Guadalupe County Texas Archives Photo Tombstone.....Brill, Solomon William June 15, 1999 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tx/txfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Utah Rogers urogers@sbcglobal.net April 18, 2005, 2:43 am Source: Geronimo Cemetery Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/tx/guadalupe/photos/tombstones/geronimo/brill198gph.jpg Image file size: 243.4 Kb Solomon William Brill Birth: 23 APR 1801 Beekman Poughguag, , Dutchess, New York Marriage to Sarah Day: 25 MAY 1838 Seguin, Guadalupe, Texas Death: 19 DEC 1882 Seguin, Guadalupe, Texas Geronimo Cemetery, Seguin, Guadalupe, Texas Mary E Brill (Solomon & Sarah's Daughter) Female Birth: 17 FEB 1848 Seguin, Guadalupe, Texas Death: 30 DEC 1865 Seguin, Guadalupe, Texas Additional Comments: Solomon W. Brill By Willie Mae Weinert. Another veteran of the Texas Revolution who came to Seguin soon after the Battle of San Jacinto, was Solomon Brill. When he first came here he was a house guest of Juan N. Seguin for whom this town is named. It is likely that for this reason he was selected by Juan Seguin to help gather the remains of officers killed at the Alamo. As stated before Mr. Brill, with several men from our town-then called Walnut Springs -were commissioned by Juan N. Seguin, the military commander of the Bexar District, to perform this last service for the martyrs of the Alamo. Mr. Brill was an expert casket maker, and , he with his helpers constructed this walnut casket and in it they placed the five skulls and other bones which they! believed to be those of leaders, because of metal insignia adjacent to 'these bones.! This casket was buried twenty paces from the southeast corner of the Alamo. Until Mr. Brill's death in 1891, he kept the secret of the exact location, and at that time he confided to his son-in-law the above stated facts. It is likely that for some particular reason the location of this burial spot was kept a secret. Juan Seguin in after years deserted the Texas cause. He believed injustice and discrimination had been heaped upon him because of his nationality. He lived in Mexico after the year 1842. If Mr. Brill contributed no other service to the Republic of Texas, he should have a warm spot in the memory of all Texans. Mr. Brill received bounty certificate No.2952 for 1280 acres of land for having served in the Army of Texas from October 25 1835, to October 17, 1836. In 1842 he was a member of Captain Mathew Caldwell's company in the Battle of Salado Creek near San Antonio. Mr Brill married Hepsibah Day, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah Emery (HEMBREE) Day. He was a charter member of the Texas Veterans Association, on having attended the first meeting in Houston in 1873. Mrs James Damon of Seguin has a framed collection of his veteran badges and a certificate of membership signed by Moses Austin Bryan as secretary of the association when it was organized. In this same frame is a certificate of membership in the Texas Veterans' Association for Mrs Hepsibah Day Brill, wife of Solomon Brill It is evident from this, that the wife of a veteran was also eligible for membership. Mr. Brill was born in Poughkeepsie New York, and had attended a medical school in New York. At the time of the epidemic of yellow fever in the early eighteen-thirty's, Mr..Brill volunteered to come, to New Orleans for service in the work against the terrible scourge. it was here that he not only gave his service as a physician but became an expert in the making of caskets. (This may also be a reason for his selection by Juan Seguin to make the casket for the martyrs of the Alamo.) New Orleans had so few to render aid to the Incidents in Early Texas History By A. J. Sowell. Very early history and significant events around Seguin and New Braunfels. This is great history and genealogy of the area. Mentions: "HUMPHREY BRANCH was the first settler at Seguin. He went there in 1833, and built a house and called it Elm Spring Hill". Branch first settled with his father-in-law, John Sowell, at the mouth of Sowell Creek, six miles below. Among those who settled the place were the Kings, McCullochs, Sowells, Nichols, Solomon Brill, Milford Day, Callahan, Turners, and others." John R. King, William King, Andrew Sowell, Paris Smith, Plum Ridge. Anderson Smith, San Geronimo, the York's creek divide, Greser, Mill Creek, the Rev. F. Butler's farm, Bilouxie Indians, General Cordova., Colonel Edward Burleson, the Capota hills, Captain Callahan, Milford Day, Thomas Nichols and David Runnels, the Prickly Pear Prairie, near the Nueces river. On the Grand Jury were John A. Green, District Attorney; ParisSmith, Foreman, Grand Jury: Sam Towner, John F. Tom, S.R. Miller, French Smith, G.W. Louis, John W. Nichols, Charles A. Smith, John Sheffield, Solomon G. Nichols, John H. Turner, John N. Sowell, John R. King, Matthew A. Doyle, and Andrew J. Sowell. The Petit Jury was comprised of Solomon W. Brill, Foreman; Joseph Zorn, Sr., Jacob Eckstein, John Lowe, ______Baker, William Turner, Peyton Medlin, W.B. Pinchard, William G. Winters, E.P. Frost, and W. Clark. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/tx/guadalupe/photos/tombstones/geronimo/brill198gph.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/txfiles/ File size: 5.6 Kb