Upcoming Events:

Texas Statehood Day.  Fly your Texas flag!

Re-chartering of the James B. Bonham/Alamo Chapter.

The 13 day siege that began on February 23, 1836, will be remembered on the same date and place this year, at 3:00 PM, with the re-chartering of the former James B. Bonham Chapter, re-named the Alamo Chapter No. 40.  President General Dick Reese will formally present the charter in front of the Alamo, ceremonies commencing at 3:00 PM on February 23rd, 2008.  What an appropriate day in history for this event!

Genealogy Fair.

The Alexander Hodge #49 chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution will host a free Genealogy Fair for the public at the Sugar Land Community Center, 226 Matlage Way, Sugar Land, Texas. For more information, contact Lance H. Salge, salge@texas.net or 281-265-0733.  The San Jacinto Chapter #1 SRT will have an information table at the event, please stop by.

Brochure and Flyer

Texas Independence Day Celebration and Chili Cookoff

Come join the San Jacinto Chapter, DRT and CRT as we celebrate Texas Independence Day with the Texian Army and SRT on Sunday, February 24, 2008, at 2:00p.m. at the Log House, 1510 North MacGregor.  It will be a Living History Festival, along with a Flag Retirement Ceremony.  Tom Green, KSJ, will be there to display his Texas Flags, along with Larry Hoff, Blacksmith, and Edwin Erwin will be on hand to sign Land Grants.  The Texian Army in conjunction with the Sons of the Republic of Texas will present the reading of William Barrett Travis’ famous letter.  Admission is $5.00 for adults and $2.00 per child under 16.  Please free to come in period dress or your favorite Texana.

It is time to dig out Uncle Bob's old chili recipe and start chopping those red hot chili peppers.  Prizes will be given for: Best Authentic Texian Chili, Best Deer Meat Chili, Best Armadillo Style Chili, Best Roadkill Chili, Best Trailriders' Chile, Best Rattlesnake Rattle Chili, Best Red Hot Pepper Chili, Best Possum Chili, Best Squirrel Chili and more.  Come see how many you can win.  If you are interested in having a Chili Team please contact Eron Tynes @ 281-820-0676.

As part of our celebration, we will have a Flag Retirement Ceremony.  Last year the Flag Retirement Ceremony was held and a number of the children participated.  This year we are inviting all children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, etc., to participate in this moving patriotic ceremony.  We will hold a rehearsal on February 24 at 1:30 pm. This will allow the children to become familiar with the ceremony itself.  We will also be holding a Silent Auction to raise money for our Log House.  If you have anything you would like to donate, let us know. Call Eron Tynes at 281-820-0676 or email: 54texan@peoplepc.com

Washington on the Brazos State Historic Site, 10:00am - 5:00pm

Festivities honoring the 172nd anniversary of Texas independence will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.

Texas Independence Day Dinner at the Steamboat House, 6:30pm, Houston

Come join the area SRT chapters, the DRT, and the San Jacinto Descendants as we celebrate Texas Independence Day at the Steamboat House in the Log Cabin room.  This will be one of those seemingly, rare opportunities to meet our fellow patriots outside of our chapter along with their spouses or any other guests.

Dinner, including gratuity and coffee service, will be $45 per person.  There will be a cash bar.  Dinner selections will be either a 12 oz. rib-eye served with choice of baked potato or garlic-mashed potatoes and a salad, or the spicy peach chicken breast with grilled quail served over wild rice with sautéed vegetables and a salad.

Please RSVP to Will Haddock (whaddock@io.com or Tel. 713-298-2168) by February 20th.  Payment of $45 per person needs to be mailed to 2777 Allen Parkway, Suite 800, Houston, TX 77019 by the RSVP deadline.  SRT members should make their check payable to the San Jacinto Chapter SRT.  (DRT members reading this should make their payment to the San Jacinto Chapter DRT; and San Jacinto Descendants members to the San Jacinto Descendants.)

