Question: What early Texas colonist famously requested to be buried upright?
Answer: James Briton Bailey. Born in North Carolina in 1779, he moved to Texas in 1818 and was one of Stephen F. Austin’s Old Three Hundred colonists. In 1824, Austin convened the settlers at Bailey’s home in what is now Brazoria County to take an oath of fidelity to the new Mexican Constitution. Bailey, known as Brit, was given command of a militia, and he participated in local skirmishes with the Karankawa Indians and Mexican soldiers.
He died in 1832, most likely from cholera. According to a historical marker at his gravesite, his will directed that he be “buried standing up, facing west, gun at side so no one could look down on him, even in death.”
