Albert Clinton Horton
Wharton, Wharton County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1798-1865) Georgia native Albert Clinton Horton came to Texas in 1834 from Alabama, where he had served in the state legislature. He established a plantation along Caney Creek in present Wharton County. In 1835, he returned to Alabama to recruit volunteers for the Texas army, and he served as colonel of a cavalry unit during the Texas revolution. Upon the establishment of the Republic of Texas in 1836, Horton was elected to Congress. He was chairman of the commission appointed by President M. B. Lamar, which selected Austin as the site for a permanent capitol for the Republic of Texas in 1839. When Texas became a state in December 1845, Horton was elected its first lt. governor. He served as acting governor for a year while Governor Henderson was leading Texas forces in the Mexican war. When Baylor University was founded in 1845, Horton was a charter trustee. By the 1850s, he had homes in both Wharton and Matagorda. His home near this site, "Sycamore Grove," was razed in 1960. A community leader, he helped found Wharton's First Baptist Church. He and his wife, Elias Holliday, had six children, only two of whom lived to maturity. Horton died in 1865, and is buried in Matagorda Cemetery. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Albert Clinton Horton came to Texas in 1834, raised volunteers in Alabama for the revolution, and served as a cavalry colonel before helping launch the Republic of Texas — chairing the commission that chose Austin as its capital in 1839. When Texas joined the Union in 1845 he became its first lieutenant governor and served as acting governor while Governor Henderson fought in the Mexican War. A planter and a founder of Baylor University, he lived at "Sycamore Grove" near this site.
Why it matters
Horton helped build the institutions of the Texas Republic and early state, embodying the planter-statesmen who steered Texas from revolution into the Union.
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Related people
- · Albert Clinton Horton
- · Mirabeau B. Lamar
- · Governor J. Pinckney Henderson
Themes & tags
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