Texas Independence Day.  Fly your Texas flag!

Washington on the Brazos State Historic Site, 10:00am - 5:00pm

Festivities honoring the 172nd anniversary of Texas independence will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.

Texas Independence Day Ceremony

Tom Green, KSJ has put together a local celebration of Texas Independence Day at Houston City Hall. Mayor Bill White has committed to being there and giving a few remarks. At the conclusion of the ceremony, there will be a toast to all signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence using “Good old Texas Water.”

The ceremony will take place on the front steps of City Hall, located at 901 Bagby.

Anniversary of the Fall of the Alamo.  Fly your Texas flag!

Anniversary of the Goliad Massacre.  Fly your Texas flag!

SRT Annual Meeting at the Fredonia Hotel, Nacogdoches, Texas.

Room reservations should be made with the hotel (Tel. 936-564-1234). When making reservations, be sure to mention that you are with the SRT. Registration for the annual meeting, the Summerfield G. Roberts Award luncheon, and the awards banquet should be made with Janet Hickl at the SRT main office.

San Jacinto Symposium - Expanding the Horizons of Texas History

This year’s San Jacinto Symposium will be on Saturday, April 19, 2008 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the University Hilton an the University of Houston campus.

This year’s program will feature:

Steve Harrington, author of The Gates of the Alamo, a New York Times best-seller and winner of the Spur Award for the Best Novel of the West, and Comanche Midnight.  Mr. Harrington’s presentation will be “Historical Fact, Historical Fiction: Early Texas Through a Novelist’s Eyes.”

Drenna Belden, from the University of North Texas, will “Explore the Texas Revolution Online Through the Portal to Texas History” as she demonstrates this new digital gateway to the collections of some seventy museums, libraries and universities. The Portal is sponsored by the University of North Texas. Belden is coordinator of grants and development at the UNT libraries.

Betsy Davis, ties to--and unbounded passion for--the history of Texas and the revolution have made her one of the state’s best fourth grade school teachers.  Her ability to bring history to life for her students has won awards from the Austin Historical Society and the Austin Federation of Teachers.  Her topic: “Making History Personal.”

Stuart Reid, author of The Secret War for Texas, a recent book about British agent James Grant and the Texas Revolution will place the Texas Revolution into the context of the “great game” played out during the first half of the nineteenth century between Washington and London over mastery of the North American continent.  Reid, a Scot and author of The Secret War for Texas (Texas A&M University Press, 2007), is the great-great-great grandson of his book’s protagonist, Dr. James Grant.

Miguel Angel Gonzales Quiroga, of the U.A. De Nuevo Leon in Monterrey, Mexico, will discuss “Commonality and Conflict: Northeast Mexico and the Texas Revolution and Republic, 1835-1845."

The cost of the symposium is $45, which includes lunch and free parking in the Hilton garage.  Registrations may be made by check to Friends of the San Jacinto Battleground, P.O. Box 940536, Houston, TX 77094-7536. Payments should be made by April 11.  After April 11, the registration fee will be $50, based on availability.

Anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto.  Fly your Texas flag!  Ceremony at the San Jacinto Monument on the Battleground.

Texian Navy Day.  Fly your Texas flag!

Anniversary of the Battle of Gonzales.  Fly your Texas flag!

Birthday of Stephen F. Austin, Father of Texas.  Fly your Texas flag!

Past Events:

Ceremonial Signing of Depository Agreement for the Sam Houston Templar Sword

The SRT and the Sam Houston Memorial Museum invite all SRT members to join them for the ceremonial signing of a new depository agreement for the Sam Houston Templar Sword in the Rotunda of the Sam Houston Memorial Museum on Sam Houston Avenue (Old US 75) in Huntsville, TX.

The new depository agreement provides for the permanent loan of the sword from the SRT to the Sam Houston Memorial Museum, and it provides for the SRT to receive proper credit and acknowledgement as part of the display of this priceless sword. Directions to the museum may be found at:
www.shsu.edu/~smm_www/GenInfo/S-map_brochure.pdf

San Jacinto Chapter Christmas Party.

