A surprising number of Texians present at the Convention of '36 passed on before their time....
Some prominent examples, in alphabetical order....
Stephen F. Austin: Deservedly remembered as
"The Father of Texas". Died of pneumonia, December 1836. Age 43.
Samuel Price Carson:
Delegate at the Convention of 1836.
Secretary of State of the Republic of Texas. Died of an illness in Arkansas in 1838. Age 40.
George Childress:
Delegate at the Convention of 1836.
The author of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Six years later, possibly despondent over his third failed attempt to start his own law practice, Childress fatally disemboweled himself with a Bowie knife
Age 37.
James Collingsworth:
Delegate at the Convention of 1836.
First Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas. Leapt to his death from a steamboat in Galveston Bay. Thought to have been a suicide, 1838. Age 32.
Bailey Hardemann:
Delegate at the Convention of 1836.
Secretary of the Treasury of the Republic of Texas. Dies of a fever September 1836. Age 41.
Robert Potter:
Delegate at the Convention of 1836. The poster child of dysfunctional Texians. Back in North Carolina Potter hog-tied and castrated two men he suspected of fooling around with his first wife, one of these two men being his wife's cousin. Later expelled from North Carolina legislature for cheating at cards.
Gets divorced and heads to Texas. Elected delegate to the Convention of 1836. Shot and killed by a mob during the Regulator-Moderator Feud of East Texas, 1842. Upon his death his third and then-current wife discovers he was still married to his second. Age 42.
David Thomas:
Delegate at the Convention of 1836.
Principal author, Constitution of the Republic of Texas. Fatally hit in the leg by a musket ball during the Runaway Scrape. Age 44.
William H. Wharton:
Delegate at the Convention of 1836.
Minister to the United States, Republic of Texas Senator. Accidentally shot himself in 1839 while dismounting from a horse. Age 37.
Lorenzo de Zavala:
Delegate at the Convention of 1836.
Interim Vice President of the Republic of Texas. In November of '36 his rowboat overturned in Buffalo Bayou, as a result he came down with a fatal case of pneumonia. Age 48.
Birdwatcher
