377
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1844
Indians at Coleeta's or John Coley's village, near Smithfiel<l on the Trinity river; and they are hereby recommended to the hos- pitality and kind treatment of the good people of the Republic on the road. Sam Houston 'Pa.pers on Indian Afjafrs; also Executive Reco,·d Book, No. 40, p. 377, Texas State Library.
To DA vm AYRES 1
Washington, October 18th, 1844.
To David Ayres, Esq., Sir- Your note of the 14th instant, reached me today. I have given to the contents the most anxious consideration, with every disposition to serve you by a compliance with your desires. As to the office of Treasurer that has been filled by appointment, some time since made; and in relation to the Collectorship at Yelasco, no vacancy has yet come to my knowledge. At best, the appointments which I may make for the residue of my term of service would be but temporary. Sam Houston [Rubric] "'Houston's Private Executive Record Book," p. 563, courtesy of Mr. Franklin Williams. David Ayres (1793-1878) was born in Morristown, New Jersey, where he grew to _manhood and married. In his youth he learned the saddler's trade, but eventually engaged in the mercantile business, both at Mor- ristown and in New York. In 1832 he decided to go to Texas, at that time a province of Mexico. He set out with a large stock of goods, intending to peddle them or sell them in bulk. He arrived at the mouth of the Brazos in the early months of 1833, and was able to sell a part of his goods to local merchants; the remainder he traded for a tract of land near the present town of Longpoint, Washington County. He cleareJ part of the land, built a stone house, which he named Montville, and returned to Morristown for his family. He chartered a boat, loaded it with household goods and provisions and set sail for his new home. He arrived off the Texas coast during a storm, and on June 6, 1834, the vessel was wrecked on Padre Island, a little to the south of the entrance to Corpus Christi Bay. Mexicans rescued the passengers and most of the cargo, and carried all to the Irish settlement at San Patricio. David Ayres went on to Austin's colony and obtained wagons and teams to move his family to Longpoint, where he had prepared his home. This is about one hundred and sixty miles from San Patricio, a long distance to travel by ox wagon. He resided at Longpoint until the Texas revolution broke out in 1836. He met and became warm friends with
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