DRT hosting first meeting of the year
The Joshua D. Brown Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas will hold its first meeting of the 2023/2024 term on Monday, September 25, at 10:00am, at First United Methodist Church 21st Century Room, 321 Thompson Drive in Kerrville.
Speakers for the meeting will be Buddy and Jan Wilkinson, whose ancestors were in Kerr and Menard County in the 1800s.
Jan is the great-great granddaughter of Joshua D. Brown, and will give a history of the Father of Kerrville, and Buddy will demonstrate shingle making in the manner used by Joshua D. Brown in his occupation.
Brown is unfamiliar in most historical accounts of Kerr County, but he was very important to the settlement of Kerrville and Kerr County.
There is no school or street bearing his name, but he was the first Anglo-American pioneer to the upper Guadalupe River, and is rightly known as the “Father of Kerrville.”
Any woman having attained her 16th birthday is eligible to apply for DRT membership, providing she is a lineal descendant of a person who rendered loyal service to Texas prior to its formal annexation by the United States on February 19, 1846.
The Chapter will provide application and research assistance in proving ancestry during the Republic era to any prospective member with “Texas Thursday” sessions being held in Kerrville on the third Thursday of each month at the Kerrville Genealogy Society, 125 Lehmann Dr., and in Boerne on the first Thursday of each month at The Family History Place, 114 E. Blanco St.
For more information contact Registrar Judy McVay at judithmcvay8@gmail.com.
The Daughters of the Republic of Texas, founded in 1891, is the oldest patriotic women’s organization in Texas, and among the oldest in the United States. The DRT has designated 14 important events in Texas history as Texas Honor Days, when we remember and honor those who sacrificed and labored to establish and defend the Republic of Texas.
This month we celebrate Texas Heroes Day on September 18th, to honor and preserve the memory of the volunteer soldiers who died defending the Republic and her independence, and we also pay tribute to the men and women of the military, both past and present, who serve Texas. Special emphasis is placed on honoring those of the 1842 Dawson Massacre and Mier Expedition.
This year, as in the past, a Monument Hill Remembrance Day ceremony commemorating those events will be held at the Monument Hill State Historic Site, 414 State Loop 92, LaGrange, TX, on September 16th from 10:00-11:00am, and will include guest speakers, wreath laying, and gun salute.
For additional information, contact the Visitors center at 979-968-5658 or visit kbmh@thc.texas.gov.
The second Honor Day in September is Texian Navy Day, celebrated on the third Saturday of September (the 16th in 2023). Texans are encouraged to fly their Texas flags and observe the day in remembrance of the Texian Navy and the courage displayed by those at sea who played a vital role in securing and maintaining the independence of Texas. Three Texas Navies have served Texas since 1835: the first established in November of that year; the second in 1839; and the third, a commemorative organization, in 1958. The first Texas Navy was comprised of four ships: the Liberty, the Independence, the Brutus, and the Invincible. They protected the coastline and prevented the Mexican Army from landing soldiers and supplies in Texas, and supplied much needed munitions to the Texians, which were captured from Mexican vessels. The second Navy was organized in 1839 with seven ships that patrolled the Gulf of Mexico for three years, protecting the Texas coastline and dominating the Mexican naval fleet. The Joshua D. Brown Chapter invites all Texans to join in commemorating these important days in Texas History.