Sunday, February 21, 2010

Texas Independence Day Celebration and Chili Cook-off at Pioneer Memorial Log House Museum - February 28, 2010

Join the San Jacinto Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, the Children of the Republic of Texas, the Sons of the Republic of Texas and the Texian Army for a Texas Independence Day Celebration and Chili Cook-off on February 28, 2010 at the Pioneer Memorial Log House Museum. The celebration and cook-off will be held 2:00 p.m. - 5 p.m.
The Pioneer Memorial Log House Museum is located at 1510 Cambridge Street, Hermann Park (formerly North MacGregor Drive) in Houston, Texas. Admission is $5.00 per person, $2.00 under 12 and includes chili, drink and dessert. All proceeds benefit the Pioneer Memorial Log House Museum.
If you wish to compete in the chili cook-off, be sure to bring a crock pot full of your best chili. In addition to the chili cook-off competition, there will also be a children's coloring contest. Children are asked to bring a picture of the Republic of Texas (cowboys and Indians, horses, log houses, etc.). Coloring pages will also be available at the Celebration and the Log House Museum will be decorated with all of the art the children create.



There will also be a period costume contest. Though it is not necessary, all children and adults are encourged to wear period costumes. There will be a children's period costume contest and ribbons will be awarded to all participants. For more information, contact Eron Brimberry Tynes at sjcdrtpres@gmail.com

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Texas Independence Day Celebration to be Held on the Steps of Houston City Hall

On Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 11:00 a.m., the San Jacinto Chapter of the Sons of the Republic of Texas and the San Jacinto Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas are co-sponsoring a ceremony on the steps of the Houston City Hall (901 Bagby Street, Houston, Texas) with the City of Houston, to commemorate the 174th anniversary of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence.

The Mayor of Houston, Annise Parker, will welcoming everyone and present a proclamation regarding Texas Independence Day. Officials of the Sons and Daughters of The Republic of Texas will be speaking about the impact, the approval, and signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence had in shaping modern day Texas. First Vice President General Sam Clark will read the famous letter from the Alamo by Col. William Barret Travis calling for reinforcements. We will conclude the ceremony by leading everyone in a toast to all those brave men who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. The toast will be with good old Texas water.

Recognized by state statute as an official state holiday, Texas Independence Day originally began with the signing of the Declaration of Independence by the 56 delegates to the Convention that met at Washington-on-the-Brazos beginning on March 1, 1836. On the first day, Convention President, Richard Ellis, appointed a committee composed of George C. Childress, James Gaines, Edward Conrad, Collin McKinney, and Bailey Hardeman to draft a declaration of independence.


George Childress, the committee chairman, is generally accepted as the author of the Republic of Texas Declaration of Independence, with little help from the other committee members. Since the six-page document was submitted for a vote of the whole convention on the following day, Childress probably already had a draft version of the document with him when he arrived. As the delegates worked, they received regular reports on the ongoing siege on the Alamo by the forces of General Santa Anna's troops.


A free and independent Republic of Texas was officially declared March 2, 1836, when the 56 delegates present—each representing one of the settlements in Texas--- unanimously approving the declaration. The 56 delegated who were present signed the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 3, 1836, and 3 others signed later. After the 59 delegates signed the original declaration, 5 copies were made and dispatched to the designated Texas towns of Bexar, Goliad, Nacogdoches, Brazoria, and San Felipe, and 1,000 copies were ordered printed in handbill form. All but one original copy has been lost over the years.


The Sons of the Republic of Texas and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas are 501(c)(3) organizations whose missions are to perpetuate the memory and spirit of the people who achieved and maintained the independence of Texas and to encourage historical research into the earliest records of Texas, especially those relating to the revolutionary and republic periods. The SRT and DRT encourage the preservation of documents and relics, the publication of historical records and narratives, and the celebration of important days in the state’s history. They also encourage the teaching of Texas history in schools and sponsor numerous scholarships. The public is invited to join us at 11:00a.m. on the front steps (Bagby St. side) of the Houston City Hall to honor those brave men who took that first important step toward making Texas what it is today! For additional details about the celebration, please contact Event Chairman, Tom Green, KSJ at 281-922-1118.

