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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, Widely regarded as one of the first Texas heroines, |
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Jane Herbert Wilkinson Long is remembered for the remarkable |
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courage and perseverance she displayed during the tumultuous years |
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that carried Texas from Spanish and Mexican rule to independence; |
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and |
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WHEREAS, Jane Wilkinson was born in Maryland on July 23, |
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1798, the 10th child of Captain William Mackall and Anne Herbert |
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Wilkinson; her uncle, General James Wilkinson, is noted in Texas |
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history for having negotiated the creation of the Neutral Ground in |
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1806, while serving as governor of the Louisiana Territory, and for |
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his longtime interest in Texas as a place of opportunity and |
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adventure; and |
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WHEREAS, After the death of her parents, Jane Wilkinson lived |
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with her older sister in Mississippi Territory; she married James |
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Long in 1815 and gave birth to their first child, Ann Herbert, the |
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following year; she was expecting another child when her husband |
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left to lead a filibustering expedition to Texas in 1819; and |
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WHEREAS, Soon after the birth of her second daughter, Mrs. |
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Long left her children in the care of her sister in Louisiana and |
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set out to join her husband in Nacogdoches, where he and his forces |
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had declared independence from Spain and had established a civil |
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government; she reached the outpost in August 1819, but within a |
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couple of months, American families in the area were forced to flee |
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the arrival of Spanish troops; by 1821, however, Jane Long was |
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living at her husband's new headquarters at Fort Las Casas, on the |
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Bolivar Peninsula; and |
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WHEREAS, James Long embarked on another filibustering |
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expedition later that year, while Mrs. Long and their surviving |
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daughter, Ann, as well as a young slave girl, Kian, stayed behind; |
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during Mr. Long's absence, Mrs. Long and the girls fended off |
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Karankawa Indians by convincing them that soldiers were still at |
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the fort, a feat they accomplished by donning cast-off uniforms, |
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firing the cannon, and raising a makeshift flag; Mrs. Long was |
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pregnant at the time and was the only adult present when she gave |
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birth to another daughter, Mary James, on December 21, 1821; and |
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WHEREAS, Finally abandoning the fort in March 1822, Mrs. Long |
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joined settlers on the mainland, where she learned that summer that |
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her husband had been killed in Mexico City; in 1824, as one of |
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Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, she received title to land in |
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present-day Fort Bend and Waller Counties; she made her home in San |
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Felipe until 1830, then lived briefly in Mississippi before moving |
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in 1832 to Brazoria; there she bought a boardinghouse, which was |
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used for rallies and secret meetings and for hiding arms and |
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munitions during the colonists' struggle against Mexico; and |
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WHEREAS, Mrs. Long, who died in 1880, became a symbol of the |
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strength and determination of the young Texas republic; often |
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referred to as the "Mother of Texas," she was made an honorary |
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member of the Texas Veterans Association, and a U.S. Liberty ship |
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was named for her during World War II; and |
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WHEREAS, Over the years, Jane Long has captured the |
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imagination of countless Texans, and this spirited woman will long |
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be remembered in the annals of the Lone Star State; now, therefore, |
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be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas |
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hereby pay tribute to the life of Jane Herbert Wilkinson Long. |