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ALBERT CLINTON HORTON
By Kathleen Tatum
Albert Clinton Horton was born September 4, 1798 in Hancock County,
Georgia, son of William and Mary Thomas Horton. His father died when
he was very young and later his mother married Colonel Samuel Dent,
moving to LaGrange, Franklin County, Alabama in 1823.
Albert Horton married Eliza Holliday in 1829, daughter of General
Thomas Holliday. Eliza was born in North Carolina in 1815, but was
living in Alabama with her brother-in-law and guardian, W. J. Croom,
father of Colonel John L. Croom of Matagorda, Texas.
Horton and his wife moved to Greensboro, Alabama where he served one
term in the Alabama State Senate in 1832.
Albert Horton came to Matagorda County, Texas, April, 1835, when he
purchased several leagues of land in the northern part of Matagorda
County, which is now part of Wharton County. In addition, he was
granted a league and labor of land on January 19, 1838.
After making his family comfortable in their large, new home, in the
town of Matagorda, (The S. M. Dale, F. L. Rugeley and now present
[1987] Robert J. Sisk home that is still standing), he joined James
W. Fannin, Jr. with his recruited cavalry of men, arriving at Goliad
on March 16, 1836. March 17, Horton had a skirmish with the cavalry
of General Jose Urrea. On the morning of the retreat from Goliad,
Horton was sent to examine the crossing of Coleto Creek. His group
decided it was impractical to attempt to rejoin Fannin's army which
had been completely surrounded, for fear of losing all of his men,
of which he was criticized by some.
Horton served in the Texas Army from February to May 1836. He
represented Matagorda, Jackson and Victoria Counties in the Senate
of the First and Second Congress, 1836 to 1838. In the election held
on September 3, 1838, he was candidate for Vice-President of the
Republic of Texas, but was defeated. January 1839 he was one of five
commissioners appointed to select a location for the capital of
Texas.
Horton represented Matagorda County in the Convention of 1845 and
was elected Lieutenant Governor on December 15, 1845. He was not
inaugurated until May 1, 1846, after a recount and tabulation of the
votes showed that he had received more votes than Nicholas H.
Darnell, whom the Legislature had declared elected. During Governor
James Pinckney Henderson's leave of absence to command Texas troops
during the Mexican War, Horton acted as Governor of the State of
Texas from May 19, 1846 to July 1, 1847.
The Hortons were Episcopalians, where he was elected Vestryman and
Warden in 1839. They joined the Baptist faith later and he was
President of Baylor University. He was regarded as one of the
wealthiest men in the State, but after the Civil War he lost about
four hundred slaves. Cotton, sugar and other farm products dropped
in price causing him to lose very heavily on his plantation.
Albert Clinton Horton died October, 1865 at his summer home in
Matagorda and is buried in the Matagorda Cemetery. There were six
children born to this union, but only two lived to maturity.
His daughter, Patience Louisiana Texas Horton, born 1837, married in
Wharton County, January 13, 1853 to Colonel Isaac Newton Dennis who
was born in Dallas County, Alabama, June 25, 1829. He was a law
graduate of Cambridge, Massachusetts and admitted to the bar at
Cahaba, Alabama in December, 1850. He came to Texas in 1852. He
represented Wharton and Matagorda Counties in the Sixth, Seventh and
Eighth Legislatures. To this union, was born one child, Patience
Horton Dennis, who married Judge Wilie C. Croom. They had one child,
Linda Croom who married Frank Hodges. After Patience's death, Isaac
Newton Dennis married Sadie Hinton in 1865 and after her death, he
married Maggie Knox in 1869, by whom he had four children. He died
March 25, 1910.
Albert Clinton Horton's other child that lived to maturity was a
boy, Colonel Robert John Horton who was born March 24, 1844 in
Matagorda. At the age of eighteen, he entered the Confederate Army
as a volunteer. On December 30, 1863 he was in Captain Rugeley's
company that participated in an attack on the enemy on Matagorda Bay
and was one of the men that endured the suffering of the night of
the disaster when the norther blew in capsizing the boats and
freezing and drowning many men.
 Robert John Horton married Miss Mary Hawes, September 12, 1864 at
Matagorda while he was home on furlough. Mary was the daughter of
Judge Hugh Hawes. Soon after the marriage, he resumed his duties in
the army and at the close of the war he established his home in
Matagorda, moving from there to Saluria Island and then to Goliad.
In 1886 he returned to Wharton and lived there until his death,
October 2, 1904. His last request was to have his many old army
buddies escort his remains to the final resting place. His widow,
Mary Horton, died June 24, 1912. They were the parents of six
children: Mrs. Albert (Carrie) Foote of Houston; Mrs. Jim (Mary)
Davis of El Paso; Mrs. J. E. (Loula) Irvin; Mrs. Alex (Renie)
Rugeley; Mrs. T. J. (Lida) Abell of Wharton and A. C. Horton, Jr. of
Wharton.
The Official Texas Historical
Marker for Albert Clinton Horton was dedicated October 10, 1987, at
the Matagorda Cemetery, Matagorda, Texas.
ALBERT CLINTON HORTON
(1798 - 1865)
GEORGIA NATIVE, ALBERT CLINTON
HORTON, CAME TO TEXAS IN 1834 FROM ALABAMA, WHERE HE HAD SERVED IN
THE STATE LEGISLATURE. HE ESTABLISHED A PLANTATION ALONG CANEY CREEK
IN MATAGORDA COUNTY, PRESENT DAY WHARTON COUNTY. IN 1835, HE
RETURNED TO ALABAMA TO RECRUIT VOLUNTEERS FOR THE TEXAS ARMY AND HE
SERVED AS COLONEL OF A CAVALRY UNIT DURING THE TEXAS REVOLUTION.
UPON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE
REPUBLIC OF TEXAS IN 1836, HORTON WAS ELECTED TO CONGRESS. HE WAS
THE CHAIRMAN OF A COMMISSION APPOINTED BY PRESIDENT M. B. LAMAR TO
SELECT A SITE FOR A PERMANENT CAPITOL FOR THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS IN
1839.
WHEN TEXAS BECAME A STATE IN
DECEMBER, 1845, HORTON WAS ELECTED ITS FIRST LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR. HE
SERVED AS ACTING GOVERNOR FOR OVER A YEAR WHILE GOVERNOR HENDERSON
WAS LEADING TEXAS FORCES IN THE MEXICAN WAR.
WHEN BAYLOR UNIVERSITY WAS
FOUNDED IN 1845, HORTON WAS A CHARTER TRUSTEE. BY THE 1850'S HE HAD
HOMES IN BOTH WHARTON AND MATAGORDA. HE AND HIS PARTNER, ABNER
CLEMENTS GAVE LAND FOR CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN TEXAS.
HE AND HIS WIFE, ELIZA
HOLLIDAY, HAD SIX CHILDREN. HORTON DIED IN MATAGORDA IN 1865,
VARIOUS SOURCES LISTING THE DATE OF DEATH AS SEPTEMBER 1, OR OCTOBER
7.
TEXAS SESQUICENTENNIAL 1836-1986
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