NEWSPAPERS: W. D. Howser, Monroe Co., KY --------------------------------------------- Contributed for use in USGENWEB Archives by: James Cassidy Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 14:48:52 EDT --------------------------------------------- **************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free genealogical information on the Internet, data may be freely used for personal research and by non-commercial entities as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format or presentation by other organizations or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for profit or any form of presentation, must obtain the written consent of the file submitter, or his legal representative and then contact the listed USGENWEB archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net. ***************************************************************************** Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 14:48:52 EDT From: Jamescassidy22@cs.com Article written in 1936 for the Texas Centennial: W.D. HOWSER RECALLS INTERESTING FACTS OF PIONEER FAMILY HISTORY. W. D. Howser, Clarksville Lawyer and former postmaster believes that the origional manuscript of the constitution of the Texas Republic for which the Texas Centenial Exposition is conducting a search may be in Nashville, since the secretary of the convention. H.S. Kimble went returned to Nashville from Texas. Mr. Howser possessed a copy of this document until his home was destroyed by fire in 1933. The copy was made from that of Lt. Will Bowie who lived near the Antioch School House in the district of Macon Co, TN who secured it from Mr. Kimble. When the grandfather of Mr. Howser, Thomas Howser, who lived across the Kentucky line on the edge of Monroe County, got his copy of the constitution from Lt. Bowie, the latter did not know where Kimble lived or what he had done with the origional. The grandfather, Thomas Howser, had left seven volumes of letters and documents collected during his life time, the father 14 volumes and Mr. Howser himself had compiled 41 volumes. All were indexed and much of the material shed important light on facts and personages of the times. Perhaps the most important document lost was a letter written by Sam Houston a few days before he left the Govenors chair in April 1829, to return to his old friends the Cherokee Indians. "Relying on your judgement, I am leaving this manuscript with you to be opened only when you think my honor requires it". This letter was left in the hands of his good friend Thomas Howser of Monroe Co. Ky, and this was passed down through the generations and was in a safe deposit box at a bank for many years, however W.D. Howser brought it home the night before the fateful fire and it was destroyed. Mr. Howser states that several days before Houston left Tennessee for the Indian Territory he spent the night at the Howser home in Monroe Co. W.D. Howser states that the Howser family has an interesting history. The grandfather came from Germany as a stowaway and settled in North Carolina. When lots were drawn for soldiers for the War of 1812, Thomas Howser drew a colored bead, but his brother-in-law Stever Warner, of Monroe Co, all of whose family had been killed by the Indians, prevailed on him to let him go in his stead. The soldier contrary to fiction, returned safe and sound, but dissappeared some years later and the family never found a trace of him. Davey Crockett, the immortal hero of the Alamo, often hunted with grandfather Howser who thought "him a fine fellow with more common sense than anybody".