Richard Byrd Burleson (1822-1879)

Richard was the son of Jonathan and Elizabeth Byrd Burleson and was the younger brother of Rufus C. Burleson.  He was born in Decatur, Alabama and died in McLennan County, Texas on December, 1879. 

He was reported to have qualified for an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, but his father withdrew his claim on the appointment in favor of James Longstreet, the son of a poor widow, who later became one of the foremost generals in the Civil War.  Burleson graduated from Nashville University in Tennessee in 1842.  That same year, he was ordained to preach as a Baptist minister.  He served as pastor of the Athens Alabama Baptist Church for the following two years, after which he served as pastor of Tuscumben Baptist Church another four years.  Richard married Sarah W. Leigh in 1847.  From 1849 to 1855, he served as principal of the Baptist Female Institute of the Muscle Shoals Association after which he moved to Austin, Texas and served as pastor of a church there.  His wife, Sarah Leigh died in 1854 and he married Mary Frances Halbert in 1857.

His degree was in the field of science, and at the request of his brother Rufus, he became professor of Natural Science at Baylor University at Independence, Texas in 1857.  He later moved to Waco, Texas upon accepting the position of Vice President of Waco University, again joining his brother Rufus Burleson there. 

In 1874, he was selected by Governor Richard Coke to serve as a member of the first Geological Survey of the State of Texas.  The assignment of the group was to assess the mineral wealth of the state.  During his tenure, he identified oil fields near Tyler and salt deposits near Grand Saline.  Following this assignment, he returned to the faculty of Waco University, serving as a professor in the science department until his death on December 21, 1879. 

Byrd was regarded as a fine scholar in theology, botany and astronomy and was an accomplished and well regarded educator.  He was described as being frank, candid, gentle, sympathetic and tender, all qualities that served him well as a pastor and professor.  Burleson was deeply religious.  At a bedside service held shortly before his death, Richard requested that the 23^rd Psalm be read and that those gathered sing “How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word.”  

Rufus Burleson's Statue at Baylor

Rufus Burleson died in 1901.  The following year, a committee including a 30 year old Pat Neff commissioned a statue of Burleson to be placed in the quadrangle on the Baylor University campus surrounded by the four recently constructed buildings: Old Main, Georgia Burleson Hall, the Carroll Science Building and the Carroll Library and Chapel.  The sculptor chosen was Pompeo Coppini, an Italian-born artist living in San Antonio.  Later works by Coppini include the statue of George Washington on the University of Texas campus, the statue of Sul Ross on the campus of Texas A&M University, the Alamo memorial in San Antonio and the statue of Judge Baylor also on the Baylor campus.

Coppini’s autobiography, From Dawn to Sunset, relates the August 8, 1903 session when the committee and Georgia Burleson were invited to inspect the clay model for the statue.  In attendance were members of the committee, including Pat Neff, Georgia Burleson and a granddaughter of the Burlesons.  Coppini states that all he had to work from was a poor photograph and a small portrait engraving of the subject.  However, with other information that had been provided to him, he felt that he had been able to build an image of Burleson in his mind.
 
The artist also relates that he needed a subject to pose for the work and he had found an old man on the street to serve in this capacity.  In contrast to the well known teetotaler Burleson, the man was “a dissipated whiskey drinker, reduced by the habit to the level of a bum,” but that the man served his purpose.  Coppini continued: “You may think that it was sacrilegious to use such a man to help me make a good likeness of Burleson; on the contrary, it turned out to be a real inspiration to the better conception and idealization to the man who fought and taught against such a state of degeneration.  The old man [the model] seemed to be happy when he was holding the Holy Bible.”

The committee viewed the statue in silence, examining it from every angle while Mrs. Burleson and her granddaughter remained seated at a distance.  The little girl exclaimed, “Grandma, that is Grandpa!” after which Georgia let out a cry and left the room.  Coppini’s wife escorted Georgia to their bedroom and the others followed.  Coppini was concerned that Georgia was disappointed, but was assured by Pat Neff that there was no trouble at all.  Coppini relates that Neff told him that the statue was so lifelike that Georgia could not look at it any longer without breaking down.  Coppini viewed the success of this statue as a solid early step in his Texas career. (1)

 According to Martha Cooper Garrett, the granddaughter who was not named in Coppini’s account was her mother, Emma King Burleson Cooper.



