This Day In Texas History - Dec. 14

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1834 - Birthday of Angelina Dickinson. She and her mother survived the fall of the Alamo on March 6, 1836, and were sent as messengers to Gen. Sam Houston.

1835 - William R. Carey is elected captain of his 56-man Texan artillery company by popular vote among the men. He gave the group its name, "The Invincibles." Less than three months later, Carey died while commanding Texan artillery at the Alamo.

1837 - Republic licenses doctors: On this day in 1837, the Congress of the Republic of Texas established the Board of Medical Censors, a forerunner of the Board of Medical Examiners, for the purpose of granting licenses to practice medicine and surgery in the republic. The law required that the board be composed of one physician from each senatorial district and that the members be graduates of medicine and surgery from authorized colleges and universities. A twenty-dollar fee was collected from those who passed an examination. Without a license, physicians could not collect unpaid fees in court.

1840 - Moses Johnson, who moved to Texas in the late 1830s, was elected mayor of Austin, and later became treasurer of the Republic of Texas.

1861 - H. H. Sibley takes command of the Army of New Mexico at Fort Bliss and prepares for his ill fated attempt to conquer the Southwest for the Confederacy.

1918 - Leonard Brothers opens in Fort Worth : J. Marvin Leonard, "Mr. Marvin," opened his first store in Fort Worth. Leonard was born in 1895 near Linden, Texas. During World War I he moved to Dallas, where he worked in a store that specialized in salvaged merchandise. In 1918 he moved west to Forth Worth and opened a store in which his brother, Obadiah, joined him the next year. Leonard Brothers prospered and rapidly expanded beyond its original offering of groceries and salvaged merchandise. Marvin Leonard used extensive advertising, eye-catching events, and a commitment to low profit margin and high volume to turn the firm into the largest retail establishment in Forth Worth.