James Collinsworth
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Born in Tennessee, 1806. Drowned in Galveston, July 11, 1838, and his remains brought by boat up Buffalo Bayou to Houston. His remains interred in this cemetery under the auspices of Temple Lodge No. 4. First Masonic funeral ever held in Texas. Delegate to the Consultation held at San Felipe, 1835. Signer, from Brazoria municipality, of the Texas Declaration of Independence. "Bore himself as a chief" at San Jacinto. Secretary of State, 1836. Senator in the Congress of Texas, 1836. First Chief Justice of the supreme Court of Texas. A county in Texas was named in his honor.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
James Collinsworth (1806–1838), Tennessee-born, packed an extraordinary public career into a few short years of the Texas Republic. A delegate to the 1835 Consultation and a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, he "bore himself as a chief" at San Jacinto, then served as Secretary of State, senator, and the first Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. After he drowned at Galveston in 1838, his remains were carried up Buffalo Bayou for the first Masonic funeral held in Texas.
Why it matters
Collinsworth's brief, crowded life embodies the founding generation of the Texas Republic, who built a government and courts almost overnight.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · James Collinsworth
Related events
- · Texas Declaration of Independence
- · Battle of San Jacinto
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
George Allen
Houston, TX
Born in New York in 1812, George Allen came to Texas in the 1830s and fought in the war for independence, later joining the Somervell Expedition. In 1838 he settled in Houston to help his brothers Augustus and John Kirby Allen establish the new city, and in 1839 became the first committeeman charged with improving Buffalo Bayou, its vital shipping artery. His work helped set Houston on its course as a commercial port.
Fielding G. Secrest
Houston, TX
Fielding G. Secrest rode with Captain Henry W. Karnes's cavalry at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, the decisive fight that won Texas its independence from Mexico. He died in Houston in 1840, only a year after the death of his wife, Eliza.
John Cheevers
Houston, TX
John Cheevers came to Texas in 1829, in the years when Anglo colonists were streaming into what was then Mexican territory. When the fight for Texas independence reached its climax in 1836, he stood among the men of Captain Thomas H. McIntire's company at the Battle of San Jacinto, the short, decisive clash that secured the Republic. He lived out his remaining years in the growing town of Houston, dying there in 1846.
Harvey Homan
Houston, TX
Harvey Homan arrived in Texas in January 1836, at the very outset of the revolution, and that spring fought at San Jacinto in Captain Richard Roman's company—the decisive battle that won Texas its independence. Born in Kentucky in 1806, he made his life in the new republic's rising city of Houston, where he died young in July 1846.