San Jacinto Chapter Christmas Party.

December Quarterly Meeting and Presidio La Bahia Awards

The December meeting of the SRT Executive Committee will be held on Saturday, December 2, 2006 at the Hampton Inn in Victoria, Texas (7006 N. Navarro [Hwy. 77], Telephone (361) 573-9911). The SRT has reserved a block of rooms at the rate of $84 per night (excluding taxes) for Friday evening. Following Saturday morning’s meeting, there will be lunch at the Blue Quail Deli in Goliad, Texas. Then the Presidio La Bahia Awards will be presented at Presidio La Bahia, in Goliad, Texas, staring around 2:00 p.m. If attending, you should reserve your hotel room quickly. Registration forms for the quarterly meeting, Saturday’s lunch, and other events are on the SRT web page at http://www.srttexas.org/victoria.html

The registration forms may be submitted electronically or printed and submitted by snail mail. In past years, this Saturday has been a fun day. If you have not made this trip in the past, you should definitely try to make it.

41st Annual Tomball Holiday Parade

The annual Tomball Holiday Parade is Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 10:00 a.m.  SRT members traditionally participate in this parade in period attire, and this year is no different.  If participating everyone should meet at the Tomball Museum at 510 North Pine Street at 8:00 a.m.  Just prior to the parade, a group photo will be taken at the log house.

For more information, please contact Denton Bryant at 281-351-7222.

Stephen F. Austin Birthday

At least two celebrations of the birth of Stephen F. Austin will be held in southern Brazoria County on Friday, November 3, 2006.

One will be held at the site of Austin’s death near West Columbia at 1 p.m. that is sponsored by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. This was the home site of George McKinstry where Stephen F. Austin died on December 27, 1836. This is an annual event which features school children of the County to perpetuate the memory of this heroic Texan. The program will include pledges to the United States and Texas flags and the singing of the National Anthem led by a troop of Boy Scouts from West Columbia and music from a select band of students from the Columbia High School Band. The Barrow Elementary School choir “The Singing Eagles” will perform patriotic tunes. There will be a flag ceremony and the placing of a wreath at the flag pole. The Brazoria Militia will fire a gun salute and there will be demonstrations by “Texas Women and a Few Good Men.” Tom Green, Pearland, will feature some of the many flags from early Texas.

The site of the celebration is located just off of Highway 36 just a few hundred yards north of the West Columbia WalMart. The road is marked by a special sign that notes a special Stephen F. Austin site. The actual site is about three-quarters of a mile down this road. There is adequate parking at the site of the celebration. For further information contact Mrs. C. R. Faulkner, District IX Representative of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas at 979-265-9525.

The second celebration will be at the giant David Adickes’ Stephen F. Austin Statue located on Highway 288 just south of the intersection with Texas Highway 35 in Angleton. This is the second annual Stephen F. Austin Birthday Party, Silent Auction, Raffle and BBQ Cook-off. The party will kick-off at 11:00 a.m. with the BBQ awards at 5:30 p.m. followed by the raffle drawing at 6:00 p.m. A donation of $25 is requested to help defray the cost of the Stephen F. Austin statue. For more information please call 979-239-8718 or visit the website at http://www.stephenfaustin.org

Panola County Marker Dedication Ceremony:  The dedication ceremony for the Texas Historical Marker, located at the site of the International Boundary Marker on the Texas / Louisiana state line, has been re-scheduled for Saturday, October 7 at 2:00 p.m. Ron Stone, KSJ, has agreed to emcee the event and has offered to “call the weatherman to deflect any storms!” The event had to be postponed last fall due to Hurricane Rita.

