Edmund Jackson Davis was born in St. Augustine, Florida in 1827 to William G. and Mary Ann Channer Davis. His family moved to Galveston, Texas in 1848 and he began to study studied law. After being admitted to the Texas bar, Davis moved to Laredo where he served as a deputy customs collector until he was elected district attorney in Brownsville in 1853. He later served as a district judge in Brownsville. Davis married the former Anne Britton in 1858 and served as a state judge until the beginning of the Civil War.
Category: civil war
The Lubbock Brothers
Three brothers figure into the history of Texas. They are Thomas, Francis and Henry Lubbock. Colonel Thomas Saltus Lubbock is the brother for whom Lubbock county and the city of Lubbock is named. He was born in South Carolina in 1817 and came to Texas early enough to participate in the Siege of Bexar in late 1835. He was also a participant in the ill-fated Santa Fe Expedition in 1841. Thomas was captured in New Mexico while Texas troops were on their way to Santa Fe. He was taken to Mexico and imprisoned, but was one of two individuals to be able to escape. He later made his way back to Texas. When the Civil War broke out, he first served in an irregular unit comprised mostly of former Texas soldiers and Texas Rangers as scouts for the Confederate Army. He and some others later joined the Confederate Army and were founding members of “Terry’s Texas Rangers,” the 8th Texas Cavalry. Lubbock was promoted to Colonel and put in command of the regiment after the death of Benjamin Franklin Terry but happened to be ill with typhoid fever at the time. Thomas died the following day on January 9, 1862 before he could take command. He is buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Houston, Texas.
The “Twin Sisters” and Dr. Henry North Graves
“Twin Sister” replicas at San Jacinto Battleground (image in public domain)
The “Twin Sisters” refers to two field pieces (artillery pieces) donated by ladies of Cincinnati, Ohio to the cause of the Texas Revolution. According to an article in the Austin American-Statesman from 1874, they were two identical six pound rifle cannon that were built by a Mr. Tatum at a foundry in Cincinnati and shipped by riverboat to Texas. They were delivered in person by Mr. Tatum himself in time to be used by General Sam Houston in the Battle of San Jacinto. Following the Revolution they became prized relics and were known to have been fired at ceremonial occasions including the fifth anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto and the inauguration of Gen. Houston as President of the Republic of Texas.
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Clinton McKamy Winkler
Clinton McKamy Winkler was a lawyer, judge and a member of the Texas Court of Appeals for many years. He was born in North Carolina in 1821 to David Tate and Lavinia Cates Owen Winkler. He moved with his family first to Indiana in 1835 for a few years before relocating to Texas in the early 1840s. They settled in what is now Robertson County to be near other Winkler relatives. The family was said to be descended from German immigrants, but his grandfather was born in North Carolina according to traditional genealogical sources. McKamy was also an old family name and many of these McKamy relatives were also residents of North Carolina.
John R. Baylor
Various members of the Baylor family have figured into Texas history over the years. John Robert Baylor was a nephew of Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor, a judge and a preacher and also co-founder of Baylor University. John Robert was born in 1822 in Paris, Kentucky to John Walker Bledsoe and Sophie Marie Wiedner Baylor. John R. Baylor grew up in a military family, as his father was an Army doctor. John Robert was the brother of George Wythe Baylor, a Texas Ranger and Henry Weidner Baylor, also a surgeon and a Texas Ranger. Henry Weidner Baylor was the namesake of Baylor County in North Texas.
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