WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1860
486
Among other first establishments he made, he established and published The F1·ontie1·s1nan, the first newspaper published in Coryell County. He married Mary S. Fisher, daughter of Dr. Orceneth Fisher. They had three sons and four daughters. For further biographical data, see B. B. Paddock (ed.), Memorial and Biogmphical Histo,·y of McLennan, Falls, Bell, and Coryell Counties, pp. 537-538. To TRAVIS WRIGHT, S. R. BARBER, AND OTHERS 1 Executive Department, Austin, February 20, 1860. Messrs. T. Wright, S. R. Barber, & Others Gentlemen: Your letter of Feby. 9th giving information of recent Indian depredations upon the frontier is just to hand. Replying thereto I have to say that a company of twenty men will be in your country as soon as they can be marched thither. Two other companies of twenty men each will be in the field immediately, when I sincerely hope that your troubles will end. More men are now called out than the Legislature provided for. Hence, the Executive does not feel authorized to call out other troops. Your people are at liberty to call out parties of men for your protection and to apply to the next Legislature for relief. And I would advise, should such parties of men be raised, that they should not be composed of more than twenty men. The troops now in the field will exhaust every dollar of the means provided for their pay and· subsistence in two months. The Executive has used and will continue to use every means of protection and defence placed within his power. Sam Houston. 1 Governors' Letters, Texas State Library. Travis G. Wright (October 9, 1806--August 31, 1875), was born in Smith County, Tennessee. His father, Clayton Wright, was born and reared in North Carolina, but moved to Tennessee at an early age, then on to Texas in 1816, settling at Shaw- neetown. There his sons Travis G. and George had meager educational advantages, but they became great hunters. When the Shawnee district was ceded to the Choctaw Indians, the family moved to Kiomatia, and it was at this place that the Wright brothers continued to live for the rest of their lives. Travis G. became a farmer-merchant, starting his business with noth- ing, and building up a fortune of more than $100,000 before his death. In . 1836 he was elected a delegate from Miller County to the first constitu- tional convention of Arkansas, while his brother, who lived in the same house, was elected to the first constitutional convention of Texas, so uncer- tain was their district into which state it would fall. On May 9, 1856, Travis Wright became president of the Memphis, El Paso and Pacific
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