Edward Brown
Poteet, Atascosa County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1808-1886) A veteran of both the Texas Revolution and the U.S.-Mexico War, Edward Brown was an early Atascosa County colonist and landowner. He was born to Avery and Maria Brown, though documents differ on place of birth in Tennessee or Kentucky. While in New Orleans in 1836, he volunteered to fight in the Republic of Texas Army and mustered into service in the company of William D. Burnett. After the war, he remained in Texas. In the years after the Revolution, Mexico periodically invaded Texas. One of these invasions occurred in September 1842, in which General Adrián Woll recaptured San Antonio. Brown participated in the defense of San Antonio de Bexar from the house of Samuel Maverick. Brown was one of the prisoners marched to Perote Prison in Mexico, where he remained until Waddy Thompson, United States Minister to Mexico, negotiated his release in 1844. In September 1844, he married Loreta de la Fuentes y Fernandez of San Antonio (1819-1892), the daughter of Jose Cresencio de las Fuentes y Fernandez and Maria Gertrudis Diaz. Two years later, during the U.S.-Mexico War, Brown joined a company mustered in Castroville by John H. Conner in 1846. The unit mustered out in September 1847. Brown received a preemption grant for 160 acres of land on the “waters of the Atascosa” and dedicated the rest of his years to farming/ranching. Edward and Loreta had seven children: Eduardo “Waddy T” (b. 1848), Maria Soledad “Lolida” (b. 1850), Susanna (b. 1851), James “Santiago” (b. 1854), Hendrick (b. 1856), Marcellus (b. 1857) and Matilda (b. 1860). (2023)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Edward Brown (1808–1886) came to Texas by way of New Orleans, volunteering for the Republic of Texas Army in 1836 and staying on after independence. When General Woll's Mexican force recaptured San Antonio in 1842, Brown helped defend the town and was among the prisoners marched to the notorious Perote Prison, freed only through U.S. diplomatic pressure in 1844. He later served in the U.S.–Mexico War, then settled on a preemption grant along the Atascosa to raise his large family by farming and ranching.
Why it matters
Brown's life traces the whole arc of early Anglo-Tejano Texas — revolution, border war, imprisonment, and the quiet work of settling the land that turned a contested frontier into home.
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Related people
- · Edward Brown
- · Loreta de la Fuentes y Fernandez
Themes & tags
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