Site of the Home of Mirabeau B. Lamar

Rosenberg, TX

Mirabeau B. Lamar arrived in Texas from Georgia in 1835 and rose meteorically—a private who was made a colonel on the eve of San Jacinto, where he commanded the cavalry with distinction, then vice-president and, in 1838, the second president of the Republic of Texas. His administration opposed annexation, pursued an aggressive Indian policy, and won recognition from Britain and France. Above all he is remembered as the father of Texas public education. He died in 1859 and lies buried in Morton Cemetery.

Richmond, TX

Born in South Carolina in 1757, John Foster pushed west across the Appalachians around 1781 to the Spanish-held Natchez District, where he became a landowner, founded the town of Washington, and helped establish Jefferson College. In 1822 he joined the Texas frontier as one of Stephen F. Austin's "Old Three Hundred," receiving an 11,600-acre grant in what is now Fort Bend County. On Christmas Day 1835 he signed the Columbia Resolutions urging Texas independence, then retired to Mississippi, where he died in 1837.

Richmond, TX

Built in November 1821 by William Little, William Smithers, Charles Beard, Joseph Polly, and Henry Holster, Fort Bend marked one of the earliest Anglo-American settlements in what was then Mexican Texas, on a bend of the Brazos River. These men were among the vanguard of Stephen F. Austin's colony, the 'Old Three Hundred,' who planted American settlement in the region. When the county was created in 1837, it took its name from this pioneer fort.

Richmond, TX

Wyly Martin's life ran through the founding struggles of two frontiers. Born in Georgia in 1776, he scouted under William Henry Harrison and served under Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812, then reappeared in Texas as alcalde of San Felipe de Austin, a delegate to the conventions of 1832–33, and a captain in the Army of Texas during the 1836 revolution. He closed his career as chief justice of Fort Bend County before his death in 1842.