DUANE
Duane's take
The marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Now, every piece of land has a story, but some land carries a name that stops you cold the moment you hear it. This stretch of Hood County goes by Crockett's Bounty — and to understand why, you have to go back to early 1836, when David Crockett, famed frontiersman and congressman, came to Texas from Tennessee.
Crockett signed a pledge of allegiance to the provisional Texian government, then headed straight for San Antonio de Béxar, which was already besieged by the Mexican Army during the Texas Revolution. He reached the Alamo in early February — just weeks before Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna arrived with his troops. And on March 6, 1836, Crockett died with the other Alamo defenders.
The battle that followed inspired Texas forces, and the Revolution rolled on without him. But here's the thing about sacrifice — sometimes it echoes forward in ways you don't expect. For his service and his life, Crockett's heirs were owed something.
The Republic, and then the state, granted his family almost 1,300 acres of land. Now, it took a while for that debt to be collected. Seventeen years after her husband's death, Elizabeth Crockett — born Elizabeth Patton — packed up and came west.
It was 1853. She brought her sons, George Patton and Robert Crockett, and they arrived to claim what was theirs. They contracted with a man named William L.
Mitchell to locate and survey the acreage. The arrangement was straightforward and a little steep — they exchanged half the land for his service. Half of almost 1,300 acres, gone before the first nail was driven.
But what remained was theirs, and they intended to use it. Here, on this land in Hood County, the Crocketts built at least two log cabins. They started clearing.
They started farming. Other family members joined them over time, and for a few years, the name Crockett was alive again on Texas soil. Elizabeth died in 1860.
But the family didn't leave. They stayed on the property, and when the time came, they began subdividing and selling off tracts. The final piece sold in 1889 — and still, the Crocketts didn't entirely vanish from the story.
Grandson Ashley Crockett stayed active in the community, operating area newspapers, keeping the name in print if not on the deed. The land passed through other hands, each leaving their own mark. John Berry, a cattleman, worked it.
James Travis Shirley's family put down roots of a different kind — they established the Rocky Point School, a chapel, and a baptismal pool right here on the property. During the Great Depression, a man named John Ward Harrison set up a dairy on the land and provided jobs for many workers when work was hard to find. Then in the 1940s, Herbert Calhoun came along and started a cattle and quarter horse operation, carrying the legacy of the land forward into yet another generation.
Almost 1,300 acres. Two log cabins. A school, a chapel, a baptismal pool, a dairy, and a horse operation.
All of it rooted in the sacrifice of one man who came to Texas in early 1836 and never went home. Davy Crockett didn't live to see a single acre of this. But the land remembers him anyway.
What the marker says
David (Davy) Crockett (1786-1836), famed frontiersman and congress-man, came to Texas from Tennessee in early 1836. He signed a pledge of allegiance to the provisional Texian government and proceeded to San Antonio de B��xar, besieged by the Mexican Army during the Texas Revolution. Crockett reached the Alamo in early February, just weeks before Mexican General Antonio L��pez de Santa Anna arrived with troops. Crockett died with the other Alamo defenders on March 6, 1836, and the battle inspired Texas forces. For Crockett's service and sacrifice to the Texas Revolution, his heirs received almost 1,300 acres of land. In 1853, 17 years after her husband's death, Elizabeth (Patton) Crockett, and sons, George Patton and Robert Crockett, arrived to claim Crockett's bounty. They received land in this area and contracted with William L. Mitchell to locate and survey the acreage, exchanging half for his service. Here the Crocketts, later joined by other family members, built at least two log cabins and began clearing and farming the land. After Elizabeth's death in 1860, the Crocketts continued to live on the property, later subdividing and selling it. The final tract sold in 1889, but the family remained active in the community, with grandson Ashley Crockett operating area newspapers. Subsequent owners of Crockett's bounty included John Berry, a cattleman, and James Travis Shirley, whose family established the Rocky Point School, a chapel and a baptismal pool on the property. During the Great Depression, John Ward Harrison established a dairy on the land, providing jobs for many workers. In the 1940s, Herbert Calhoun began a cattle and quarter horse operation on Crockett's bounty, continuing the legacy of the land and its stewards.