Louis Wiltz Kemp

Our Unlikely Fathers: the Signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence Louis Wiltz Kemp

A Quebecer, a Scot, an Englishman, an Irishman, some Yankees, some Southern gents, a couple of Tejanos...listening to the duelling accents alone would have been well worth the price of admission. Some had led the quiet lives of family men. Others were known for drunkenness, noted for bravery, celebrated for military acumen and one was notorious for castrating a couple of guys back in his home state. Five signers resided on land that was technically in Arkansas. Two fathers who lost sons at the Alamo saddled up next to the father of the man who had burned their bodies. A couple of signers had been "permanently" tossed out of Texas after their participation in the Fredonian Rebellion. Low on provisions, in the cold, away from their homes and families, with the looming threat of Santa Anna kicking in the door, 59 individuals created an independent Texas. Despite all of the diversity and adversity, they managed to get it done. In the wake of their deliberations and pen strokes was born the storied Republic and the state that would define western expansion and reshape the United States. In this book, Mr. Kemp serves up each signer to us so that we might place each, in our mind's eye, in that rented building in Washington. He tells us where they came from, how they got here and where they ended up. We need to know these men because they're the men who made us Texans!