Robert Barr
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
San Jacinto veteran. Postmaster general of the Republic under Houston and Lamar. Born in Urbana, Ohio in 1802. Died in Houston, Texas at 9 a.m. October 11, 1839, of yellow fever. Buried under the auspices of the Masonic and Odd Fellows lodges and the Milam Guards.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Robert Barr fought at San Jacinto, the 1836 battle that won Texas its independence, and went on to serve the young Republic of Texas as postmaster general under both Sam Houston and Mirabeau Lamar. An Ohio native, he died of yellow fever in Houston in 1839, a reminder of how disease stalked the coastal republic. His burial by the Masonic and Odd Fellows lodges and the Milam Guards reflects the tight civic fraternity of frontier Houston.
Why it matters
Barr helped build the everyday machinery of an independent Texas nation, and his early death from yellow fever mirrors the fragile, hard-lived world of the Republic's founders.
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Related people
- · Robert Barr
- · Sam Houston
- · Mirabeau B. Lamar
Related events
- · Battle of San Jacinto
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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