The Joshua D. Brown Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas will hold its monthly meeting on Monday, Nov. 27, at 10 a.m.
The chapter meets at First United Methodist Church, 321 Thompson Drive in Kerrville. The program for the meeting will be presented by Dr. Donald S. Frazier, director of The Texas Center at Schreiner University.
Dr. Frazier will be speaking about The Center and the resources available for research there on the Republic of Texas. He is a graduate of UT Arlington and Texas Christian University, and is the author of several award-winning books on Texans in the Civil War.
In addition to his teaching duties and scholarly activities, Dr. Frazier has been involved in work on museums and on historical projects in Europe and Mexico.
He is an elected member of the prestigious Philosophical Society of Texas, the oldest learned organization in the state, is a Fellow of the Texas State Historical Association, and is a Director-Scholar on the board of the Texas Historical Foundation.
The public is invited to attend, and assistance will be available for any woman interested in tracing her lineage back to the days of the Texas Republic.
For more information, contact President Jan Engler at [email protected].
There will be a dutchtreat lunch at an area restaurant after the meeting, and anyone interested is invited to attend.
The DRT recognizes two Texas Honor Days in November.
The first is the birth of Stephen F. Austin, born Nov. 3, 1793 in Virginia. His father, Moses Austin, lost his considerable lead mining fortune in the depression of 1819 and subsequently developed a plan to settle American colonists in Spanish Texas.
However, Moses Austin died before he was able to bring his colonists in, but his dying wish was that Stephen would carry on the venture.
True to his word, Stephen was able to bring in the first 300 colonists in 1824, and another 900 families arrived over the next several years.
Austin negotiated laws and tariffs with the ever-changing Mexican government over the years with some success, but after Santa Anna took over in Mexico in 1833, things began to unravel.
Austin was imprisoned in Mexico on a charge of attempting to incite insurrection in Texas, and when he returned to Texas, he no longer believed there was a possible future for Texas as a part of Mexico.
He became the civil leader of Anglo-American Texas. After Texas won its independence from Mexico, Austin ran for president of the new republic but lost to Sam Houston, and served as Secretary of State in the new government.
His time in prison and overwork took their toll on Austin, who was never a robust man, and after a short battle with pneumonia, he died on Dec. 27, 1836, at the age of 43. When Sam Houston learned of Austin’s death, he issued an official statement declaring, “The Father of Texas is no more; the first pioneer of the wilderness has departed.”
The second Honor Day is DRT Founders Day, which commemorates the founding of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas on Nov. 6, 1891, with a vision to perpetuate the memory and spirit of the men and women who achieved and maintained the independence of Texas.
Without the efforts of the DRT, the Alamo would have been demolished in 1901, but the DRT saved it and served as its Custodians for 106 years.
The French Legation in Austin was restored by the DRT and opened as a museum in 1956.
In addition, the organization promotes statewide celebrations of important dates in Texas history, places memorial markers at historic sites, sponsors Texas History Essay Contests, Art Contests and awards scholarships.