Contact: Sons of The Republic of Texas
Contact Person: Tom Green, KSJ
Telephone Number: (281) 922-1118
Cell Number: (823) 687-3474
Email Address: TBGreen3@prodigy.net
Web Site Address: http://www.srttexas.org


Wednesday, February 17, 2010

2010 Annual Historic Preservation Conference: Houston April 22-24,

Mark your calender for April 22-24, 2010 when the Texas Historical Commission in association with Preservation Texas presents the 2010 Annual Historic Preservation Conference. The Annual Historic Preservation Conference will be held at the Westin Oaks Houston Hotel in the Galleria in Houston, Texas. For more information on the Westin Oaks Houston, call 713-960-8100.

The Texas Historical Commission invites you to learn something new, share your experience, network with other professionals and sharpen your skills. The brochure and online registration are now available.

For more information, please contact the Texas Historical Commission at 512-463-6255 or visit
http://www.thc.state.tx.us/annualconference/cof2010.shtml

To read the annual conference brochure click here, http://www.thc.state.tx.us/annualconference/cofpdfs/ac_bro_10.pdf

Thursday, February 11, 2010

David Crockett in Congress - The Rise and Fall of the Poor Man's Friend

Review of David Crockett in Congress: The Rise and Fall of the Poor Man's Friend by James R. Boylston and Allen J. Wiener
Review by K. K. Searle

An excerpt from the April 9, 1836 edition of the Niles Weekly Register (Baltimore, Maryland) provides the now famous account of Davy Crockett's arrival in Texas:
"A gentleman from Nacogdoches, in Texas, informs us, that, whilst there, he dined in public with col. Crockett, who had just arrived from Tennessee. The old bear-hunter, on being toasted, made a speech to the Texians, replete with his usual dry humor. He began nearly in this style: "I am told, gentlemen, that, when a stranger, like myself, arrives among you, the first inquiry is - what brought you here? To satisfy your curiosity at once to myself, I will tell you all about it. I was, for some years, a member of congress. In my last canvass, I told the people of my district, that, if they saw fit to re-elect me, I would serve them as faithfully as I had done; but, if not, they might go to h__, and I would go to Texas. I was beaten, gentlemen, and here I am." The roar of applause was like a thunder-burst. [Louisville Journal.

David Crockett died at the Alamo on March 6, 1836, a month and three days before this article finally appeared in the Niles Weekly Register. If you are like me and have always wondered why Crockett would have told the people of his Congressional district back in Tennessee that they might go to hell and he would go to Texas, then you need to read David Crockett in Congress: The Rise and Fall of the Poor Man's Friend.

David Crockett in Congress covers David Crockett's entire political career in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress in great detail. The book is a wonderful sampler of Jacksonian politics of the 1820's and 1830's from the perspective of an Andrew Jackson supporter (Crockett) who becomes disillusioned with Jackson and party politics.

The authors of this book did not just sit in a library and rehash secondary sources about David Crockett once again. They drew their conclusions almost exclusively from primary sources. In fact, Boylston and Wiener not only drew their conclusions from primary sources, such as correspondence, speeches and political circulars; but more than half the content of their book is transcriptions of those primary sources. The inclusion of these transcriptions allows readers to look at each of these documents for themselves to verify the accuracy of Boylston and Weiner's conclusions. I wish more historians were as courageous in this regard. Because of the transcriptions of so many key documents regarding the life of Crockett are now contained in one handy volume, this book is destined to be a valuable resource for researchers studying David Crockett for many years to come.

The book also gives a detailed account of David Crockett's meteoric rise to national celebrity status, something Crockett himself did not seem to understand. In the end, Crockett's fame was no help to him in his final campaign for re-election to Congress.

With Texas Independence Day (March 2) approaching rapidly, those wishing to know who David Crockett actually was before he became a hero of the Texas Revolution and later the "King of the Wild Frontier" can't go wrong reading David Crockett: The Rise and Fall of the Poor Man's Friend.

