Elisha Clapp

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Elisha Clapp, out of Houston County, Texas. Now, some men come to Texas looking for something. Others seem like Texas just called their name and they answered.

Elisha Clapp answered early — 1822 early, when Texas was still a very different kind of place. He was born in Tennessee, the son of a veteran of the American Revolution. Think about that for a moment.

His father had helped birth one nation, and Elisha would ride into the birthing of another. When the Texas Revolution came, Clapp was there at San Jacinto — in the cavalry, no less. A man on horseback, in the fight that changed everything.

And if you thought he'd hang up his spurs after that, well, you didn't know Elisha Clapp. Right in that same year of 1836, he was in charge of a company of mounted rangers near his home on Mustang Prairie. Mustang Prairie.

Even the name sounds like somewhere a ranger ought to be. Then comes 1837, and Clapp is movin' on two fronts at once. He was among the petitioners pushing for the organization of Houston County — helping draw the map of Texas government, county by county.

And President Sam Houston himself nominated Clapp for a captain's commission, appointing him to command the ranger company up at Nacogdoches County. When the president of the Republic calls your name, that tells you something about the kind of man Elisha Clapp had become. But Clapp came back to Houston County.

He wasn't done there. By 1841, he was helping organize Trinity College over in the Alabama community — and he became one of its very first trustees. A cavalryman, a ranger captain, and now a man helping build a college.

Texas needed all kinds of builders, and Clapp apparently had range. By 1849, he and his family had moved on to Leon County. And in 1851, Elisha Clapp died.

Son of a Revolutionary War veteran. Soldier at San Jacinto. Ranger.

Petitioner. Trustee. He packed a full life into the years Texas had to offer him — and this corner of East Texas still carries the mark of it.

What the marker says

The son of a veteran of the American Revolution, Elisha Clapp was born in Tennessee and came to Texas in 1822. He served in the army at San Jacinto in a cavalry company during the Texas revolution. He was in charge of a company of mounted rangers near his home on Mustang Prairie in 1836, and in 1837 was among the petitioners for the organization of Houston County. President Sam Houston nominated Clapp for a commission as captain and appointment to the command of the ranger company at Nacogdoches County in 1837. Clapp later returned to Houston County, where he helped to organize and became one of the first trustees of Trinity College in the Alabama community in 1841. Clapp and his family moved to Leon County by 1849. He died in 1851. (2000)