This Day In Texas History - Dec. 16

[joe817]

1826 - On this date in 1826, landowners near Nacogdoches fearing they were about to lose their lands to the Mexican government, rode into Nacogdoches delaring the free and independent Republic of Fredonia. Led by Benjamin Edwards whose brother, Haden, had received a large grant east of Nacogcoches, the "Fredonia Rebellion" was quickly put down by the Mexican Authorities, with Benjamin fleeing to Louisiana.

1836 - the Congress of the Republic of Texas chartered the Texas Railroad, Navigation, and Banking Company. The short-lived company was authorized to connect Gulf ports by canal, to construct railroads wherever desirable, and to have banking privileges as soon as one-fifth of its capital stock of $5 million had been subscribed. Though Congress approved the charter without opposition, and though the company apparently had the support of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin, it became a political issue in the election of Anson Jones, who attacked the venture mainly because of the banking provision. Unable to sell its stock because of public opposition aroused by Jones and because of the panic of 1837, the company collapsed.

1836 - Robert Williamson, nicknamed "Three Legged Willie" due to his wooden leg, was elected judge of Texas’ Third Judicial District, automatically becoming a member of the Supreme Court.

1863 - Confederate colonel Sul Ross assumed command of a brigade formed from the Third, Sixth, Ninth, and Twenty-seventh Texas Cavalry regiments, and the men in these units thereafter fought together as Ross's Brigade. He was promoted to the rank of general soon after taking command of Ross's Brigade. Under his able leadership, his brigade saw action in the Atlanta and Franklin-Nashville campaigns, although Ross was in Texas on furlough when his men surrendered at Jackson, Mississippi, in May 1865. After the war he served Texas as a state senator and then as governor from 1886 to 1891.

1881- 1881 - The Texas & Pacific Railway reached Sierra Blanca in West Texas.

1927 - Thena Mae Farr, champion cowgirl and rodeo producer, was born in Baylor County, Texas. She co-founded the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association in 1947.

1947 - The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (the Rock Island Line) was chartered on this date in Delaware. It soon becomes a major railroad in Texas serving Dallas, Fort Worth, Amarillo and El Paso.