Elijah Collard
New Waverly, Walker County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(November 9, 1778 - March 13, 1847) Born in Virginia, Elijah Collard later settled on the frontier in Kentucky and in Missouri, where he fought in the War of 1812. Collard migrated to Texas in 1833. He was elected to the Consultation at San Felipe in 1835 and served on the General Council. In 1837, when Montgomery County was created, he was named one of the first commissioners. In 1840 he moved to Walker County, where he died. Collard married Mary Stark in Kentucky. They had 11 children. Recorded - 1976
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born in Virginia in 1778, Elijah Collard lived the westering life of his generation, settling successively on the Kentucky and Missouri frontiers and fighting in the War of 1812 before migrating to Texas in 1833. He threw in with the Texas independence movement, winning election to the 1835 Consultation at San Felipe and serving on the General Council, then helped organize Montgomery County as one of its first commissioners in 1837. He moved to Walker County in 1840 and died there in 1847, leaving a large family with his wife Mary.
Why it matters
Collard's life traces the moving frontier across a generation, from the War of 1812 to the founding of the Republic of Texas.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Elijah Collard
- · Mary Stark
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Jesse Parker
Huntsville, TX
Jesse Parker, already a veteran of the War of 1812, moved to Mexican Texas in 1822 among the earliest Anglo colonists. He represented the Sabine District at the 1832 Convention at San Felipe de Austin—one of the gatherings that pushed Texas toward independence—and later farmed his land grant in what became Walker County while serving as a deputy land commissioner. Buried on his own property in 1849, he was reinterred here more than a century later.
Sam Houston
Huntsville, TX
Born in Virginia in 1793 and raised in Tennessee, Sam Houston fought under Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812 and rose to serve in Congress and as Tennessee's governor before heading west. Settling in Nacogdoches, he led the Army of the Republic to victory at San Jacinto in 1836, served twice as president of the Republic of Texas and later as U.S. senator and governor, and in 1861 refused to swear loyalty to the Confederacy, dying at Huntsville in 1863.
General James Davis
Coldspring, TX
General James Davis lived a life braided through America's early wars and Texas's founding. A U.S. Army officer at the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812, he came to Texas in 1834 and served the young Republic on Sam Houston's staff in 1836, later as adjutant-general and a member of its Congress and 1845 constitutional convention. In 1848 he donated the land for the church that became First Baptist of Coldspring.
Boswell Baptist Church
New Waverly, TX
On November 26, 1881, nine residents of the rural Boswell community met in a log schoolhouse to organize this Baptist church, with the Rev. T. E. King as its first pastor. A frame chapel followed in 1883 on land given by Phillip J. Ellisor, and for decades the church was the center of community life. It declined after World War II and the congregation disbanded in 1950, though the site still hosts an annual homecoming.