DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker tells it, here's the story of the woman they called the Messenger of the Alamo. Now, Caldwell County holds a lot of history in its soil, but this particular patch of Lockhart ground carries a weight most folks don't know about. Because right here — right at this very site — once stood the home of Susanna Dickinson Hannig.
Susanna was born in 1814, and she came to Texas from Tennessee in 1831, traveling with her husband Almeron Dickinson. They were part of that early wave of settlers who arrived when Texas was still a gamble, still a promise, still a question with no clear answer. And then came March 6, 1836.
Almeron Dickinson died at the Battle of the Alamo that day. The fortress fell. And Susanna — with her daughter Angelina — was among the survivors who walked out of that smoke and silence.
Think about what that means for a moment. She had just watched the world she knew collapse inside those walls. But Susanna Dickinson did not stop moving.
She carried the news of the Alamo's capture to General Sam Houston himself, commander of the Texas Army. The Messenger of the Alamo. That title wasn't given lightly, and she earned every syllable of it.
Years passed. Life, as it tends to do, kept going. In 1855, Susanna settled right here in Lockhart and bought this property.
She married Joseph William Hannig, who ran a cabinet shop on this very site. For a time, this quiet corner of Lockhart was home to a woman who had witnessed one of the defining moments in Texas history. Then in 1858, she and Joseph William Hannig moved to Austin.
And it was in Austin where Susanna Dickinson Hannig died and is buried — in 1883. The home is gone now. Just this marker standing where it once stood.
But there's something fitting about that, isn't there — that the woman who carried the news when everything else fell still has a place that marks where she stood.
What the marker says
At this site once stood the home of Susanna Dickinson Hannig (1814-1883), who came to Texas from Tennessee in 1831 with her husband Almeron Dickinson. He died at the Battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836. Susanna, with her daughter Angelina, was among the survivors. She carried news of the Alamo's capture to Gen. Sam Houston, commander of the Texas Army. Susanna settled in Lockhart in 1855 and bought this property. She married Joseph William Hannig, who had a cabinet shop here. In 1858 they moved to Austin, where susanna died and is buried.