SONS OF DEWITT COLONY TEXAS
© 1997-2019, Wallace L. McKeehan, All Rights Reserved
Immortal 32-Index

Sons of DeWitt Colony Texas salutes Judy Lynn Turner, the current spirit and energy behind keeping this extended family together, and memorilizing them both in spirit and in physical locations.

THE ANDREW KENT MUSTER
2019 ANDREW JACKSON KENT DESCENDANT REUNION
GONZALES, TEXAS

Over the years, the extended family reunion known as the biennial Andrew Kent Muster has grown to be a combined descendant reunion and celebration and memorial to the life of Gonzales Ranger and Alamo Defender Andrew Kent, if not the sacrifices of the Alamo Relief Force from Gonzales as a whole.  After beginning over 25 years ago in Fredericksburg, the Muster in recent years has been held in Gonzales, the main municipality of the land grant and interactions.  Gonzales was where Andrew and son David Boyd Kent made their fateful decisions of who would go to relief of the doomed Alamo with their Gonzales comrades, where the Kent and allied families Burket and Zumwalt would await the fateful news of the fall of the Alamo and begin their flight east on the Runaway Scrape. 

Photo:   Member of the Alamo garrison and son, David Kent---I regret that I conceded to my father’s wishes....that I did not return to duty at the Alamo and that it was me, not him,  that stayed home to take care of the family on the Lavaca.

It's been 180 years since Andrew Kent, torn between loyalty to family, his colleagues in the garrison, restoration of the Constitution of 1824 and Texas Independence, died along with the Gonzales Ranger Alamo Relief Force in the Alamo. The Gonzales Rangers were effectively the only organized unit which responded to the appeals of Col. William B. Travis by fighting their way into the surrounded Alamo to join their doomed colleagues and die with them.

Each year on the anniversary of the defeat at the Alamo there is a special memorial service in the Alamo Chapel for the descendants of the Alamo Defenders where the names of all, including messengers and those spared, were called with the descendants present rising to honor them. The Andrew Kent family is well represented.

Photo:  Texas Ranger son Bosmon Kent---I was a scout in Col. Jack Hays regiment under Capt. Ben McCulloch when in the Battle of Monterrey Mexican lancers cornered Capt. McCulloch.  Brandishing an empty pistol, I charged the lancers who quickly ran into a gully. I guess the Mexican soldiers thought my lack of firing was because I was taking careful aim at each one individually.

The family muster is a festive occasion in historic Gonzales, Texas where descendants and general history interests swap stories about the family and the early days of Texas. Pictures, displays, treasures, school projects about the family are welcome.   There usually is a lineup of interesting speakers and sometimes period re-enactments about the family. For example, the 2016 muster featured a skit and musical performance of "Always Cross the Line" by Kent descendants dressed in period costumes as the Andrew Kent "children of the Alamo."

(Many thanks to Brenda Lord for organizing and presenting this creative presentation)

All interested in this historic Texas family are welcome.

Photo:   Youngest daughter, Mary Ann Kent, died in 1917 at age 92---The last time I saw father Andrew was when I was 8 years old, the family stood waving goodby to him and Mr. Millsaps and Mr. Summers at the homeplace on the Lavaca River.   Father's last words as he rode to Gonzales were ' This time we may see blood.'  Safe in town with cousin Zumwalt's family in Gonzales at 3 AM on March 6, we heard the boom of distant cannons, at daybreak there was only silence."

Allied families of Arnold, Beck, Billings, Boyd, Brown, Brunson, Burkett, Byas, Caffall, Darst, Dillard, McDaniel, Newman, Pearson, Riley, Smith, Stockman, Walton, Wiley, Wonsley, Zumwalt, & many more are usually represented, all are welcome.

(Above quotes from children are fictional based on family stories)

SONS OF DEWITT COLONY TEXAS
© 1997-2019, Wallace L. McKeehan, All Rights Reserved
Immortal 32-Index