Bill Text: TX HCR38 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Paying tribute to the life of Texas heroine Jane Herbert Wilkinson Long.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-02-28 - Received from the House [HCR38 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HCR38-Introduced.html
| 82R2740 MMS-D | ||
| By: Eiland | H.C.R. No. 38 | |
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| WHEREAS, Widely regarded as one of the first Texas heroines, | ||
| Jane Herbert Wilkinson Long is remembered for the remarkable | ||
| courage and perseverance she displayed during the tumultuous years | ||
| that carried Texas from Spanish and Mexican rule to independence; | ||
| and | ||
| WHEREAS, Jane Wilkinson was born in Maryland on July 23, | ||
| 1798, the 10th child of Captain William Mackall and Anne Herbert | ||
| Wilkinson; her uncle, General James Wilkinson, is noted in Texas | ||
| history for having negotiated the creation of the Neutral Ground in | ||
| 1806, while serving as governor of the Louisiana Territory, and for | ||
| his longtime interest in Texas as a place of opportunity and | ||
| adventure; and | ||
| WHEREAS, After the death of her parents, Jane Wilkinson lived | ||
| with her older sister in Mississippi Territory; she married James | ||
| Long in 1815 and gave birth to their first child, Ann Herbert, the | ||
| following year; she was expecting another child when her husband | ||
| left to lead a filibustering expedition to Texas in 1819; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Soon after the birth of her second daughter, Mrs. | ||
| Long left her children in the care of her sister in Louisiana and | ||
| set out to join her husband in Nacogdoches, where he and his forces | ||
| had declared independence from Spain and had established a civil | ||
| government; she reached the outpost in August 1819, but within a | ||
| couple of months, American families in the area were forced to flee | ||
| the arrival of Spanish troops; by 1821, however, Jane Long was | ||
| living at her husband's new headquarters at Fort Las Casas, on the | ||
| Bolivar Peninsula; and | ||
| WHEREAS, James Long embarked on another filibustering | ||
| expedition later that year, while Mrs. Long and their surviving | ||
| daughter, Ann, as well as a young slave girl, Kian, stayed behind; | ||
| during Mr. Long's absence, Mrs. Long and the girls fended off | ||
| Karankawa Indians by convincing them that soldiers were still at | ||
| the fort, a feat they accomplished by donning cast-off uniforms, | ||
| firing the cannon, and raising a makeshift flag; Mrs. Long was | ||
| pregnant at the time and was the only adult present when she gave | ||
| birth to another daughter, Mary James, on December 21, 1821; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Finally abandoning the fort in March 1822, Mrs. Long | ||
| joined settlers on the mainland, where she learned that summer that | ||
| her husband had been killed in Mexico City; in 1824, as one of | ||
| Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, she received title to land in | ||
| present-day Fort Bend and Waller Counties; she made her home in San | ||
| Felipe until 1830, then lived briefly in Mississippi before moving | ||
| in 1832 to Brazoria; there she bought a boardinghouse, which was | ||
| used for rallies and secret meetings and for hiding arms and | ||
| munitions during the colonists' struggle against Mexico; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Mrs. Long, who died in 1880, became a symbol of the | ||
| strength and determination of the young Texas republic; often | ||
| referred to as the "Mother of Texas," she was made an honorary | ||
| member of the Texas Veterans Association, and a U.S. Liberty ship | ||
| was named for her during World War II; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Over the years, Jane Long has captured the | ||
| imagination of countless Texans, and this spirited woman will long | ||
| be remembered in the annals of the Lone Star State; now, therefore, | ||
| be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
| hereby pay tribute to the life of Jane Herbert Wilkinson Long. | ||
