistrate ever effected so much with so little expense to the nation he ruled, and that he should have accom- plished so much in so short a period, and secured so many blessings with such limited resources, must ever be a matter of surprise, and cannot fail to place General Lamar among the wisest statesmen and the purest patri- ots of the age."
At the commencement of the Mexican war, Lamar was appointed Divi- sion Inspector, under General Henderson. At the taking of Monterey, he behaved with conspicuous gallantry. In 1847 he was Post Commander at Laredo, where he effectually held the Indians in check. On his return to Texas he was elected to the Legislature. In 1851 he married, for his second wife, Miss Maffit, daughter of the celebrated Rev. John Newland Maffit, and sister of Commodore Maffit of the Confederate Navy, and settled on a plantation near Richmond, Fort Bend county. After this, he was for a short period United States Minister to the Argentine Confederation. He died at his home, in Texas, December 19th, 1859.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.