David Crockett: The Rise and Fall of the Poor Man's Friend is published by Bright Sky Press, copyright 2009, and is available from Amazon.com.


Newspaper article is from the April 9, 1836 edition of the Niles Weekly Register, (Baltimore Maryland), page 99. Collection of K. K. Searle.

Monday, February 08, 2010

Registration for 2010 SRT Annual Meeting

The Annual Meeting of the Sons of the Republic of Texas will be held April 9-11, 2010 at the Holiday Inn Select in Tyler , Texas. The Holiday Inn Select is located at 5071 South Broadway Ave., Tyler, Texas. The telephone number to make reservations at the hotel is (903) 561-5800.

Sam Clark, Annual and Quarterly Chairman of the Sons of the Republic of Texas, advises that on line registration for the 2010 SRT Annual Meeting is now available at:

www.srttexas.org/annual2010.html

At this link you can find the Annual Meeting registration information, weekend agenda, and reservation form.
The Albert Sidney Johnston Camp #67, Houston, Texas, will be holding their monthly meeting Wednesday, February 17, 2010. Prize winning historian and author, Ed Cotham will make a presentation, " The Failure of Federal Naval Strategy in Texas."

Edward T. Cotham has written a number of excellent books about the history of Texas and the Civil War. His books include: The Seventh Star of the Confederacy, Texas During the Civil War (2009, The University of North Texas Press), Sabine Pass: The Confederacy's Thermopylae (2004, University or Texas Press), and Battle on the Bay: The Civil War Struggle for Galveston (1998, University of Texas Press).

The Albert Sidney Johnston Chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans meets at The Briar Club located at Westheimer and Timmons Lane in Houston, Texas. There will be an Executive Board meeting beginning at 5:30 p.m. (all camp members in good standing are invited to attend the Executive Board meeting). A happy hour-cash bar will follow at 6:30 p.m. The dinner and Camp Meeting will follow at 7:00 p.m. Please R.S.V.P. to Ev Gardner at 281-980-9054 or Dodd Eastham at dodd@bayoudog.org

Image of "The Johnston Journal" masthead courtesy of Albert Sidney Johnston Chapter #67. All rights reserved.

Lone Star Chapter of SRT 2010 Installation and Mier Expedition

The Lone Star Chapter of the Sons of the Republic of Texas will hold their monthly dinner meeting at 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, January 9, 2010 at Alamo Joe's Restaurant located at 4747 Research Forest Drive, The Woodlands, Texas. This will be the annual officer installation dinner and it will be presided over by Randall Collard, the District Representative of the Sons of the Republic of Texas.

In addition to the installation of officers, there will be an historical presentation about the Mier Expedition and Associated Texas-Mexico Border Conflicts 1837-1843. Current Lone Star Chapter President, David Martin has recently returned from the battle site in Mier, Mexico. Many will remember that the Battle of Mier preceded the famous "Black Bean" affair at the Rancho Salado. Captured Texas soldiers were compelled to draw beans. If they drew a white bean, they were not shot. If they drew a black bean, they were shot.
For more information about the Sons of the Republic of Texas or the monthly meetings of the Lone Star Chapter in The Woodlands, Texas, call 281-467-8146 or go to the SRT's website at: http://www.lonestarsrt.org/


Photograph of the site of the Battle of Mier is courtesy of David Martin.

Friday, February 05, 2010

Dick Eastman - All-Day Genealogy Seminar - March 27, 2010

Spend the day with Dick Eastman founder and publisher of "Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter" in an all-day seminar sponsored by Clayton Library Friends: "What's Hot and What's Not - Technology and Techniques in the New Decade!" The seminar will be March 27, 2010 at St. Lukes United Methodist Church, 3471 Westheimer, Houston, Texas. The seminar will begin at 9:30 a.m. on March 27, 2010.

The cost of the seminar until March 17, 2010: Members $30 and Non-members $35. There is also an optional box lunch for $10 which includes Salad or Sandwich with sides and drink. The seminar will cost $35 at the door and no box lunch will be available.

A registration form is now available on the Clayton Library Friends web site and in their February 2010 newsletter.