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Jane Long sees her filibustering husband for the last time
On this day in 1821, James Long left his wife, Jane, at Fort Las Casas
on the Bolivar Peninsula, for a journey to La Bahía. But James, who was
plotting and working for the overthrow of the Mexican government, was
captured at San Antonio and taken to Mexico City, whence he never
returned. Three months after he left, Jane gave birth to a daughter.
After losing her husband, Jane unsuccessfully sought a pension from
Governor José Félix Trespalacios, a former compadre of James Long.
Forced to earn a living, she ran a boarding house in Brazoria for
several years before moving to her land grant in the Austin colony. In
Richmond, Texas, she opened another boarding house and built a
plantation. By the time of the Civil War she was rich. But the war
reduced her to near-penury. She lived dependent upon her children and
grandchildren, and died in 1880 in Richmond. Her old reputation as the
"Mother of Texas" was based on her own inaccurate claim to be the first
English-speaking woman to bear a child in Texas; several had preceded
her. In her imaginative, old-age account of her early suitors, she
claimed to have been courted by Texas greats including Milam, Houston,
and Lamar.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- LONG, JANE HERBERT WILKINSON
- LONG, JAMES
- LONG EXPEDITION
- TRESPALACIOS, JOSE FELIX
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Forerunner of Bergstrom Air Force Base is activated near Austin (1942)
- Texans fight at Chickamauga (1863)
- La Grange Intelligencer publishes last issue (1846)
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