(1) Looking Back at Baylor, Kent Keeth, p. 25

Georgia Burleson (1833-1924)

Georgia Jenkins was a strong willed person, like her husband Rufus.  Their relationship began in 1849 when they met at a Sons of Temperance rally in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas when Georgia was 16 years old.  Rufus Burleson, then 10 years older and pastor of the congregation that was to become First Baptist Church of Houston, was slated to receive a silk banner from the Sons of Temperance.  The banner was presented to him by Georgia.  She evidently made a distinct impression in Rufus and later that year, he made the following entry in his diary, “My mind on one subject is fixed—my manner of life I have resolved to change—if my health and God’s providence permit—I need the sympathy of a pious and lovely woman at all times.”

The daughter of the late Pleasant Cicero and Harriett Ann Daniel Jenkins, Georgia received her secondary education at Judson Female Institute at Marion, Alabama.  Upon her return to Texas, she and Rufus married on January 3, 1853 at Independence, the ceremony performed by their long time friend Henry L. Graves, the first president of Baylor University.  The wedding took place on the Baylor campus.

 Rufus was the natural successor to Baylor President Graves and in 1951, he was selected to serve as president of the university, a post that he was to hold for ten years.  Burleson acknowledged his reliance on Georgia’s advice and counsel in his administrative decisions throughout his career.  They were well matched and Georgia is credited for influencing the expansion of coeducation at Baylor.  Ultimately a disagreement over this same issue would lead to Rufus’ departure in 1861 from the Independence, Texas university and his move to Waco to serve as president of the newer but growing Waco University.  Baylor at Independence always separated male and female students with Baylor Female College having its own board of trustees, something that disturbed Rufus.  Undoubtedly Rufus had a strong following among the professors and upon his resignation and departure from Baylor at Independence, virtually all of the instructors of the male branch of the college went with him to become professors of the Baptist supported Waco University.

 Rufus and Georgia devoted their efforts to developing Waco University.  Georgia served as matron of the second  major structure on the campus, a women's dormitory named in her honor, Georgia Burleson Hall.  Though there were strict rules of propriety for the female students, Georgia and Rufus strongly believed in coeducation which was practiced in the classrooms and in Sunday worship services.  The two universities were merged in 1887 and took the name of the Independence institution.  The men's branch of Baylor moved to Waco.  The women's branch of Baylor at Independence became Mary Hardin-Baylor and was moved to Belton, Texas.

 Rufus and Georgia were married over 48 years until his death at the age of 77 on May 14, 1901.  Following his death, Georgia continued to live in Waco until her death at the age of 90 on June 11, 1924.

  

 

Rufus Burleson's 3/2/1893 address on Sam Houston

Rufus Burleson personally knew General Sam Houston and was asked to address the Texas Legislature on March 2, 1893 at the memorial service commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Gen. Houston, the same date memorializing the 57th year of Texas Independence.  Burleson's entire address amounts to some 40 pages of his memoirs, "The Life and Writings of Rufus Columbus Burleson."  Presented below is the conclusion of his address.  His admiration for Gen. Houston is clearly evident.  At this point in Burleson's account, Houston had failed in his effort to prevent the succession of Texas from the Union, been ousted as Governor of the state that he so loved and the Civil War had begun.



GENERAL SAM HOUSTON

The last address [Houston] ever made was to a vast audience who had gathered in front of the hotel in Houston to pay their respects to a hero who had done so much for Texas.  He said: "I have been buffeted by the waves; I have been borne along Time's ocean until shattered and worn I approach the narrow isthmus which divides me from the sea of eternity.  Ere I step forward to journey through the pilgrimage of death, I would say that all my thoughts and hopes are with my country.  If one impulse rises above another it is for the happiness of these people. The welfare and glory of Texas will be the uppermost thought while a spark of life lingers in this breast."

 Under these terrible accumulations of sorrow his health speedily declined, and he died July 26, 1863, aged seventy years.

