David Spangler Kaufman
born at Boiling Springs, PA.
December 18, 1813
Died at Washington, D. C.
January 31, 1851
Erected by the State of Texas
Back of headstone
Member of the House of the
3rd, 4th, 5th Congress of the
Republic
Speaker of the 4th and 5th Congresses Charge
D'affaires to the United States in 1845
The first man from Texas
to be seated, June 11, 1846
as a member of the House
of Representatives of the
United States Congress
|
| Full Name: |
David Spangler Kaufman |
| Location: |
Section:Republic Hill, Section 2 (C2)
Row:U Number:8 |
| Reason for Eligibility: |
Republic of Texas Veteran; Member and Speaker, Republic of Texas House of Representatives; Member, Republic of Texas Senate; Charge` d'Affaires, Republic of Texas; Member, United States House of Representatives |
| Birth Date: |
December 18, 1813 |
| Died: |
January 31, 1851 |
| Burial Date: |
Reinterred in 1932 |
| | KAUFMAN, DAVID SPANGLER (1813-1851). David Spangler Kaufman, lawyer, Indian fighter, and politician, son of Daniel Kaufman, was born in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, on December 18, 1813. After graduating with high honors from Princeton College in 1830, he studied law under Gen. John A. Quitman in Natchez, Mississippi, and was admitted to the bar. He began his legal career in Natchitoches, Louisiana, in 1835. Two years later he settled in Nacogdoches, Texas, where he practiced law and participated in military campaigns against the Cherokee Indians. He was wounded in the encounter in which Chief Bowl lost his life in 1839. Kaufman occupied a number of important positions in the republic and state of Texas. Between 1838 and 1841 he represented Nacogdoches County in the House of the Third Congress of the republic; he served as speaker in the Fourth and Fifth congresses. From December 1843 through June 1845 he represented Shelby, Sabine, and Harrison counties in the Senate of the republic. Texas president Anson Jones named him chargé d'affaires to the United States in February 1845. After annexation Kaufman represented the Eastern District of Texas in the United States House of Representatives during the Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first congresses. While in Congress, Kaufman argued unsuccessfully that Texas owned lands that are now parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming, and Oklahoma. He encouraged Governor Peter H. Bell to have Texas troops seize Santa Fe. He also played a role in the Compromise of 1850, whereby the national government assumed the debts of Texas. No other Jewish Texan served in Congress until the 1970s. Kaufman was a Mason and a charter member of the Philosophical Society of Texas. He married Jane Baxter Richardson, daughter of Daniel Long Richardson, on April 21, 1841. The couple had three sons and a daughter. Kaufman died in Washington, D.C., on January 31, 1851, and was buried in the Congressional Cemetery there. In 1932 his remains were moved to the State Cemetery in Austin. Kaufman County and the city of Kaufman are named for him.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: George L. Crocket, Two Centuries in East Texas (Dallas: Southwest, 1932; facsimile reprod., 1962). Natalie Ornish, Pioneer Jewish Texans (Dallas: Texas Heritage, 1989). Texas House of Representatives, Biographical Directory of the Texan Conventions and Congresses, 1832-1845 (Austin: Book Exchange, 1941). Dudley Goodall Wooten, ed., A Comprehensive History of Texas (2 vols., Dallas: Scarff, 1898; rpt., Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1986).
Natalie Ornish
"KAUFMAN, DAVID SPANGLER." The Handbook of Texas Online. [Accessed Wed Feb 12 17:37:19 US/Central 2003]. |
|
Follow Us