Jesse Burnam was born in Madison County, Kentucky on September 15, 1792. His father died and his mother moved the family to Shelbyville, Tennessee where Jesse married Temperance in 1812. Jesse traded for a small piece of land but when neighbors "got close enough to hear them call hogs” Jesse felt “cramped” and they had to move. Burnam contracted consumption (tuberculosis) and was advised to move to a warmer climate. The couple and their four children left Tennessee for Texas settling on the west bank of the Colorado River about twelve miles below present-day La Grange in the fall of 1822.
In 1824 Jesse Burnam was granted title to a league of land (4428 acres) as one of Stephen F. Austin's "Old Three Hundred". He was elected Captain of the local militia and was charged with mounting a defense against the various Indian tribes that caused constant and considerable trouble to the settlers. Captain Burnam was kept busy in this position and took part in many Indian encounters.
Burnam also took part in one of the only surgical reports on record from the early days of Austin's Colony. A man by the name of Parker lived across the river from Burnam and one of his legs was "terribly diseased". He begged to have the leg taken off for two months before Burnam and three other men agreed to the amputation. They undertook the job with a dull saw and shoe knife, the only tools they had. Burnam removed Parker's suspenders and used them to create a rude tourniquet before the operation began. One man was to cut the flesh, another would cut the bone, Burnam would hold the flesh back, and the fourth man was to do the sewing with a heated and bent needle. After the surgery, Parker rested easy for three days but then complained that the heel on his other leg hurt. He died on the eleventh day.
Jesse established Burnam's Crossing, a combination trading post and ferry, near his fortified residence on the lower La Bahia Road. It was a popular stopping point and river crossing for settlers and travelers.
Temperance Burnam was the mother of nine children when she died in 1833 leaving Jesse with a house full of young children. They needed schooling so he took them 15 miles to the only school in the area established at David Breeding's home. He built a shed tent with a long bedstead for his daughters to sleep in while his sons slept under the trees.
Jesse Burnam participated in the Convention of 1832, the first political gathering of colonists in Mexican Texas. The delegates adopted a series of resolutions requesting changes in the governance of Texas including tax relief, immigration reform and full statehood separate from Mexico.
By August of 1835 war with Mexico was imminent. In November Jesse Burnam served as a delegate to the General Consultation that created a provisional government for an independent Texas.
In late January 1836 William Barrett Travis and his company spent several days at his "Head Quarters at Burnam's" before going on to the Alamo. A month later, Colonel Travis found himself in the San Antonio mission "besieged by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna".
The battle of the Alamo lasted 13 days and ended with the death of all its defenders on March 6, 1836. About the same time Gen-eral Sam Houston was "lingering" all night, all day and all night again at Burnam's Crossing before making his way to his gathering army in Gonzales. There he learned that the Alamo had fallen and that Santa Anna and his army of more than 3000 men planned to sweep across Texas destroying everything in their path.
Houston ordered a retreat back to Burnam's Crossing. He reached the Colorado River on March 17, 1836, with about 700 men. He intended to make a stand against the Mexican army but changed his mind when he found out that the enemy was only a few miles away. He ordered another retreat and it took two days for Burnam's ferry to get all the men, horses, baggage and fleeing settlers across the river. Heavy spring rains were causing the river to rise and swell making the crossing even more difficult, but it also kept the Mexican army at bay for a few more days. Two of Jesse Burnam's sons joined Houston's army and participated in the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836.
The first session of the First Congress of the Republic of Texas was held in the fall of 1836 and John G. Robison represented this area. He was killed by Indians in February 1837 and Jesse Burnam was elected as his replacement to the second session held in May and June 1837.
The Burnam children weathered the years of turmoil with their father but longed for a mother and felt that the widow of James J. Ross, Nancy Cummins Ross would "make us a good mother". She agreed and married Jesse on July 21, 1837. They had seven children.
By 1855, the population of Fayette County was close to 4000 and Jesse felt “cramped” again and had to move. The family settled in Burnet County and Jesse died at his home on Double Horn Creek on April 30, 1883.
