Asa Brigham

Duane's take

Now, this one comes straight from the official record, so let me tell it to you the way it was laid down. There are men whose names fill up a whole page of history, and then there are men whose names fill up every line of that page. Asa Brigham was the second kind.

He was born in Massachusetts in 1790, which means he came into this world long before Texas was even a dream most people were dreaming. But somewhere along the way, Texas found him, or maybe he found Texas. The marker doesn't say which, and that's fine.

What it does say is plenty. By 1835, Brigham was serving as Alcalde of Brazoria municipality. Now, that's not a small thing.

That is the man the community looked to when order needed keeping and decisions needed making. And he was doing that in 1835, which, if you know your Texas history, means he was right there on the ground when everything was about to come to a boil. Then came 1836.

That year alone would be enough to mark most men for all time. Asa Brigham put his name on the Texas Declaration of Independence. His signature, right there on the document that said Texas was its own country and meant it.

But 1836 wasn't finished with him yet. That same year, he was named auditor of the Republic. And treasurer of the Republic.

In one year, the man signed the Declaration and then went to work keeping the books for the nation that Declaration created. He held that treasurer's post from 1836 to 1840, stepped away, and then came back to it from 1841 to 1844. When a young republic needs someone it can trust with its money, and it keeps calling the same man back, that tells you something.

Asa Brigham died in Washington, Texas, on July 2, 1844. The same ground where so much of the Republic's business had been done. He didn't outlive his era by much, but he had shaped it more than most men ever get the chance to.

Massachusetts gave him his start. Texas got everything else.

What the marker says

Alcalde of Brazoria municipality, 1835; signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, 1836; auditor of the Republic, 1836; treasurer of the Republic 1836-1840 and 1841-44. Born in Massachusetts 1790; died in Washington, Texas July 2, 1844.