 The Houston Telegraph announced his death, and said: "Let us shed tears to his memory, due one who has filled so much of our affection. Let the whole people bury with him what unkindness they may have. Let his monument be in the hearts of all Texans."

 Thus lived "and thus, died General Sam Houston, one of the few immortal names that were not born to die." Though thirty years have passed, every year demonstrates more his profound wisdom and patriotism and causes every true Texan to say: "Oh! that America had only had a hundred Houstons, Clays and Jacksons." It would have saved her two million lives, and, including pensions, two hundred billion dollars.

 In conclusion I wish to state clearly and emphasize earnestly the seven great characteristics that made Sam Houston the hero of San Jacinto and the father of Texas:

 1. Love of Mother—His love of mother filled his whole soul and permeated his whole being. Her prayers, her faith, her counsels and her examples followed him from the cradle to the grave; followed him in city and in wilderness, in prosperity and adversity. Her influence, in connection with his angel wife, Maggie Lee, brought him back from his wanderings to duty, glory, and to God.

 2. Reverence for God and Religion—General Houston is a striking illustration of the declaration of the great Thomas Carlyle: "A strong religious sentiment is a characteristic of all great minds." He said to me : "In all my dark trials and struggles, I have always gone alone, at night, for special secret prayer. My retreat from Gonzales to San Jacinto was the most remarkable ever known in history. Every day I dreaded my own men more than Santa Anna. The great majority of the men were eager for the battle at once, and hotheaded men, not knowing the great plan of my campaign, were ready to excite mutiny, depose me, rush headlong to battle, and, perchance, make another Alamo or Goliad. Goaded to madness by these men, I sometimes raved and cursed like a madman, yet every night, when all was quiet, I went alone and spent a half an hour on my knees in prayer, though so unworthy." I never shall forget that half hour spent with him in prayer, just before he was deposed from the governorship, in 1861. It was midnight; we were all alone, and kneeling by a rock under a live oak tree, in Independence, we poured out our tears and prayers before the God of Washington and liberty, to save our country from the bloody vortex of civil war. It was this profound religious feeling, misguided, that caused him to place such confidence in the flight of eagles that were so abundant fifty years ago, in the Southwest.

 3. Unfaltering Courage, Moral and Physical—As a boy he charged amid showers of arrows and bullets the strong fortifications of the Indians, at Tohopeka or Horseshoe. There was never a moment that he would not have charged into a cannon's mouth at the call of duty. He was the peer of Alexander, of Caesar, of Washington. In the path of duty he could smile at the frowns and curses of the whole world.

 4. Profound Penetration—He read at a glance the secret motives of men. He penetrated the depths and heights and breadths of every question. He could banish all personal, all local feeling, and look at the facts just as they were, stripped of all colorings and all disguises, I have known men and grappled with them on the great questions of education and religion, from San Antonio, Texas, to Bangor, Maine, but have never known Houston's equal in profound, far-seeing penetration. Hence, while so many great men blundered, he foresaw and foretold the results.

 5. Love of Country—His love of country, like his love of mother, intensified his whole being. He could ever say, as King David: "If I forget thee, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I prefer not thee to my chief joy, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth." His great soul (while an intense Southerner) embraced our whole country, from ocean to ocean and from gulf to lakes.

  6. Republican Simplicity—He had a supreme contempt for all display and extravagance in dress, equipage and buildings. He regarded all such extravagance as criminal, not only because it wasted money, that should be used for higher and nobler purposes, but tended to bribery, corruption and bankruptcy.

  7. Political Honesty—He would sooner have put his arm in the fire than take one cent by fraud from the public treasury. He would as soon have defrauded his widowed mother as his mother country. He gave his blood, his toil, his prayers and his whole life to his mother country, and died poor, as Thomas Benton says, all honest public men should die. But, alas! how fearfully we have apostatized! Oh! whither are our millionaire congressmen driving out nation?