As was the case last year, there will be no host town or hotel due to different travel approaches from across the state.  There are, however, several Executive Committee members who have found Nacogdoches to be advantageous from areas to the southwest. Many people will want to travel early Saturday for the 2:00 PM ceremony, located approximately 5 miles northwest of Logansport, LA.  Depending on your direction of travel, you may choose to stay in Nacogdoches en route home.  For members and guests choosing to do so, one area hotel with rooms as of late April 2006 is:

Holiday Inn Express, Nacogdoches
Hwy. 59 S, immediately south of the loop
936 564-0100  

Texian Navy Day:  Saturday, September 16, 2006, is Texian Navy Day, honoring the contributions of the Texian Navy in helping secure the independence of the Republic of Texas in 1836.  Long recognized in an ad hoc manner by governors and the Texas legislature, in 2005, the legislature enacted a law officially establishing the third Saturday of each September as Texian Navy Day, which “shall be observed with appropriate ceremonies and activities.”

History has forgotten that the lone star of the Republic of Texas shined brightly on the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Without the daring and dangerous exploits of the Texian Navy, Mexico easily could have re-supplied their land armies still in Texas in the immediate aftermath of the surrender of Gen. Santa Anna at San Jacinto or mounted a seaborne invasion after the San Jacinto victory.  The Texian Navy was able to protect the young republic’s long coastline with its many rivers, bays, and inlets to projecting power beyond its littoral waters to Mexican coastal towns as far away as the Yucatán.  Ultimately, the Texian Navy was a real balance of power amongst the Navies of the United States, Mexico, and the European powers, all vying for influence in the Gulf of Mexico.  The Texians’ courage and striking power were far in excess of that which reasonably could have been expected from such a numerically disadvantaged force, and it was their fighting spirit that made the difference.

Monument Hill Remembrance Ceremony:  September 16 is the official ceremony to remember the contributions made by the men of the ill-fated Dawson Massacre and the Mier Expedition.  This event is at Monument Hill in LaGrange, Texas.

Quarterly Meeting in Salado:  the SRT Executive Committee is holding its quarterly meeting in Salado on September 8th and 9th at the Stagecoach Inn.  For this meeting, there is a dinner on Friday night in addition to the usual social events.  Pre-registration for Friday’s dinner is required:  http://www.srttexas.org/salado.html

Commissioning of the new USS Texas SSN 775 (a Virginia Class nuclear submarine) - the USS Texas was christened just last year by First Lady Laura Bush, and is currently undergoing sea trials.  Read all about this new state-of-the-art attack submarine on the USS Texas website: http://www.usstexas.org/./index.htm This is the submarine that our Chapter will be giving the enlisted submariner of the year award to in April 2007.  The USS Texas is due to arrive in Galveston between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on Monday, September 4th.

Battle of Medina Remembrance:  The ceremony will start at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 19, 2006, and everyone interested in Texas history is invited.  To reach the site of the ceremony, proceed south from San Antonio on Highway 281 some 15 miles from the intersection of Loop 410 South and Highway 281, to the community of Espey, Texas, and turn west where signs will direct you to the ceremony.  For other details, contact Tom Green, at (281) 922-1118, or cell phone (832) 687-3474.

At 10:30am on Saturday, June 17th, 2006 the Stephen F. Austin Chapter #6 will host the Historical Grave Marking Ceremony for Former President General James Perry Moore who’s mother was a descendant of Stephen F. Austin’s sister, and is buried in the same Peach Point family cemetery where Stephen F. Austin was originally buried next to his sister. James Perry Moore served as President General of the SRT from 1937 through 1938, and is buried near his famous ancestors and family in what today is called the Gulf Prairie Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Jones Creek, Texas. The grave marking ceremony will be held in conjunction with the Perry-Bryan Family Reunion on the same date. A Bar-B-Que lunch will be available at the cemetery for $8 per plate, but reservations must be made before June 10, 2006 to Mildred Cammack, 117 Robin Trail, Richwood, Texas 77531. Her phone number is (979) 265-4877 (after 5:00pm). We expect a large turnout, so make your reservations early. We hope to have members of the Black Powder Brigade fire a rifle salute as well as firing of our cannon to honor our former President General. This is the very birth and burial place of much of our Texas history, so make plans to attend. Contact Tom Green (281) 922-1118 for any additional information you may need. Directions to the cemetery are as follows. Proceed south from Houston on HIGHWAY 288 to the Lake Jackson, Texas area. Exit at the Richmond exit(Farm Road 2004) and proceed south west until you intersect Highway 36 at a signal light next to the Prison Farm. Turn left and proceed for a couple of mile to the Gulf Prairie Presbyterian Church Cemetery sign (County Road 304)and turn right at the sign. The cemetery will be on your left about a hundred yard ahead, with a parking lot in front of the old historic church.

