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TEXAS VETERANS ASSOCIATION. The Texas Veterans Association, an organization of those who had served prior to, during, and immediately after the Texas Revolution,^qv held its first convention in Houston on May 13-15, 1873, with about seventy-five veterans present. Edwin Waller^qv presided; Moses Austin Bryan^qv acted as secretary; the committee on constitution and bylaws included Jerome B. Robertson, William P. Hardeman, Ashbel Smith, Walter P. Lane, William T. Austin, and Francis R. Lubbock.^qv Under the constitution, members of the association were divided into three classes. The first class included surviving members of the Old Three Hundred^qv and soldiers, seamen, and citizens who could produce proof of service in Texas between 1820 and October 15, 1836. The second class included soldiers and seamen who could produce proof of service at any time between October 15, 1836, and November 1, 1837. The third class included soldiers and seamen who had proof of service between November 1, 1837, and annexation in 1845. The original officers, Francis W. Johnson,^qv president, William J. Russell,^qv first vice president, Walter P. Lane, second vice president, and Moses Austin Bryan, secretary, were elected on May 14, 1873, and were reelected annually until 1884, when because of the death of Johnson, Lane became president. Lane was succeeded as president by Guy M. Bryan^qv in 1892; James Monroe Hill^qv became president in 1902, and Stephen F. Sparks was elected in 1904. Stephen H. Darden^qv succeeded Moses Austin Bryan as secretary in 1886 and served until 1902, when F. R. Lubbock became secretary-treasurer. After 1876 the annual meetings, held in some seventeen different Texas cities, always took place in the week including April 21, San Jacinto Day. At the Goliad meeting in 1906 only six of the last ten known survivors of the Army of the Republic of Texas^qv were present: William P. Zuber, Alfonso Steele, John W. Darlington, Asa C. Hill,^qv S. F. Sparks, and L. T. Lawlor. The association dissolved in Austin on April 19, 1907, during its thirty-fifth annual convention. With its dissolution its work was taken over by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.^qv

L. W. Kemp

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.

Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/vot1.html (accessed October 10, 2008).

(NOTE: "s.v." stands for sub verbo, "under the word.")

The Handbook of Texas Online is a project of the Texas State Historical Association (http://www.tshaonline.org).

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Last Updated: January 18, 2008
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