DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of the official marker for Andrew Kent, just as it stands recorded in Lavaca County. Now settle in, because this one carries the full weight of Texas history on its shoulders. Andrew Kent was born around 1791 in Kentucky, son of a man named Isaac Kent.
His mother's name has been lost to time — the marker doesn't say it, and so neither will I. What we do know is that on April 30, 1816, Andrew wed Elizabeth Zumwalt, a Missouri native born in April of 1798. He was a carpenter by trade.
He and Elizabeth built a life, and they built a family — ten children between them. While they were still in Missouri, they crossed paths with a man named Green DeWitt. Now that name meant something.
In 1825, DeWitt received a grant to settle new families in Texas — and that was all Andrew Kent and his people needed to hear. Five related families, Kents, Zumwalts, and Burkets, loaded up and traveled together, reaching Texas in June of 1830. Andrew received a league of land on the eastern border of DeWitt's Colony, on the west bank of the Lavaca River, about ten miles south of what we now call Hallettsville.
Right here in Lavaca County. From that land he farmed, he ranched, he did carpenter work. He traveled to Gonzales and down to Lavaca Bay to trade and pick up supplies.
A man building something. A man with roots going down. But Texas in the 1830s was not a quiet place for long.
On July 17, 1835, settlers of the Lavaca and Navidad River valleys gathered to talk about their growing dissent against Mexico's autocratic leader, General Antonio López de Santa Anna. And by October of that same year, Andrew Kent and his son David were standing together at the Battle of Gonzales. Father and son.
Side by side. Then came February. A plea for help arrived from the defenders of the Alamo in San Antonio.
And here is where the story turns — quiet, and hard, and permanent. Andrew and David argued over which one of them would go. You can imagine that argument.
A father and his son, both wanting to answer the call, neither one willing to let the other walk into what was coming. Andrew settled it. He sent David home.
Then he proceeded to San Antonio with the group history would call The Immortal 32. And Andrew Kent was among those killed at the Alamo. Elizabeth Kent — widow now, mother of ten — struggled, as did so many others, to survive the loss and the destruction of their property that the Texas Revolution brought with it.
David and his brother Bosman would go on to serve in the Mexican and Civil wars. The lives of all those children, their friends, their neighbors — all of it a testament to what their father stood for. Kent County was later named in Andrew Kent's honor.
A carpenter from Kentucky, ten children, a league of land on the Lavaca River, and a choice made in February that couldn't be unmade. The marker says it plainly: his life and the lives of those around him demonstrate the courage and tenacious spirit brought to Texas by its pioneer settlers. Some stories don't need embellishing.
This is one of them.
What the marker says
Andrew Kent was born c. 1791 in Kentucky, to Isaac Kent; his mother's name is unknown. On April 30, 1816, he wed Elizabeth Zumwalt, a Missouri native born in April 1798. Andrew worked as a carpenter, and he and Elizabeth had 10 children. While living in Missouri, they met Green DeWitt. In 1825, DeWitt received a grant to settle new families in Texas, and five related families of Kents, Zumwalts, and Burkets traveled together, reaching Texas in June 1830. Andrew Kent received a league of land on the eastern border of DeWitt's Colony, on the west bank of the Lavaca River about 10 miles south of present Hallettsville. On this site, Andrew farmed, ranched, and did carpenter work, and from here he traveled to Gonzales and to Lavaca Bay to trade and purchase supplies. On July 17, 1835, settlers of the Lavaca and Navidad River valleys met to discuss their dissent against Mexico's autocratic leader, Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna. In October of that year, Andrew Kent and his son David participated in the Battle of Gonzales. The following February, Andrew and David argued over who would go with others from the area in response to a plea for help from the defenders of the Alamo. Andrew sent his son home and proceeded to San Antonio with "The Immortal 32" and was among those killed at the Alamo. Kent County was later named in his honor. Kent's widow and children struggled, as did many others, to overcome the hardship of loss and the destruction of their property during the Texas Revolution. David and brother Bosman later served in the Mexican and Civil wars. Their father's life as a Texas patriot, and the stories of their own lives and those of their siblings, friends and neighbors demonstrate the courage and tenacious spirit brought to Texas by its pioneer settlers. (2006)