Texas, John Lamar, who had come to Texas from Georgia, his native state, in 1835, rendered conspicuous service in the Battle of San Jacinto; was President Burnet's Secretary of War. Immediately after her marriage, Mrs. Lamar and her husband moved to their plantation near the town of Richmond on the Brazos River. In 1857 General Lamar accepted a mission to one of the American Republics, and while on his visit to Washington to receive his credentials, Mrs. Lamar was greatly admired and became one of the belles of the Capital City. While on this visit she was taken seriously ill and returned to their southern home. After two years' service abroad and on General Lamar's return to Texas he was stricken with apoplexy. During the war she did conspicuous service for her people and will long be remembered by the victims of the lost cause. Her death, October 8, 1871, caused unfeigned sorrow.
MRS. JOHN RAGAN.
Was Miss Molly Ford Taylor before her marriage and was a conspicuous figure among the prominent women of Texas in 1875. She was with her husband when he took his seat for the third time in the House of Representatives. Her home in Texas was Fort Houston near Palestine and was noted for the graceful hospitalities dispensed by its mistress.
MRS. THOMAS J. RUSK.
General Thomas J. Rusk having lost his fortune removed from his native state of South Carolina to Clarksville, Georgia, to practice law. Here he married a daughter of General Cleveland, a prominent man of this section. Forming some business connection, his assistants absconded to Texas with the funds of the corporation and he pursued the fugitives in an attempt to recover the stolen property. This was in 1835, and he followed them as far as Nacogdoches, Texas. Here the whole country was in a state of the wildest excitement. Everything was aflame with the spirit of Revolution. He soon became interested and forgetting everything else took up the cause of the patriots as his own. He joined one of the companies and soon became its commander and from that the leader of the little Republic's undisciplined battalions. He was sent by the people to the memorable convention of 1836 that declared the independence of Texas, and took service under the new government as its first Secretary of War, and as such, stopped Houston's army before Santa Anna and brought on the celebrated Battle of San Jacinto and distinguished himself in this battle so that he has since been considered one of the heroes in the history of Texas. In Houston's administration he was again called into the cabinet, resigning to take a seat in the Texas Congress. He was a conspicuous figure in the Indian warfare against the Caddos and Cherokees and other hostile tribes who gave the settlers at that time so much trouble. When more peaceful conditions prevailed he was appointed chief justice of the Republic, and later resigned and resumed his practice of law. He was in favor of the annexation to the United States and in 1845 was President to the convention which formed the constitution of the then future state of Texas. He was elected to the first legislature and held this position until his death in 1857. General Rusk's career gave Mrs.
