HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Judge Elijah Gossett

Crockett, Houston County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Judge Elijah Gossett A solider in the Army of Texas, 1836 Chief Justice of Houston County, 1841 Born in Tennessee Feb. 1, 1788 Died Nov. 24, 1848 His wife Elizabeth (Stone) Gossett Born in Tennessee Sept. 1, 1789 Died July 6, 1849 Erected by the State of Texas 1936

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Elijah Gossett was among the generation who won and governed the Republic of Texas: a soldier in the Army of Texas in 1836 and, five years later, the first Chief Justice of newly organized Houston County. Tennessee-born, he and his wife Elizabeth are remembered on this marker raised by the State of Texas in 1936, the centennial of Texas independence. Their lives span the passage from revolution to the ordinary work of building courts and county government.

Why it matters

Figures like Gossett bridged the fight for Texas independence and the everyday institution-building that turned a frontier republic into a functioning American state.

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Related people

  • ยท Elijah Gossett
  • ยท Elizabeth Gossett

Themes & tags

Military & WartimeFrontier HistoryMemorial

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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.

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