The annual meeting of the Texas Navy Association is set for May 13th at the Galveston Yacht Club, 601 Holiday Drive  http://www.galvestonyachtclub.com Grog at 6 PM, Dinner at 7:00 PM, and the program to follow.  At this time (pending a possible trip to Iraq) our speaker is Jerry Patterson, Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office.  "Black tie preferred" -  for reservations, call (409) 762-4444 or email Communications Officer Admiral Walter Nass longhorn@hal-pc.org

The 6th Annual San Jacinto Symposium will be held on Saturday, April 22nd, 2006 at the Hilton Hotel starting at 8:00 A.M. on the campus of the University of Houston.  As in the past, there will be four speakers and the luncheon speaker.  Website for the 2006 Symposium: http://www.friendsofsanjacinto.org/news-sanjac2006.htm

San Jacinto Day Celebration at the San Jacinto Battle Ground.

Annual Meeting in Grapevine, Texas.
Hilton DFW Lakes
1800 Hwy 26 E
Grapevine, Texas 76051
1-800-245-3105

Memorial grave markers for eleven Citizens of the Republic of Texas will be dedicated at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 25, 2006. All are buried in the Washington Cemetery, 2911 Washington Avenue, Houston, Texas. The following Citizens will be honored:

Julia Purcell Bergin and her son Osburn M. Bergin, George Albert Branard, Louisa Reinermann Quensell, Edmond B. Reeves and his sister Eveline Reeves Toole, Emilie Usener Schneider, Frederick Schweikart and his wife Antoinette Officier Schweikart, Osgood Andrew Shook, and William H. Williams.

Following the ceremony, the Bluebonnet Branch Chapter, Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT), will host a reception at Trinity Lutheran Church, 800 Houston Avenue (about one mile from the cemetery).
RSVP: Nettie Dworsky, (281) 554-6155, ednet@ev1.net

On this Texas Independence Day, the San Jacinto Chapter will hold its monthly meeting at Washington on the Brazos in order to participate in the ceremonies with other SRT chapters and to swear in new officers.  Ceremonies will start at noon, and a BBQ lunch is available for $15.  (No walk-ins allowed.)
Please RSVP

The San Jacinto Chapter and the Sam Houston Chapter are having a joint social event (all are welcome).  Come for a couples gathering of socializing and food at the new and historic Steamboat House Restaurant.  Please RSVP

David Pomeroy will be leading a trip to view various historical markers and other historical sites between Harrisburg and the San Jacinto Battleground. Many of these markers and sites are in out-of-the-way locations on private property or are otherwise obscured by the numerous chemical plants in the area, so this is a good opportunity to see first-hand where some of these sites are located.

The plan is to meet at the Frost Bank parking lot (around back) at the corner of 1001 Broadway and Lawndale (map) at 9:00 AM on Saturday, January 14^th where we will try to consolidate into some of the larger vehicles. From there, we will caravan to various sites ending up at the San Jacinto Battleground. The journey will end with an optional “Dutch treat” lunch at the Monument Inn between noon and 1:00 PM.

Family and guests are more than welcome.

* In the event of inclement weather, we will reschedule this event to either the 18^th or 25^th of February. Check this web page and/or your e-mail on Friday, January 13 for more information in case the weather forecast does not look good.