Francis Marcus Weatherred, Jr.

Francis Marcus Weatherred (Weathered), Jr., soldier and hotelier, son of Francis Marcus and Agnes (Suddarth) Weatherred, was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, on July 15, 1781. On December 23, 1806, he married Nancy Dowell.

He served under Andrew Jackson in the Creek War before he moved from Tennessee to Texas in December 1835. He settled in Robertson's Colony and in 1836 joined Capt. William H. Patton's Columbia Company of Col. Sidney Sherman's Second Regiment of the Texas army, but he was on leave of absence at the time of the battle of San Jacinto. His son, Francis Marion Weatherred, served in the same company.

In 1837 he was living in what is now Sabine County, where he operated a hotel at Milam. He was defeated as a candidate for representative from Shelby County in 1843. Weatherred died at Milam on December 4, 1854.

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As a youth, Francis moved from Virginia to Bledsoe Lick near Nashville, TN. There he came to know Andrew Jackson, general of the Tennessee militia. He served as a company officer under Capt. Bledsoe in the Creek War. He met Sam Houston in one of the Creek battles, who later moved to Texas in 1829. Col. Weatherred responded to the Texas vision of new country in December 1835, bringing 10 families. Francis and his family settled in the Robertson Colony near the Brazos River in Hill County, but because of the advancing Mexican armies, they moved eastward to old Milam in Sabine County.

He joined the Texas Army at the advanced age of 55 in 1836. He was active in the service with Houston's forces, and was prevented from being at the Battle of San Jacinto only by an assignment that Houston had given him invloving the safety of women and children who had retreated in the face of the advancing Mexican army. As a soldier of the Republic, he received land grant certificate No. 9.

He was active in all the movements that led up to the Declaration of Independence -- The Revolution -- the writing of the Constitution of the Republic of Texas, and the organization of the first Congress of the Republic, of which he was a member as a Representative in the Lower House from Sabine County. In 1837 he lived in Milam, and operated a hotel. In 1842 he served as a Notary Public.

On May 10, 1955, Col. Weatherred was honored by the Senate in Austin and his portrait placed upon the walls honored by Texas heroes and statesmen.