Texas Becomes a State

In an 1892 newspaper interview, historian John Henry Brown recounted certain key dates and steps which occurred in the months leading up to Texas annexation by the United States as the 28th state in the union.

Reported in the Abilene Reporter issue of February 26, 1892:

What the Man Who Lived Under the State’s Several Governments Tells of the Interesting Period

To-day being the birthday of Texas as a state, Hon. John Henry Brown was yesterday caught on the curb and asked about the facts of history. He said,

‘There is often a confusion of ideas in regard to the annexation of the republic of Texas as a state to the American union.To-day, Feb. 19, chronicles the forty-sixth anniversary of that occasion. The facts are that on the 1st day of March, 1845, the United States made propositions to the republic of Texas for its annexation to the United States as a co-equal state of the union, leaving the proposition for acceptance or rejection to the people and the existing government of Texas. By direct vote the people of Texas accepted the proposition. Then followed on the 16th of February, 1846, the meeting of the state legislature at Austin. Still the government of the republic of Texas existed. The legislature organized and elected its proper officers. But up to that day, Feb. 16, 1846, the republic of Texas existed in the fullness of its constitutional powers. It brought into being such a scene as never before had been in the world’s history. The idea of a successful government, governed by the voice of the people, merging its existence into a union of confederated states. Texas gave up her existence as an independent nationality to become a co-equal state of the American union. The dates are:

  1. March 1, 1845, the United States proposed the union.
  2. July 4, 1845, the republic of Texas as accepted the proposition.
  3. On the 29th of December, 1845, the United States accepted the proposed constitution of the state of Texas, but the actual change of government did not take place till this day, Feb. 19, forty-six years ago, when Anson Jones, the last president of the republic, retired and James Pinckney Henderson was installed as the first governor of the state of Texas’

As the events began to unfold, the proposed state constitution was completed near the end of August, 1845. The constitutional convention adjourned on August 28 of that year. Republic of Texas president Anson Jones issued a proclamation the following September 28 that Texas polls would be opened on the second Monday of October (the 13th) for the purpose of considering the adoption of the constitution and to affirm or reject the annexation as proposed. In September, 1845, General James Pinckney Henderson, at the solicitation of friends, announced his consent for his name to be submitted as a candidate for the officer of governor of the proposed new state. Other well known candidates included General James Rusk and Dr. James B. Miller.

Texas voters approved the annexation and voted to ratify the proposed constitution. In mid-December, 1845, voters elected Henderson as the state’s first governor. On February 19, 1846, Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas presided over a ceremony in which the Lone Star Flag was removed from its staff on the Austin Capitol grounds and newly elected governor James Pinckney Henderson raised the Stars and Stripes with a new star just added in its place. Also in attendance were members of the cabinet of president Jones, members of the last Congress of the Republic, members of the first state legislature, past presidents of the Republic David G. Burnet (interim president) and Mirabeau B. Lamar. Sam Houston was an advocate for annexation and was still living at the time, but did not attend the ceremony for reasons unknown.

100 years later this event was reenacted on the Capitol grounds with the principal speaker being former governor Pat Neff. A 1945 article in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal noted that for the occasion, an Austin artist by the name of Peter Bryce Searcy painted a recreation of the earlier scene. The article added that there were approximately 170 people depicted in the painting, the faces of 40 in which were stylized using daguerrotype images or portraits of the individuals who were in attendance at the original event. In one situation, an image of a descendant was used for a person who had neither a painting nor any other image that could be located. The Searcy painting was displayed in the Texas senate chamber. Searcy (1882 – 1964) was a Texas based artist who never married. Originally from Alabama, he became known for his historically themed paintings and illustrations.

James Pinckney Henderson was an interesting character and a popular candidate. Henderson was born in 1808 in Lincolnton, North Carolina to Lawson Henderson and Elizabeth Carruth Henderson. An obituary notes that Henderson studied law and was admitted to the North Carolina bar in 1829. He served as an officer in the North Carolina militia until his move to Mississippi in 1835. Henderson learned of the ongoing Texas Revolution and soon afterward, recruited a number of volunteers to come to Texas and join the effort against Mexico. He arrived in the summer of 1836, after the Battle of San Jacinto, but was commissioned as a Brigadier General in the Texas Army. Henderson was engaged by interim president David Burnet to return to the United States to recruit more soldiers for the defense of Texas. Though the Texas Revolution had officially ended, certain hostilities continued between Mexico and the Republic of Texas until the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1846.

In late 1836, Henderson was appointed Attorney General of the Republic. Stephen F. Austin died near the end of 1836, not long after being appointed Secretary of State by newly elected president Sam Houston. Henderson was named as Austin’s replacement in that office. Early in 1837, Henderson was named ambassador to England and France with a goal of securing official recognition of the Republic by each country. Two years later, he married the former Frances Cox.

