Eighth Generation

255. Capt. Elisha P. CLAPP²³⁴ was born in 1803 in TN.²³⁵ He signed a petition on 22 April 1837 in Mustang Prairie, TX.²³⁶ Signed a petition for the creation of Houston County, Texas. Name paid Taxes value place date He owned 8,777 acres by title and 2959 by survey. He had 5 Negroes over 10 and 1 under 10. He owned 8 work horses and 30 cattle and 1 wood clock. He paid $13.01 in taxes. He died in 1856 at the age of 53 in Houston Co., TX.²³⁵ Buried in the Clapp Family Cemetery at Mustang Prairie in Houston Co., about 9 miles southwest of Crockett. Elisha was buried in 1856 in Elisha Clapp Cemetery, Houston Co., TX.²³⁵ Marker is 10 miles north of Crockett on SH 21 to FM 2967, then one mile north to Elisha Clapp Cemetery Road. Pioneer and Indian Fighter, gravesite marked by Texas Centennial Granite Rock incised and dated 1935. CLAPP, ELISHA (ca. 1803-1856?). Elisha Clapp, soldier and farmer, was born in Tennessee about 1803 and immigrated to Texas in 1822; he settled at Nacogdoches. Entrance Certificate 1834, Wife and four children. He enlisted in Capt. Henry Wax Karnes's qv cavalry company on April 7, 1836, and participated in the battle of San Jacinto. Afterward he was detached to guard Mexican prisoners. He was discharged from the army on May 28, 1836. For his service Clapp received a labor of land in Houston County (Mexican Land Grant, 14 Jan 1835 - one League in present day Houston Co., TX - 4,428 acres). On September 10, 1836, he was elected Captain of a company of mounted rangers at his home at Mustang Prairie. Sam Houston, as commander in chief of the Texas army, ordered his company to "range from any point on the Brazos to Mr. Hall's Trading House on the Trinity" to intercept parties of raiding Indians. Clapp organized an expedition against the Ionie Indians, who, according to one settler, "have been committing some depredations in the horse stealing way" on the frontier.
On May 31, 1837, President Houston nominated Clapp for a commission as Captain and appointment to the command of the ranger company from Nacogdoches County. The Senate confirmed the nomination on June 13. Although Houston noted in his instructions to the auditor that Clapp was illiterate and that his muster roll must be monitored with special care, when Clapp moved to the Houston County community of Alabama he helped to organize and became one of the first eleven trustees of Trinity College, in April 1841. By March 1, 1849, he had moved to Leon County, where he and his wife, Rebecca Elizabeth (Robbins), and six of their eight children were living at the time of his death, which the Texas Presbyterian reported on December 6, 1851. Other sources state that he died in 1856. The value of his real property was estimated as $17,800.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Muster Rolls of the Texas Revolution (Austin, 1986). Sam Houston Dixon and Louis Wiltz Kemp, The Heroes of San Jacinto (Houston: Anson Jones, 1932). Houston County Cemeteries (Crockett, Texas: Houston County Historical Commission, 1977; 3d ed. 1987). John H. Jenkins, ed., The Papers of the Texas Revolution, 1835-1836 (10 vols., Austin: Presidial Press, 1973). Madison County Historical Commission, A History of Madison County (Dallas: Taylor, 1984). Telegraph and Texas Register, June 13, 1837, April 7, 1841. Gifford E. White, 1830 Citizens of Texas (Austin: Eakin, 1983). Amelia W. Williams and Eugene C. Barker, eds., The Writings of Sam Houston, 1813-1863 (8 vols., Austin: University of Texas Press, 1938-43; rpt., Austin and New York: Pemberton Press, 1970).
Thomas W. Cutrer
Recommended citation:
"CLAPP, ELISHA." The Handbook of Texas Online. <http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/CC/fcl1.html > [Accessed Mon Jan 6 13:54:29 US/Central 2003 ].
The following is from "The Heroes of San Jacninto" by Sam Houston Dixon and Louis Wiltz Kemp. The Anson Jones Press, Houston, TX 1982. - "Clapp, Elisha. Emigrated to Texas in 1834(sic). On April 8 of 1834 he was given a certificate of character by the alcalde of Nacogdoches. he enlisted in Aptain Smith's cavalry company April 7, 1836. In Service Record No. 4902 it is stated that he was left at the battle ground April 24 to guard prisoners; and that he was discharged May 28, 1838. On May 31, 1837, he was appointed by President Houston captain of a company of Nacogdosches county in a regiment of mounted men for the defense of the frontier. He later moved to Houston County and was one of the organizers of Trinity College in that county in 1841. He and his wife moved to Leon County prior to March 1, 1849, as on that date they sold a tract of land situated in Grimes County."

Capt. Elisha P. CLAPP and Rebecca Elizabeth ROBBINS were married on 17 September 1822 in Miller Co., AR. Miller Co., AR later became Red River Co., TX. They appeared in the census in 1850 in Leon Co., TX.²³⁷ #9 Farmer ($17,800)
Elisha Clapp, 47, m, Tenn
Elizabeth, 43, f, Tenn
John, 21, m, TX
Lavina, 18, f, TX
Mary, 13, f, TX
Elisha, 7, m, TX
Lucinda, 5, f, TX
William, 2, m, TX
Elisha Price (blacksmith) 35, m, unkn
William Robinson (idiot) 28, m, PA Rebecca Elizabeth ROBBINS, daughter of Nathaniel ROBBINS and Lucy (?), was born about 1807 in TN.²³⁷ She died in 1875 at the age of 68 in Houston Co., TX.²³⁵ Buried in the Clapp Family Cemetery at Mustang Prairie in Houston Co., about 9 miles southwest of Crockett. She was buried in 1875 in Elisha Clapp Cemetery, Houston Co., TX.²³⁵

Capt. Elisha P. CLAPP and Rebecca Elizabeth ROBBINS had the following children: