Born in Kentucky, Jesse Cornelius Tannehill (1797-1863), moved with his wife, Jane Richardson, and two children from Tennessee to Matagorda County, Texas, in 1827. A year later, the family relocated to Bastrop County where they lived in a tent comprised of buffalo hides and pinewood until the town of Bastrop was established. As one of the first landowners in Bastrop, Tannehill was appointed judge in 1831. In 1836, the family fled to Huntsville, and eventually La Grange, after repeated threats from Mexican forces in the area. With his family, including seven children, he obtained a land grant on the Colorado River in present-day Travis County. Tannehill earned recognition for his efforts to develop land throughout Travis County, including founding the town of Montopolis.
Source:
Composed of a typescript of correspondence, legal and financial documents, and poems, the Jesse C. Tannehill Papers, 1832-1867, chronicle Tannehill’s experiences as a landowner in Bastrop and Travis counties, Texas. Correspondence concerns familial and social affairs, while legal documents include land deeds and petitions. Consisting of bills and records of Tannehill’s transactions, financial papers relate to Tannehill’s business affairs. Additionally, poems written by W. P. Tannehill discuss religion, death, and other social issues.
This collection is open for research use.
Jesse C. Tannehill Papers, 1832-1867, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s