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David
Hess Garner,
soldier,
sheriff, and
Republic of
Texasqv
congressman,
son of Bradley
and Sarah
Rachel
(Harmon)
Garner, Sr.,
was born in
St. Landry or
Rapides
Parish,
Louisiana, in
1807. His
father was a
native of
Maryland who
moved to
Louisiana
about 1790 and
fought in the
battle of New
Orleans. David
moved to Texas
in 1825 with
four of his
seven
siblings,
Jacob Harmon
Garner,qv
Isaac Garner,
Anne (who
married
Claiborne
Westqv), and
Sarah (Mrs.
John)
McGaffey, and
settled at Old
Jefferson (the
site of
present Bridge
City) on Cow
Bayou.
To
help resist
Antonio López
de Santa Annaqv
in 1835, Capt.
David Garner
organized a
company of
volunteers.
Armed with
flintlock
muskets and
Bowie knives,
his group of
nineteen men,
including his
brother Jacob,
set out for
San Antonio.
They arrived
at the camp
above Bexar on
November 16,
1835. On
December 4
Garner and his
men were
mustered into
the company of
James Chessher
and Willis H.
Landrum.qv
Garner
participated
in the siege
of Bexarqv
under Gen.
Benjamin R.
Milam,qv
which resulted
in the capture
of Gen. Martín
Perfecto de
Cos.qv
He was
discharged
from the army
on December
13, 1835. On
January 22,
1838, he
received a
headright
certificate
for a third of
a league of
land in
Jefferson
County. For
his service at
Bexar he
received a
donation grant
of 640 acres.
On December
14, 1838, he
received a
bounty
certificate
for 320 acres
for service
from October 5
to December
13, 1835.
On
September 18,
1839, Garner
married
Matilda
Hampshire in
Jefferson
County. They
became the
parents of
eleven
children. The
1840, 1850,
and 1860
census list
Garner as a
farmer and
stock raiser.
He was elected
sheriff of
Jefferson
County in
1839. He was
elected
representative
to the Fourth
Congress of
Texas
(1839-40) and
served one
term. He was
again elected
sheriff of
Jefferson
County in 1843
and was
reelected to
the office in
1845. In 1855
he moved his
family to old
Indianola,
where he
continued to
engage in the
cattle
business.
During
the Civil Warqv
Garner, now
too old to
serve in the
army, supplied
the
Confederate
troops with
beef. When his
son Jacob
Hampshire
Garner, who
had served in
the
Thirty-third
Cavalry,
returned home,
he found his
father
penniless,
though loaded
with
Confederate
money and
still a
patriotic
citizen of
Texas. Garner
died in old
Indianola on
April 10,
1864. His
gravestone
bears the
Masonic
emblem. His
wife was a
devoted
Methodist.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
James Cox, Historical
and
Biographical
Record of the
Cattle
Industry
(2 vols., St.
Louis:
Woodward and
Tiernan
Printing,
1894, 1895;
rpt., with an
introduction
by J. Frank
Dobie, New
York:
Antiquarian,
1959). Texas
House of
Representatives,
Biographical
Directory of
the Texan
Conventions
and
Congresses,
1832-1845
(Austin: Book
Exchange,
1941).
Mary
B. Erickson
- Handbook
of Texas
Online,
s.v. ","
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/GG/fga23.html (accessed
March 3,
2008).
(NOTE: "s.v."
stands for sub
verbo, "under
the word.")
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