Bill Text: TX HCR38 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Paying tribute to the life of Texas heroine Jane Herbert Wilkinson Long.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
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. |