Lyman 
A noted Indian fighter and early Texas Ranger, John Coffee (Jack) Hays was a man of less than average size. He was exceptionally wiry, however, and had almost supernatural powers of endurance in the rugged west Texas terrain. Born in Tennessee, Hays spent some time in Mississippi before arriving in Texas around the beginning of … Read more
William Polk “Old Gotch” Hardeman has the distinction of having served Texas, in either a military or official government position, spanning a period longer than any other Texan. In 1835, within days after he arrived in Texas at the age of eighteen, he became an active participant in the Texas Revolution. When Hardeman died in … Read more
As a 21-year-old college graduate when he first came to Texas in 1835, Tom Green was no doubt one of the most schooled of all Texans. Over the next twenty nine years in Texas, he would also prove to be one of the most courageous. Green was born in Virginia on June 8, 1814, but … Read more
John S. “Rip” Ford was a mover and shaker in Texas for nearly fifty years. He not only participated in most of it’s military struggles, but served in the Congress of the Republic and Legislature of the State, and later, in the state Secession Convention. Unlike many of his less fortunate comrades, he lived to … Read more
The annexation of Texas was a key issue in James K. Polk’s U. S. presidential election campaign of 1844. As a result, Polk’s victory that November was interpreted in the United States as a mandate to annex the ten-year-old republic. Early the following year, a joint resolution for annexation passed both houses of the U. S. Congress–even … Read more
James Walker Fannin was born in early 1804 in Georgia. He was adopted by his maternal grandfather, James W. Walker, and raised on a plantation near Marion. In 1819, he entered the U. S. military academy at West Point under the name of James F. Walker, and remained for just over two years. Fannin came … Read more
It is sometimes said that life in the early days of Texas was an adventure for men and dogs, but hell on women and horses. Susana Dickinson, no doubt, would agree. She will always be remembered as the sole adult Anglo survivor that witnessed the massacre at the Battle of the Alamo. Susana was born in … Read more
From the time of the earliest Spanish voyages to the New World, the soils of Texas have inspired a continuous flow of legends and searches for deposits of gold, silver and other treasures. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was among the very first of this long line of fortune seekers in Texas. Coronado was born at … Read more
Born March 13, 1829, in Virginia and educated at William and Mary College, Richard Coke was admitted to the bar in 1850 at the age of 21 years. That same year, he moved to Texas and became a resident of Waco. There, he earned a reputation as a capable lawyer in both civil and criminal … Read more
Best remembered as the president of the ad interim government of the Republic of Texas, David Burnet first entered Texas about 1815. Except for a few brief periods outside the region, Texas remained his home until his death in 1870. Born April 14, 1788 in New Jersey, Burnet was raised by an older brother after the early … Read more