For a good while now people have asked me when I was going to have a new book. Your wait is over. I have been thinking on this subject for a good while and decided that I needed to add an end cap to Texas in Her Own Words. Several people have asked me if I were going to write a sequel to the book. The more I thought about it the more I realized I have already written this book. Yes, I could release it with 62 different people in it but I submit the findings would be the same. The findings that came out of Texas in Her Own Words were more than 170 years in the making. Those concepts are not going to change anytime soon. If you have read the entire book you see at the end I refer to the four traits that all Texans share but I really don’t get down into explaining why they are so important. That’s because at the time I was aware of them but I hadn’t fully explored what those traits really say about Texans and the Texas character. That is what ‘Tex-A-Tude! covers.
I’ve probed into those traits and have just released the findings in an Texas E-book I call, ‘Tex-A-Tude’. I’m including an excerpt of the book in this blog post to give an idea of what’s in it. In this excerpt I am talking about the early settlers and what they brought with them to make Texas a viable enterprise:
“The source of the Texas character goes back to the beginning of the Texas story. Come with me as we take a look back. I have often joked that Texas was originally settled by golfers. Golfers? Yes, golfers. You see, these immigrants to the new Promised Land were all looking for mulligans. They all wanted „do overs.‟ They were looking to start over–to get a fresh start and, if necessary, to reinvent themselves. Simply put, they came for the promise of opportunity to better themselves. Look at the stories of some of the more famous settlers, Moses Austin, Sam Houston, Jim Bowie, David Crockett and William Barrett Travis.
Sam Houston was a former governor of Tennessee and an alcoholic sent here by President Andrew Jackson to see if there was a way for the United States to acquire Texas.
Crockett lost his re-election bid for congress back in Tennessee and said, “You may all go to hell. I will go to Texas.”
William Barrett Travis abandoned his family to seek his glory in Texas.
Had Jim Bowie remained in Louisiana, he probably would have been hung for land swindling and slave trading.
Moses Austin lost his bank in the Bank Panic of 1819. He was busted broke but through contacts in Mexico was able to get permission to open Texas up for colonization.
You see, they were all looking to start over. As for the other settlers, I submit to you that was the rule rather than the exception. Remember, these people were in many cases running from something. It might be bad debts, bad marriages–not to mention the law. Texas was a logical choice for someone who had killed someone somewhere else and was on the lam. The people who came here were from places like Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and Georgia. However, where they came from is not nearly as important as what they brought with them. You see, these were frontiersmen…woodsmen. These were people who knew how to live off the land. They possessed and utilized those essential survival skills needed every day of their lives–hunting, fishing and trapping. These were critical skills that were essential if you were going to survive in Texas. So Texas got started with a heavy injection of that solid pioneer stock. I don‟t think Texas could have survived doing it any other way.”
If you’d like to learn whole story, Tex-A-Tude is available for for just $3. This is a 30 page e-book with pictures, humor and a perspective even most native Texans haven’t sat down to think about. Here’s the link to my website where you can purchase ‘Tex-A-Tude’ http://www.tweedscott.com/index_files/Page434.htm Thanks for taking time to read my blog. God & Texas!
Tweed All About It 