Andrew Edwards Gossett
Crockett, Houston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1812-1890) Noted public official and soldier in Republic of Texas. Moved here from Tennessee in 1833 with wife Rhoda (Mulder); received large land grant from Mexico. Helped defend frontier in restless post-revolutionary period by serving in Texas Army. In 1836 he donated land for a townsite, naming it for his long-time family friend Day Crockett -- soon to be a martyr at the Battle of the Alamo. Gossett later served as peace officer and county judge. By first wife he had nine children. By second wife, Mary Margaret (Murchison), he had two.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Andrew Edwards Gossett (1812–1890) moved from Tennessee to Texas in 1833 with his wife Rhoda and a large Mexican land grant. He helped defend the frontier in the unsettled years after the revolution by serving in the Texas Army, and in 1836 he donated land for a townsite, naming it Crockett for his old family friend David Crockett—soon to die at the Alamo. Gossett went on to serve as a peace officer and county judge and raised eleven children by two marriages.
Why it matters
Gossett's life links the founding of a Texas town to the martyrs of the Alamo, illustrating how personal loyalties among Republic-era settlers left their mark on the map of Texas itself.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
When Andrew Edwards Gossett came to Texas from Tennessee in 1833, Texas was still part of Mexico. Mexico offered land grants to draw settlers, and thousands of Americans, many from Tennessee and the rest of the upper South, crossed into East Texas's piney woods to claim them.
Within a few years everything changed. The Texas Revolution of 1835–1836 created the Republic of Texas. The new nation was independent, but its frontier was unsettled, its treasury was thin, and its borders were contested. It depended on citizen soldiers and local officials to keep order.
East Texas towns were being laid out almost from scratch in these years. Whoever gave the land often got to choose the name, and those names still record the loyalties of the people who founded them.
People & events
Gossett arrived with his wife, Rhoda (Mulder), and received a large land grant from the Mexican government. That grant made him an important figure in the young settlement. When the revolution came and the frontier stayed uneasy afterward, he served in the Texas Army to help defend it.
In 1836 he donated land for a townsite and named it for a longtime friend of his family: David Crockett, whom the marker calls "Day." Crockett had been a frontiersman and congressman from Tennessee, and he came to Texas and died at the Alamo in March 1836. Naming the town for him honored a family friendship and also a man who quickly became one of the great martyrs of Texas independence.
Gossett's public life did not stop there. He later served as a peace officer and county judge and helped build the institutions of the new town and county. He had nine children with his first wife and two with his second wife, Mary Margaret (Murchison). Many descendants of the family would call this part of Texas home.
Its place in the American story
Crockett's death at the Alamo made him a national legend, and places across the country bear his name. This town is one of the most personal of those tributes, because its founder was a family friend from the same Tennessee world that Crockett came from.
Gossett's life also traces a much larger migration. Southern and Tennessee families moved west into Mexican Texas and helped drive its break from Mexico. The Republic they built then joined the United States in 1845. His path from Mexican land grantee to Texas soldier to county judge follows the arc of Texas history itself.
Finally, it is a reminder that frontier communities were built by more than famous battles. Local officials such as peace officers, judges and land donors laid the everyday foundations that let towns survive long after the headlines had faded.
If you visit
Crockett is among the older towns in Texas, and its name alone makes it a natural stop for anyone interested in the Alamo and the Texas Revolution. As you walk around, remember that the town exists because of Gossett's gift of land and carries his friend's name.
The town sits in the rolling, wooded country of East Texas, which is lovely for an unhurried drive. Look for other historic markers in and around Crockett to fill in more of the story of its founding families and early years.
If you are following the Texas Revolution by road, Crockett makes a meaningful counterpoint to San Antonio. At the Alamo you see where Crockett died. Here you see how the people who knew him chose to remember him.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Andrew Edwards Gossett
- · David Crockett
Related events
- · Battle of the Alamo
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Major Isaac Watts Burton
Crockett, TX
Isaac Watts Burton was a soldier of the Texas Revolution who fought at San Jacinto in 1836 and then led a cavalry company nicknamed the "Horse Marines" for its daring seizure of Mexican supply vessels along the Gulf coast. He went on to serve in the Congress of the young Republic of Texas from 1836 to 1839, one of the founding generation who tried to build a functioning nation out of a hard-won independence. The State of Texas raised this marker in 1936, the centennial of the revolution he helped win.
John Lawrence Hall
Crockett, TX
A Maryland native who came to Texas in 1831, John Lawrence Hall soldiered through the tumultuous years of Texas independence and after, serving in the Texas Army during the revolution, again under the Republic, and in the war with Mexico in 1846. He parlayed the land grants earned for military service into a career as a successful land speculator. A Mason and friend of Sam Houston, he ran a thriving hotel in Crockett and helped petition for the creation of Houston County.
George G. Alford
Crockett, TX
A New York native and War of 1812 officer, George G. Alford came to Texas in 1836 and served as quartermaster general under Sam Houston during the Texas Revolution. Captured by Mexican forces on a later supply mission for the young Republic, he won his release through the intervention of President Andrew Jackson, then settled into life as a plantation owner and county judge.
John Wortham
Latexo, TX
John Wortham (1804–67) helped shape Houston County from its beginnings, petitioning for its creation in 1837 during the Republic of Texas era. A soldier as well as a settler, he captained an independent ranger company, rose to major in the Republic's army, and served as quartermaster of the Texas Militia. Off the battlefield he was a college trustee and one of the Republic's first land commissioners, running a sawmill and gristmill on the East Texas frontier where he raised twelve children and was buried.