Henderson set up a law practice in San Augustine and was appointed by Houston to be involved in negotiations in Washington, D. C. relating to annexation. The first effort was unsuccessful and he was recalled by Republic of Texas president Houston during his second term (1841 – 1844). He remained in Texas the following months until his election in December of 1845. The Mexican-American War erupted in April, 1846 of his term. Henderson took a leave of absence and served a last time as an officer in the United States Army before returning to serve as governor. He did not run for a second term as governor but was well regarded. The seventeenth governor of Texas, Oran M. Roberts later referred to Henderson “the ablest man ever in public life in Texas.” (Houston Chronicle, January 23, 1913.)

He was succeeded as governor by George Tyler Wood. Henderson retired from public life for a few years until he successfully ran for a seat in the United States Senate. He was elected in November, 1857. Around six months into his term, Henderson succumbed to tuberculosis and died in Washington, D. C. at the age of 50. He was first interred in Washington. In 1930 his remains were removed to the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.

In recognition of his service to the Republic of Texas, the town of Henderson (Rusk County) was named for him in 1843. Carved out of portions of Nacogdoches and Houston counties, Henderson County was established in 1846 and was also named for him.

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Frances Cooke Lipscomb Van Zandt and Isaac Van Zandt

Although her husband Isaac Van Zandt is probably better known, Frances Cooke Lipscomb Van Zandt’s pioneer story is interesting. She was born March 4, 1816 to William Lipscomb and Ann Day Cooke Lipscomb. Isaac was born July 10, 1813 in Franklin, Tennessee to Mary Margaret Isaacs Van Zandt and Jacob Van Zandt. Isaac’s ancestry was Dutch, but both his grandfathers had participated in the Revolutionary War.

Acknowledging Frances’ 90th birthday, she and her daughter Ida gave a newspaper interview in which they provided more details about Frances’ life in the early days on the frontier of Texas. Frances was married to Isaac Van Zandt in Franklin County, Tennessee on December 18, 1833 when she was 17 and he was 20 years old and working as a merchant in the family store. Around two years later, the couple decided to make their home in Coffeeville, Mississippi along with their daughter Louisa and son Khleber. Life was good, but only for a short time until 1837 when there was a widespread economic depression, leading Isaac to close his business. Isaac studied law and was admitted to the Mississippi bar. Then in 1838, the family decided to move to the Republic of Texas and set out to make the journey by wagon. They got as far as the Louisiana-Texas border before running low on funds. Isaac and the family stopped at an abandoned garrison known as Camp Sabine, formerly a post of the United States Army, located east of the Sabine River. There they remained for the rest of that year before moving on to northeast Texas.

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Lang & Witchell Courthouses

The architectural firm was founded by Otto Lang and Frank Witchell. Otto Lang was born in Germany in 1864. He came to the United States in 1888 on a wedding trip and decided to stay in Dallas. For a couple of years, he worked for local architects who did work for Texas and Pacific Railway. One of the buildings he designed there was the Texas and Pacific depot in Fort Worth followed by the depots in Wichita Falls, Amarillo, Paris and Weatherford. Lang formed his partnership with Frank Witchell in 1905.

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Lost Padre Mine

Paraphrasing Robert Louis Stevenson, there is something in a treasure that attaches itself to a man’s mind and won’t let it go. One of the persisting legends in West Texas is that of the Lost Padre Mine, or “La Mina del Padre.” Possible locations include southern New Mexico and the area around El Paso, Texas.

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Lonnie “Bo” Pilgrim

Lonnie Alford “Bo” Pilgrim was born May 8, 1928 six miles south of Pittsburg, Camp County, Texas to Alonzo Monroe Pilgrim and Nettie Gertrude Gunn Pilgrim. Lonnie was the fourth of seven children born to the couple. The nickname of “Bo” was given to him when he was a boy and he went by it for the rest of his life.

He grew up near Pittsburg where his father was a merchant, operating one of the only two stores in Pine, the small community where they lived. Alonzo died in 1939 and for a time, his mother ran the store. In 1946 Bo’s brother Aubrey along with a partner named Pat Johns bought a small feed mill from W. W. Weems in Pittsburg for $3,500 and invited Bo to join them. Aubrey was in his early twenties and Bo was about eighteen years old at the time. Bo began his long career by driving the feed store truck. His rate of pay was 50 cents an hour. Mr. Johns is likely a reference to a somewhat older Thomas Jeffie “Pat” Johns also of Pine, who is believed to have sold his interest in the business early on. As the company grew, its headquarters remained in Pittsburg for a long time. The grain elevator/feed store facility is still there and has operated from time to time as part of the Pilgrim enterprises.

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