Emily Margaret Brown Austin Bryan Perry

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of Emily Margaret Brown Austin Bryan Perry. That's a name that carries a whole history inside it, and every part of it was earned. She came into the world in 1795, born near Austinville, Virginia.

Her brother Stephen Fuller Austin was born near that same place, two years before her, in 1793. Their father was Moses Austin, born in 1761, and their mother was Maria Brown Austin, born in 1768. In 1798, Moses packed up the family and moved them to Missouri.

There, the Austins operated lead mines and founded the town of Potosi, south of St. Louis. That is the kind of family Emily came from.

Builders. Emily was sent off to schools in Kentucky and New York, and she returned to Missouri in 1812. A year later, in 1813, she married James Bryan, born in 1788.

Together they had five children at Hazel Run, Missouri. Then James died. And here is where you see what Emily was made of.

With five children and no husband, she took in boarders. She taught school. She kept the family going.

In 1824, in Missouri, she married again. Her second husband was James Franklin Perry, born in 1795. That union produced six more children.

By the end of 1831, the whole Perry household had made its way to Texas. Now when I say household, I mean it: Emily, James, four Bryan children, two Perry children, James' niece, and nine slaves, all of them going to join Emily's brother Stephen in Texas. Stephen Fuller Austin, the very same man history remembers.

They settled at San Felipe and built a house at Stephen's Peach Point Plantation. Stephen was a bachelor. He needed a home and he needed counsel, and Emily gave him both.

You don't always read about the person standing behind the famous name, making sure there's a meal and a steady word waiting at the end of the day. Emily was that person. The Bryan and Perry children went on to contribute greatly to the development of Texas.

Emily's sons served as soldiers and statesmen and preserved the Austin bloodline into the generations that followed. Emily Margaret Brown Austin Bryan Perry died at Peach Point, shortly after a trip to Philadelphia. She was buried at Gulf Prairie Cemetery here in Brazoria County.

Born near Austinville, Virginia, in 1795. Came to rest in Texas soil in 1851. She built a life, then another one, then crossed a continent and built a third.

That's the story the marker tells, and it's more than enough.

What the marker says

(1795-1851) Born near Austinville, Virginia, as was her brother Stephen Fuller Austin (1793-1836), Emily moved with her father Moses Austin (1761-1821) and mother Maria Brown Austin (1768-1824) to Missouri in 1798. The family operated lead mines there and founded the town of Potosi, south of St. Louis. Emily was sent to schools in Kentucky and New York and returned to Missouri in 1812. She married James Bryan (1788-1822) in 1813 and gave birth to five children at Hazel run, Missouri. After James died, Emily subsisted by taking boarders and teaching school. She married James Franklin Perry (1795-1853) in 1824 in Missouri; their union produced six children. By the end of 1831, the Perry family-- including Emily, James, four Bryan children, two Perry children, James' niece, and nine slaves-- had joined Emily's brother Stephen in Texas. They settled at San Felipe and built a house at Stephen's Peach Point Plantation, providing a home and counsel for her bachelor brother. The Bryan and Perry offspring contributed greatly to the development of Texas. Emily's sons served as soldiers and statesmen, and preserved the Austin bloodline. Emily died at Peach Point shortly after a trip to Philadelphia, and was buried here at Gulf Prairie Cemetery. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986