Unflinching Courage: Pioneering Women Who Shaped Texas

by Kay Bailey Hutchison

Overview

In Unflinching Courage, former United States Senator and New York Times bestselling author Kay Bailey Hutchison brings to life the incredible stories of the resourceful and brave women who shaped the state of Texas and influenced American history.

A passionate storyteller, Senator Hutchison introduces the mothers and daughters who claimed a stake in the land when it was controlled by Spain, the wives and sisters who valiantly contributed to the Civil War effort, and ranchers and entrepreneurs who have helped Texas thrive.

Unflinching Courage: Pioneering Women Who Shaped Texas is a celebration of the strength, bravery, and spirit of these remarkable women and their accomplishments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062130716
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/01/2014
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison grew up in La Marque, Texas, and graduated from the University of Texas and UT Law School. She was twice elected to the Texas House of Representatives. In 1990 she was elected Texas state treasurer, and in 1993 she was the first woman elected to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate. In 2006 she was elected chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, becoming one of the top four leaders of Senate Republicans and the only woman. She lives in Dallas with her husband, Ray, and their daughter and son, Bailey and Houston.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xv

Maps xix

Prologue: Overview of Nineteenth-Century Texas 1

I My Heritage 1810-1883 15

Anna Mary Taylor 19

Mary Shindler 23

Martha Hall Sharp 29

II Jane Long, Mother of Texas 1820s-1830s 33

III The Texas Revolution 1830s-1850s 57

Susanna Dickinson 68

Dilue Rose 76

Anna Raguet 96

Mary "Polly" Rusk 101

Emily Austin Bryan Perry 106

IV Indian Captives 1830s-1860s 113

Rachel Parker Plummer 125

Cynthia Ann Parker 134

V Margaret Lea Houston, Part 1 1830s-1840s 145

The Courtship of Sam and Margaret | Marriage | Republic of Texas

VI Margaret Lea Houston, Part 2 1840s-1860s 173

Statehood | Secession | Civil War

VII Trail Drives and Ranches 1860s-1920s 219

Kate Malone Medlin 224

Bettie Matthews Reynolds 231

Amanda Nite Burks 236

Hattie Standefer Cluck 244

Eliza Bunton Johnson 246

Molly Dunn Bugbee 251

Margaret Heffernan Dunbar Hardy Borland 256

Lizzie Johnson Williams 260

Mollie Taylor Bunton 265

Henrietta Chamberlain King 274

Molly Dyer Goodnight 283

VIII Master Builders: A Tale of Two Cities and Two Centuries 1850s-1950s 291

Sarah Cockrell 295

Oveta Culp Hobby 303

Epilogue 317

Appendix: Family Trees

Taylor-Shindler Family 321

Hall-Sharp Family 322

Austin Family 323

Parker Family 324

Houston Family 325

Lea Family 326

Bunton-Johnson Family 327

King Family 328

Suggestions for Further Reading 329

Credits 335

Index 337

Editorial Reviews

A series of brightly written biographies of an extraordinary gallery of pioneering women, many of whom are unknown even to the most history-minded of Texans. …The lesser-known shapers of Texas are presented in as full and interesting detail as the more celebrated.” — Dale L. Walker, Dallas News

“Former U.S. Senator Hutchison was the first woman to represent Texas in the Senate, and she’s admirably devoted her authorial career to writing women back into the historical record.” — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

A series of brightly written biographies of an extraordinary gallery of pioneering women, many of whom are unknown even to the most history-minded of Texans. …The lesser-known shapers of Texas are presented in as full and interesting detail as the more celebrated.

Dale L. Walker

Former U.S. Senator Hutchison (American Heroines) was the first woman to represent Texas in the Senate, and she’s admirably devoted her authorial career to writing women back into the historical record. Taking a local history approach that incorporates her family’s Texas roots, Hutchison emphasizes in her newest the independent spirit of Texans who rose up against Mexican rule and who carved out a living from the rugged landscape. She writes a doggedly chronological story, stretching from Anna Mary Taylor (the author’s great-great-grandmother), a young bride in Nacogdoches in 1831 most known for her gardening; to Oveta Culp Hobby, a politically influential journalist who headed the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in the early 1940s. There is no discernible criteria for Hutchison’s choices of pioneering women, though the majority of them are from the early 19th century and include Susanna Dickinson, one of a handful of women who survived the Alamo; and Rachel Parker Plummer, who was captured and brutally beaten by Comanche Indians. Unfortunately, these individual stories lack depth, cohesion, and nuance. Most of the historical context is presented in chunks separate from the lives of the women, which only calls attention to how they are still viewed as outsiders in mainstream history. Texas women await their historical due. Agent: Robert B. Barnett, Williams & Connolly LLP. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Senator Hutchison (Leading Ladies: American Trailblazers, 2008, etc.) brings stories of her state's unsung heroines to light. The author writes of women who, in the early 19th century, followed their husbands to settle in Texas with its promise of cheap land and prosperity. Generally well educated and from genteel backgrounds, these pioneers had the courage and resilience to endure wars, primitive living conditions, diseases and grueling labor. It was all too common for women, such as Emily Austin Bryan Perry, sister of Stephen F. Austin ("the Father of Texas"), to survive the deaths of more than one husband and several children. Hutchison's roots go back to her great-great grandfather Charles S. Taylor, a key figure in the state's fight for independence from Mexico in 1836. During ensuing conflicts, her great-great grandmother was among the women who packed their families in wagons and headed east, fleeing the Mexican army in what was called the "Runaway Scrape." Like many others, her three daughters died along the way. Readers will also learn about Margaret Houston, who suffered from melancholy, disliked politics and tended her eight children, mostly alone, while Sam Houston was away managing affairs of the state; Rachel Parker Plummer, who was kidnapped by a Comanche tribe and rescued, forever scarred by the ordeal; and Sarah Cockrell, the "mother of Dallas." The book is laden with historical facts, and some readers may wish for more fluid storytelling, but Hutchison ably sets down a record of these remarkable women's lives. For readers who want to learn more, she provides a comprehensive bibliography. Though regional in nature, the hardships and contributions of these pioneers reflect those of women across the country. A valuable resource for the archives of Texas and women's history.

Kirkus Reviews