Capt Jesse Burnam

  General Notes:

Captain Burnam's 90th Birthday
The Oldest Texas Veteran Now Living, and the Only Survivor of the Austin's Colony

Editor, Bulletin:

The picnic given on the 15th ult., by the relatives of Capt. Burnam, was not only the most enjoyable affair of the season, but an event long to be remembered. The beautiful grove on Double Horn, betwe en Mr. Cox and William Franklin's was rife with beauty, and gallant knights and fair ladies strove in glorious emulation to make the venerable old Patriot, in whose honor the entertainment was given, enjoy the pleasure of his surroundings to an illimitable degree. Then sun had hardly crossed the meridian when your humble correspondent (who is truly susceptible to the good things of life) was almos t overcome by witnessing the unpacking of hamper after hamper containing edible of every description. The dinner was simply superb; and, when this youth was summoned to the "festive board" amid the sp arkle of wine and flow of wit, he could not refrain from exclaiming: "O! if there be an Elysium on earth, it is this, it is this."

Captain Jesse Burnam, the subject of this sketch, came to Texas in 1821, and for three score years he has been closely identified with the history of the "Lone Star State. " After settling in Fayette county, he and his family endured all the hardships and privations incident to frontier life. For nine long weary months bread was a stranger at his board, and his only sustenance was the flesh of wild animals which held undisputed sway over the jungles of Texas. At the time of which we write, the Indians were waging a cruel and relentless warfare against the whites.

For his personal prowess, prudence and courage, Captain Burnam was appointed to a Captaincy by Col. Austin. The success attending his enterprise among the red men, and the speedy annihilation of them in his vicinity, was faithful evidence of the wisdom and justice of the appointment. Capt. B. bore a prominent part in the war with Mexico, and was with Col. Austin in many engagements, notably so in the latter's attack on San Antonio. While thus engaged he was elected to a Congress convened to make preparations for the war, and to devise ways and means to sustain it. He sat in Congress during two sessions. Burnam suffered heavy losses during the struggle for Texas liberty, and emerged from that sanguinary conflict a poor man; but without a murmur of complaint with the same heroism that had ch aracterized his past life, he went bravely forth to battle with the stern necessities of life.

Captain Burnam is now ninety years of age. His hoary locks and emaciated frame bears evidence of the weight of years. His feebleness grows more apparent day by day, and in a little while the gallant s oldier, the noble patriot, the loving and indulging father, must answer the bugle call of the Great Commander, and silently take his place in line among the noble chieftains whose brave deeds are the best and only inheritance of a God-fearing and loving people.

Of Captain B's children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and other relatives present at his anniversary we noticed, R. T. Burnam and family, W. T. Burnam, G. L. Burnam, Mrs. Delia Russell, Miss Emm a Burnam, Lee Burnam, Mrs. Nannie Smithhart, Mrs. Mary Evans, William Denniston, Mrs. Ann Cox, Mrs. Lu Cass, Mrs. Mary Franklin, James Denniston, George Denniston and wife, and Mrs. Hob Hensley. Among the distinguished visitors we take pleasure in citing that old Texan and battle-scarred veteran-Thomas Simpson.

From the FindAGrave memorial:

Pioneer, Politician: Born into poverty in Kentucky, his father passed away soon after his birth, and Mrs. Burnam moved her family of seven boys to Tennessee. Jesse served in the Tennessee Militia, and later Captain Burnam was among Austin's Old Three Hundred who originally settled in Texas Territory in 1821. Jesse led his own, and nine other families, to a settlement at Pecan Point on the Red River. They remained there for a number of months before traveling farther into the Texas wilderness, where Jesse settled on the Colorado River in Fayette County. He established a trading post and ferry, known as Burnam's Crossing. It was the most northerly settlement on the Colorado, where he was under consistent attack by the Karankawa Indians. He participated in numerous raids on the Indians, as well as an expedition against the Comanches. He represented what later became Colorado County at the Convention of 1832 and the Consultation of 1835, as well as being a member of the General Council of the provisional government of the Republic. In 1833 his first wife died, leaving him with nine children. He soon remarried, however, and had seven more children. In 1855 the Burnam family moved to Burnet County where they established a large wheat farm, as well as one of the first sheep-raising operations in the area, where his thirteen slaves worked. In 1864 he retired from public life, and passed away nearly two decades later at the age of ninety-one. He is laid to rest in a small cemetery located in a pasture on the Burnham Ranch off Spicewood Road, about eight miles southeast of Marble Falls.

Tombstone inscription:
Participated in the battle of New Orleans under Gen. Jackson Jan. 8, 1815.
One of the first thirteen of Austin's colony to Texas 1821.
He whose merit deserves a temple has scarcely found a grave in the annals of Texas history.

  Additional Information:

• FindAGrave: Memorial# 16278104.

Jesse married Temperance Baker on 6 Sep 1812. (Temperance Baker was born on 22 Feb 1798 in Tennessee and died on 4 May 1833 in Texas.)

Jesse next married Nancy Cummings in 1837. (Nancy Cummings was born on 15 Jun 1811, died on 2 Feb 1863 and was buried in Burnam-Smithart Cemetery, Marble Falls, Burnet County, Texas ².)