Evening star., 1936-07-12
SONS OF VIRGINIA MAJOR FIGURES AT BIRTH OF TEXAS
District Also Has Place
In History of Big State
Houston and Austin Leaders in Struggle
Which Brought Area Under Six Flags.
Centennial of an Empire.
By William A. Millen.

"HE OLD Dominion, Motner OF
Presidents, bore outstanding
heroes of Texas, too.
Il And now, in Texas, they are
celebrating the centennial Of its found
ing at Dallas and Fort Worth, and
elsewhere in that Western empire.
But the District of Columbia and Vir-
ginia have personal memories Of the
men who made it all possible, CEN
tury back. For two Of the largest
cities of Texas-Austin and Houston
are named for natives Of Virginia, and
both men have close associations with
the Nations Capital.
The State of Virginia has erected a
marker to her beloved son, Sam Hous-
ton, at his birthplace in Rockbridge
County, 6 miles north of Lexington,
Va. 1t expects soon to erect a marker
at the birthplace Of that other illus
trious Texan, born in Virginia.
Stephen Fuller Austin-in Wythe
County.
Both of these houses have long
since disappeared and only the sites
remain to mark" H. ]. Eckenrode,
director of the division of history and
archaeology of the Virginia State Com
mission on Conservation and Develop
ment, has informed this writer.
"A restoration of Houston's birth
place was proposed, but has not been
carried out. From all accounts, he
was born in plain farm house, such
as were to be found in that section OF
the State at the time Of his birth"
This Houston shrine, as it existed
In its palmiest days, is envisoned as
tWo-story structure, hewn out OF wood
of the nearby forest lands, set among
the trees, and with its giant chimneys
of stone, one on either end Of the
house, as prominent features.
HOUSTON, human enigma If ever
there was one, was Texas Mill
tant, and led his followers to victory
over the Mexicans.' Austin, the
Father of Texas, carried forward the
diplomatic work necessary to bring
the Independent Republic into the
fold of the Union.
And the Nations Capital knew both
men well. Austin came here to plead
with the administration Of President
James Knox Polk, the North Carolina
lawyer of Scotch Irish strain, who oc-
cupied the White House in those days.
Houston came to be known from
Boundary street to the Executive Man
sion, from Georgetown to the Ana
costa, for his peerless career brought
him to the halls of Congress and he
was here at divers times as barrister
for his beloved Indians. His curious
garb-that of the red man-evoked no
end of comment along Pennsylvania
avenue.
And there were others associated
with the founding of Texas and its
earlier growth that had connections
hereabouts.
Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, re-
corded by history as the second Presi-
dent of Texas, was from family that
came originally from France to settle
in Virginia and Maryland. Lamar
himself was born in Georgia; COM
manded the Cavalry at the famous
Battle Of San Jacinto, in which Hous-
ton wiped out the Mexican force and
took its general, Santa Ana, prisoner.
Lamar was a writer of verse.
David Crockett, one of the heroes
Of the Alamo, where the Texans were
annihilated by the Mexicans, was born
of Maryland mother. He was a ma
tive Of Tennessee and served here in
Congress, another link between the
District and far-away Texas.
Thomas Jefferson Rusk, one of the
first United States Senators from
Texas, also was at the Battle of San
Jacinto. He took command of the
forces when Houston was wounded.
Rusk became Secretary of War Of
Texas and was Chief Justice of the
Republic of Texas. He was an i'm
posing figure in Washington in those
early days, when Texas was called
"the youngest State in the Union"
And today, President Roosevelt Is
fresh from the Southwestern coun-
try, where he surveyed those early
scenes of valor and imbibed Of Texan
history at its fountainhead.
THREE Texans occupy premier
places in Washington today
Vice President John N. Garner Of
Uvalde is the presiding officer of the
Senate-and. by strange quirk Of
fate, sons Of the Lone Star State
head the Senate and House Commit
tees on Public Buildings and Grounds.
Senator Tom Connally and Repre-
sentative Fritz Lanham are their
chairmen and these two committees
are vital in the affairs of the District
Of Columbia.
And Texas has the distinction
under the Union that no other State
can claim. Under her articles of
admission to the Union. she may
subdivide her territory into four
separate States should she so desire.
Houston planned to create q Lone
Star State that would rival the glory
OF the United States itself, and to
his end he had ENJOYS in Europe
He wanted to conquer the north Of
Mexico and weld the whole into a
grand empire, did this son of old
Virginia.
The City Of Houston-named for
the Virginian-today has a popula-
tion Of $4,000. The Capitol Building
at Austin is said to be outranked in
size only by the Capitol here.
Washington n-the-Brazos, where
Texas independence was proclaimed,
was reminiscent of Washington-on
the-Potomac. The famous San Ja-
cinto battlefield is near present-day
Houston.
The Fine Arts Commission here
played an important part in approx
ing various aspects of the artistic
concepts prevailing at the Texas
Centennial at Dallas. It not only
passed upon the special coin that
Congress gave authority to mint in
honor of the occasion, but it approved
the architecture Of the Federal Build
ing and aided in the various exhibits
sent by the Government departments
here.