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|--Ella Rose
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_Thomas CHAMBERS _|
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|--Thomas Jefferson CHAMBERS
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|_Mary GORE _______|
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Chambers took active part in the events leading up to the Texas Revolution.
He proposed to the provisional government that he use his lands as security to
raise men and arms for the Texas cause. On 7 Jan 1836, the General Council
commissioned him a Major General of the reserves and sent him to the United
States to procure volunteers and munitions. He was issued bounty certificate
number 41 for 1,280 acres for army service from 9 Jan 1836 to 7 Jan 1837.
He was a charter member of the Philosophical Society of Texas, founded at
Houston, December 5, 1837. In 1839, he established himself at Round Point in
Liberty County. In 1849, he was defeated by William Field as candidate for the
legislature from Liberty and Polk counties.
About 1850 he was married to Abbie Chubb of Galveston. In 1851, 53, 61, 63
he was candidate for Governor of Texas. In 1854 he secured the charter for the
Chambers Terraqueous Transportation Company, but his amphibious vehicle was
never perfected. An ardent Democrat, he was a member of the Secession
convention of 1861 and went to Virginia to offer services to the Confederate
army.
Chambers was assasinated on 15 March 1865, and is buried in the Episcopal
Cemetery at Galveston. Chambers County was named in his honor in 1858. In
1925 the Texas Legislature appropriated $20,000.00 to pay his descendants for
the Chambers claim to the site of the State Capitol and other land in Austin.
(Bibliography by William Chambers "Sketch of the Life of General T.J. Chambers
of Texas(1853)" Lyerena Friend, The Life of T.J. Chambers, M.A. thesis,
University of Texas 1928.)
William Morton Chambers apparently entered the Texas political scene in
1853 when he published "Sketch of Thomas Jefferson Chambers by his nephew" as a
campaign document for T.J. Chambers candidacy for Governor of Texas. In 1858
and 1866, William was County Judge of Chambers County. He was impeached on
thirteen charges of Malfeasance in office. He was acquitted after a six day
trial before the senate of the fourteenth legislature in 1874 and, in 1875 was
again appointed Judge. In January 1876 he was nominated for Republican
candidate for Governor of Texas, but was defeated by Richard Coke in February
1876. (Bibliography by J.H. Harry, "History of Chambers County", M.A. Thesis,
University of Texas, 1940.)
The Chambers Terraqueous Transportation Company, chartered in 1854, was to
have the privilege of constructing 4000 miles of road and right of way, 300
feet wide, over land, rivers, lakes and bays over which would run a vehicle
that could travel on land or water. T. J. Chambers, the inventor, secured an
amendment to the charter on 6 Feburuary 1856, but the machine was never put
into operation.
Thomas J. Chambers presented the two cannon to Texas in 1837. The two
Chambers cannon now adorn the main entrance to the Capitol in Austin.
This TJ Chambers, who was initially but incorrectly taken to be Monnie's
father, but is instead her grand-uncle, was a flamboyant and colorful
figure in early Texas history. He was a very early visitor to the
newly-independent Mexico in the 1820s and lived there for about a year to
learn the language and customs. He then became the equivalent of the
attorney general for the Mexican government in the province of Texas. He
was a contemporary and initially ally, then opponent of Stephen F.
Austin, who was ambivalent about independence but eventually supported
it. He acquired considerable lands in Texas as compensation for his
service to the Mexican government, but following independence, these
claims were challenged by various parties, ranging from squatters to the
Governors of the eventual state, and TJ struggled mightily to retain his
title, both in the courts and by forcce of arms. One of his biography
claims he shot and killed at least 2 men, one of whom was an O'Brien, in
land disputes.
During the War of Texas Independence, TJ decided his military skills were
best suited to recruitment, and he headed north into the U.S. to collect
men and arms for the cause. Cannon he collected in this effort, but
which didn't see service in the war, are supposedly on the State Capitol
steps.
TJ was an ardent secessionist and volunteered his services to Jeff Davis
as a general. Davis declined his offer, but TJ eventually served with
Gen. A. B. Hood in the Peninsula Campaign as an aide-de-camp, despite his
age of about 60. He was wounded in this conflict and returned to Texas,
where he recuperated and ran, for the second and third unsuccessful time,
for the gubernorship. He seemed to be settling down with his new family
in 1865, enjoying a new-born child, when he was murdered in the parlor of
his house, Chambersea.
Chambers County was carved out of contiguous counties and named for this
character. His life is well documented in several articles and books.
His estate was dissipated by a devious agent and his two daughters barely
received any inheritance. His long-standing claim that he owned the land
on which the Texas State Capitol now sits was finally resolved in his
daughters' favor in the 1920, when they were in their 60s.
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|--Elijah LUCAS
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|--Herbert T MCKENZIE
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_______________________
_Glenn Iver MERRINETTE _|
| |_______________________
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|--Carole Lee MERRINETTE
|
| _Nevill NETHERTON _____
|_Mary Lee NETHERTON ____|
|_Mary Walter MERCHANT _
_______________________
_James QUIRE __|
| |_______________________
|
|--Campbell Cantrill QUIRE
|
| _Jeremiah_(Pet) TRACY _
|_Myrtle TRACY _|
|_Mona MCGINNIS ________
_Martin SHERIDAN _
_James SHERIDAN _|
| |_Margaret WHITE __
|
|--Ike SHERIDAN
|
| __________________
|_________________|
|__________________
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|--Vernon SMITH
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| __
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_Lewis Thomas TRACY ___
_Eugene_(Tad) TRACY _|
| |_Malinda Jane STUCKER _
|
|--Charles A TRACY
|
| _______________________
|_Nora MILTON ________|
|_______________________
_Milton TRACY _
_Lewis Thomas TRACY ___|
| |_Mahala SCOTT _
|
|--Lucy Effie TRACY
|
| _______________
|_Malinda Jane STUCKER _|
|_______________
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|--Mary E. TRACY
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