DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about John M. Wade — and friend, this man packed enough life into one stretch of years to fill a whole Texas almanac. John Marshall Wade was born in New York City in 1815.
He left home as a youth, and somewhere along the way he ended up in the Western Creek Nation, in what is now Oklahoma. Now, it was Sam Houston himself who gave him the advice that changed everything: come to Texas. And in 1835, Wade did exactly that.
He joined the Texas army during the War for Independence. And here is where the story gets loud — literally. At the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, Wade was among the men detailed to fire the Twin Sisters.
Two cannons, a pair of them, given to the Texas forces by citizens of Cincinnati, Ohio. Whatever happened on that field that day, John Marshall Wade had his hands on the guns when it happened. After the war, he served briefly as assistant secretary to the Senate of the Republic of Texas.
Not a bad resume line. But Wade was a printer by profession, and the press called him back. He became a typesetter for Gail Borden's newspaper — the Telegraph and Texas Register.
In 1838, he moved to the community of Montgomery, where he was appointed deputy surveyor for Montgomery County. Then in 1842, he rode out on the Somervell Expedition against Mexico. The man was not one for staying still.
By 1845, he had founded a weekly paper called the Montgomery Patriot, which he later transferred to Huntsville. Then, in 1854, he returned to Montgomery and took up the deputy surveyor work again. When the Civil War came, from 1861 to 1865, Wade served in the Confederate army.
From his marriage to Ruth Boston, and from his later marriage to Virginia Tinsley, Wade had five children. He spent his last years at the home of a daughter in Austin, and it was there he died and was buried, in 1879. New York City to the Creek Nation to San Jacinto.
Cannons, newspapers, survey lines, and two wars. John Marshall Wade lived the kind of life that sounds made up — but the marker says otherwise.
What the marker says
(1815-1879) Born in New York City, John Marshall Wade left his home as a youth. On the advice of Sam Houston, he came to Texas in 1835 from the Western Creek Nation in present-day Oklahoma. He joined the Texas army during the War for Independence. At the Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836, he was among the men detailed to fire the "Twin Sisters," a pair of cannons given to the Texas forces by citizens of Cincinnati, Ohio. After the war, he served briefly as assistant secretary to the Senate of the Republic of Texas. A printer by profession, Wade became a typesetter for Gail Borden's newspaper, the "Telegraph and Texas Register." In 1838 he moved to the community of Montgomery and was appointed deputy surveyor for Montgomery county. He participated in the Somervell Expedition against Mexico in 1842. In 1845 he founded a weekly paper, the "Montgomery Patriot," which he later transferred to Huntsville. Returning to Montgomery in 1854, he again became deputy surveyor. He served in the Confederate army during the Civil War (1861-65). From his marriage to Ruth Boston and his later marriage to Virginia Tinsley, Wade had five children. He spent his last years at the home of a daughter in Austin, where he died and was buried in 1879.