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The Glen Rose Reporter---Supplement.
FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 1913
Monument to Mrs. Elizabeth Crockett Is Unveiled al
Acton, Hood County.
Early Friday, morning, May 30th, the writer, with his wife and children, drove over to Acton, in Hood County, to be present at the unveiling of the monument erected by the Stale of Texas to Mrs. Elizabeth Crockett, widow of Col David Crockett. On reaching there, we found the monument veiled decorated with, ribbons and bearing a beautiful wreath of flowers on the head of the marble figure surmounting the granite shaft, In readiness for the ceremonies which had been planned by the Granbury Chapter, U. D. C.
There were present five grandchildren of David and Elizabeth Crockett, viz: Mrs. Martha Parks, Granbury; D. T. Crockett, Bay City; Ashley W. Crockett, Glen Rose; Mrs. Dollie Goodell, of Springfield, Mo.; Mrs. Tom H. Hiner, Granbury. There were also present 32 great-grandchildren and 23 great-great-grand-children. A large crowd of people from Hood and adjoining counties, estimated at between 4,000 and 5,000, had assembled by 9 o’clock In the morning, when Hon. Jess Baker, master of ceremonies, called the people to order under the large pavilion. The invocation was given by Eld. J. N. Chandler, a pioneer preacher and an early settler of this section. Then the great crowd Joined In singing “America,” which was led by Joe Wohlford.
Judge W. L. Dean then took the stand and delivered the address of welcome In place of Hon. Jno. J. Hiner, who was not well enough to 1111 his place on the program. Mr. Dean paid a line tribute to the pioneer mothers of Texas, who kept the fireside cozy and bright while husbands and sons were clearing the wilderness, or at the front defending the country against Mexican invasion or protecting it from Indian depredations.
After the Alamo had fallen on March 6, 1836, and David Crockett had fallen a martyr to Texas liberty, his son Robert Patton Crockett, who had been at home with his mother Mrs. Elizabeth Crockett in Tennessee, hastened to Texas and enlisted for service in behalf of the struggling Texans, but peace was soon declared as a sequel to the battle of San Jacinto. Returning to Tennessee, he remained with his mother and two sisters until his marriage some years thereafter.
In 1854, he moved with his family to Texas, accompanied by his mother, and one sister, Mrs. Halford. They located on a league of land on the upper part of Rucker’s Creek which had been granted by the Republic of Texas to Elizabeth Crockett, as the widow of David. Elizabeth Crockett never remarried, but made her home with her son Robert, ill she passed away In 1860 at a ripe age. Robert Crockett’s wife died in 1866, and Robert Crockett In 1889 at the age of 73. These three persons are burled side by side In the Acton cemetery. This devoted woman still lives in the memory of many of her countrymen and descendants. The granite shaft which towers in yonder cemetery but too truly pictures the history and yearning and sacrifice of the devoted wife at the old home in Tennessee, peering Into the dim distance with anxious face, watching for the husband that never returned. The only answer she ever received were the mournful dirges borne on the winds from far-away Texas that “Thermopylae had her messenger of defeat but the Alamo none’, and David Crockett’s name was enrolled with Leonidas in the hosts of the mighty dead. The body of her noble husband had been used on the funeral pyre to appease the brutality and savagely of Mexican barbarism under Santa Anna, the despot and dictator; but noble Franciscan women afterward gathered the sacred dust and gave It tender burial near the old Alamo.
Next on the program was Eld. Randolph Clark of Stephenville, who spoke for an hour and a half on “Texas and Texans.” Himself a native Texas, he is well posted In Texas history. He began by recounting the early struggles of the Texas colonists under Stephen F. Austin when Texas and Coahuila constituted a Mexican state. Because of the wide expanse of territory, Austin and his colonists had asked that Texas be separated from Coahuila and made a separate slate. Austin had made his way from the Colorado river to the Mexican capital, where he used all his diplomacy to induce the Mexican government to grant relief to the Texas colonists. His efforts were In vain, and be wrote back to his people that they had little to hope for from the present government of Mexico and must prepare to rely upon their own efforts. This letter was intercepted by Mexican officials and Austin was arrested and thrown Into prison, where he remained for two years. When released he was not discouraged but returned to his people and the work of organizing for self protection was begun. …
Dinner was then announced and a veritable feast was spread for the great gathering. No one was overlooked In the vast throng, for the people of Acton country know how to entertain and they never fall. Al 2 o’clock the people assembled at the cemetery. After the singing of a quartette by young men and a song by Greta and Lavelle Randle, Hon. Pierce B. Ward of Cleburne was introduced and gave a fine address, presenting the monument on behalf of the State of Texas. Few monuments had been erected to American women. This was the third or fourth. Elizabeth Crockett was a noble type of American motherhood, and he begged that this monument be accepted as the combined appreciation of a grateful State.
Miss Nellie Hiner of Granbury, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T. H. Hiner and a great grand-daughter of David and Elizabeth Crockett, then read the poem written by David Crockett when he left Tennessee for Texas, which Is replete with tender pathos and breathes a spirit of devotion to old Tennessee. At the conclusion of this reading, little Elizabeth Crockett, daughter of Ashley W. Crockett of Glen Rose, drew the cord, and the beautiful monument was unveiled to the great assembly. The descendants were then assembled around the monument and photographed by Mrs. Dickinson of Granbury.
ASHLEY W. CROCKETT