DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passing it along. Now, some men live lives so packed full of consequence that when you lay them all end to end, you have to stop and ask yourself — how long did this man actually have? James Collinsworth was born in Tennessee in 1806, and by the time Texas was done with him, or maybe by the time he was done with Texas, he had left a mark on nearly every institution this young republic was trying to build.
He showed up when it mattered. In 1835, he was a delegate to the Consultation held at San Felipe — that gathering where Texans were starting to work out, in real and urgent terms, what they were going to do about their situation. And then came 1836.
Collinsworth signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, signing on behalf of Brazoria municipality. That same year, he served as Secretary of State. That same year, he served as a Senator in the Congress of Texas.
And if that weren't enough for one calendar year, he also became the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. The first. There was no one before him to look to, no precedent to follow.
He was the precedent. And before all of that paperwork and jurisprudence, there was San Jacinto. The marker doesn't dress it up or walk you through the battle.
It just says he bore himself as a chief there. That's the kind of praise that doesn't need elaboration. A county in Texas was named in his honor.
That's the long-term accounting of a life like this — your name on the map, permanent as limestone. But here is where the story takes its hard turn. On July 11, 1838, James Collinsworth drowned in Galveston.
His remains were brought by boat up Buffalo Bayou to Houston. And then, in a moment that carries its own quiet weight, he was interred in a cemetery under the auspices of Temple Lodge No. 4. It was the first Masonic funeral ever held in Texas.
First Chief Justice. First Masonic funeral. There's something in that — a man who kept finding himself at the beginning of things, right up to the very end.
What the marker says
Born in Tennessee, 1806. Drowned in Galveston, July 11, 1838, and his remains brought by boat up Buffalo Bayou to Houston. His remains interred in this cemetery under the auspices of Temple Lodge No. 4. First Masonic funeral ever held in Texas. Delegate to the Consultation held at San Felipe, 1835. Signer, from Brazoria municipality, of the Texas Declaration of Independence. "Bore himself as a chief" at San Jacinto. Secretary of State, 1836. Senator in the Congress of Texas, 1836. First Chief Justice of the supreme Court of Texas. A county in Texas was named in his honor.