Published: November 17, 2009 03:52 pm      

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Tennesseans find fame in Texas

Several times in this column I have referred to the attraction Texas held for Tennesseans. Often a family would decide to move and only leave a sign on their house “Gone to Texas.” Recently I read a short article in a Texas magazine that told of a letter Davy Crockett wrote to his family back in Tennessee which said that Texas was “the garden spot of the world.” He added these enticing words, “The best land and best prospects for health I ever saw and I do believe it is a fortune to any man to come here.”

Perhaps Davy’s family spread the word about this new land and because Davy had traveled to many places and was well known in the state as a congressman his words might have influenced others to head south. Crockett served as a Democratic congressman from 1827-31. In 1833 he returned to Congress as a Whig and served till 1835. He returned to Tennessee and led a volunteer force to Texas to engage in the 1836 Alamo disaster where he died.

Twenty years later Elizabeth Crockett, Davy’s widow, arrived in Texas with her daughter, Elvira Crockett Halford, and her son, Robert Patton Crockett. They came to claim the 1,280 acres of land the state had given to the heirs of the Alamo heroes.

Elizabeth lived in Granbury, in the Texas Davy had praised, until her death in 1860. She, son Robert and his wife Matilda are all buried in Acton Cemetery located in Acton State Historical Park, the smallest Texas state park.

Crockett’s fame will never be forgotten but another man with Tennessee roots was famous nationwide for only a quarter of a century and has been forgotten. John Alexander (Jack) Fox was born in Tennessee in 1883 but when he was two years old his family moved to Texas. As an adult Jack Fox was only four-foot tall and he was the chief railroad clerk in a Texas town.

A friend told him about an advertising job with the Brown Shoe Company of St. Louis, manufacturers of Buster Brown shoes for youngsters. Fox was reluctant to leave the security of his railroad job but that decision opened a new world to him. It involved visiting stores and movie houses across the country as Buster Brown. Dressed in knee-length pants and wearing a round-collared jacket with a loose bow at the neck he was always accompanied by his dog Tige. Children were delighted by the pair and Buster Brown shoes were the rage.

Fox was the perfect walking billboard for Buster Brown shoes but there was more to come. In 1902 Buster Brown became a comic newspaper strip which dealt with the mischievous behavior of Buster and his friends. Thousands of baby boys were named Buster and just as many dogs had the name Tige. Eventually there were comic books devoted to Buster Brown. Because he was small in stature Fox was a perfect Buster Brown for nearly a century until more modern comic book heroes pushed him aside. He died in 1961 but the granite marker in the cemetery tells his story under the picture of him in his Little Lord Fauntleroy suit.

All these years later there are many Tennesseans living in Texas. One of those has never forgotten his Tennessee roots. On November 16, Barry Wilmore is scheduled to pilot the space shuttle Atlantis on an 11-day mission to the International Space Station. Wilmore was born in Murfreesboro and graduated from Mount Juliet High School. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degree from Tennessee Tech and a second master’s from the University of Tennessee. On this flight Wilmore is taking a Mount Juliet High School jersey along. What a great way to show his appreciation for the Volunteer State.