 But finally, let us examine still more intently what were the causes that molded and erected those seven grand, golden pillars, on which rests the fame of Houston, and from which it will grow brighter and brighter till the stars grow dim. But I entreat you to beware of that fearful delusion, that all great men like Houston, Napoleon, Newton and Columbus, were born great; that greatness was "thrust upon them," and that, "if we fail and are underlings, our stars and not ourselves are to be blamed." The true history is, all great men reach to the Alpine heights of fame and greatness by intense toil. It is a fiat of fate, "there is no excellency without great labor." I would be glad if some great painter would paint Napoleon when a boy at Brienne, lying down on the ground and drawing a map of Europe on the sand, while other boys were playing marbles or ball. These same maps on the sand guided him in his invasion of Russia. I would be glad, also, to see a painting of Sam Houston lying down by that pine-knot fire in that rude country store, committing to memory Pope's Iliad of Homer, or poring over Plutarch's Lives, while other boys were chasing foxes over the mountains. No man has a profounder sense of reliance on Providence than I have; yet Providence only helps those who help themselves. Profoundly penetrated with this great truth, let us trace the four great causes that made our Houston illustrious and will make every boy in Texas great and illustrious, who follows those same rules.

 1. First of all his mother, whom he worshiped and obeyed. Poets have asked: "What is home without a mother?" The patriot and philosopher may ask with deeper anxiety: "What is a nation without mothers?" Houston, Washington, Marion and all great men owe their greatness to mother. "A dewdrop on the baby plant may warp the giant oak forever, or nourish that baby plant into the giant oak of the forest." Oh! that the Lord would send us a Luther, a Calvin, a Wesley and a Spurgeon to arouse the world to the importance of real mothers. One such mother as Mary Washington or Mrs. Houston is worth a whole brigade of preaching or political "female brethren."

 2. The second great formative power that erected these pillars of Houston's greatness, was his dear old teacher. Dr. Anderson. This grand old man quickened into intense activity and molded all the powers of his soul. He taught him how to think, how to commune with his own soul, with books, and above all, with God, the father of light. And, next to pious mothers, our country needs great teachers, but I do not mean ''lesson hearers, time killers and salary grabbers." These are already about as numerous and about as profitable as the locusts of Egypt.

At the great National Educational Association at St. Paul I met an army of about ten thousand teachers representatives of every State in the Union; yet I fear if Socrates, Anderson, Wayland, or our own Texas Mclvenzie had been there they would have been compelled to borrow the lamp of Diogones and walk through that mighty army crying: "I seek a teacher; who can show me a teacher; a real God sent teacher?" Elijah, a teacher sent from God, is a grand model. When he would restore the son of the Shunamite mother to life he lovingly put his hands in the child's hands, his feet on the child's feet, his mouth on the child's mouth, his heart on the child's heart and prayed, "Oh, God, let this child live again." The boy was quickened into vigorous life and flew into the loving embrace of mother. So the real teacher never stands upon the stilts of normal or abnormal methods, nor clothes himself with the mantle of professional dignity, but with the tender love of a father he takes the student by the hand, places his mind, his heart and his whole being in loving sympathy with the student and thus quickens his whole being into activity. A great teacher not only seeks to make his students scholars, but true citizens and patriots and a blessing to their fellow-men, and to elevate them to usefulness on earth and glory in heaven.

 General Houston, in the last trying hours of his life, quoted the sayings of mother and Dr. Anderson more than all others, and he longed to meet that angel mother and his noble teacher in that "land that is fairer than day."

 3. The third cause forming his great character was his devotion to reading good books and the "God of Books" selected by his wise teacher. He had a profound disgust for novels and sensational reading in every form, whether in poetry or prose; books or newspapers. We all know how important to health and strength of the body is nutritious food, but, alas, how few know the importance of healthy and abundant food for the mind and soul.

 4. But the crowning glory and power of the formative influences was his firm and ever abiding faith in God as an all-wise and ever present Heavenly Father. This was his anchor of hope on the dark and stormy ocean. This was his Gibraltar when assailed by a thousand adversities. Like Luther before the Diet of Worms, he said: "On this firm rock I stand, and living or dying all will be well." Oh, that these powerful formative influences might erect seven golden pillars of character on which every young man and young woman in Texas may become a moral temple of beauty and glory.