Historical Marker
David G. Burnet
Clarksville, Red River County · Texas
Erected 1936
Burnet's road to the presidency ran through failure. The Handbook of Texas has him in Miranda's 1806 filibuster to Venezuela, trading with the Comanches near the upper Brazos about 1817, and holding a 1826 empresario grant he never filled with settlers. He sold the contract in 1830, settled on Galveston Bay in 1831 and sold a money-losing steam sawmill in 1835. The Handbook says his neighbors did not choose him as a delegate in 1835 or 1836, yet the convention delegates elected him interim president in March 1836. He died in Galveston in 1870 without money, buried by friends.
What the plaque says
David G. Burnet [center front] David Gouverneur Burnet - [left front] Born April 14 - 1788 - in Newark - New Jersey - Died in Galveston - Texas - December - 5 - 1870 - Delegate to the Second Convention of Texas - 1833 - Judge of the Department of the Brazos - 1834 - Delegate to the Consultation 1835 - [right front] President - Ad Interim - Of the Republic of Texas - March 16 to October 22 - 1836 - Vice President - November 10 - 1838 to December 13 - 1841 - Participated in the battle with the Cherokees May 29 - 1839 - Secretary of State - 1846
Where it stands
33.61000, -95.06370 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Lennox Woods Preserve — 10 miA Nature Conservancy preserve of mature East Texas forest north of Clarksville, kept by the Lennox family for four generations, with a 1.5-mile loop under post oaks more than 300 years old.