•  Capt. Andrew Briscoe    
     
     

    Andrew Briscoe Elementary school was built in 1928.  The school opened in March, 1929.  This school was name for a patriot, merchant, rancher, and businessman of this, the Harrisburg, area.

    Andrew Briscoe was born November 25, 1810, in Mississippi in Claiborne county.  He made several trips on horseback to Texas before coming here to live in 1833 where he registered as a citizen of Coahuila and Texas.  He opened a store in Anuahuac in 1835.  He opposed the irregular collection of customs with Mexican officials and had trouble with them.

    He came to Harrisburg next and again he had trouble with the Mexican officials.  Andrew was captain of the Liberty Volunteers at the Battle of Conception.  He was elected delegate from his municipality to the convention of 1836 at Washington on the Brazos.  He signed the Declaration of Independence but before the convention was over, he left to take up his pressing military duties.

    At the Battle of San Jacinto, he was captain of Company A infantry regulars.  Sam Houston thought so well of Andrew Briscoe that he appointed him Chief Justice of Harrisburg.  When his term expired in 1839, he left public life and spent his time dealing in cattle and trying to promote a railroad from Harrisburg to Houston.  The railroad was not a success.

    In 1837, he married Miss Mary Jane Harris, a daughter of John R. Harris.  They later had four children.  In 1849, he moved his family to New Orleans where he engaged in banking and brokerage until his death in 1849.  He was buried in a family burial ground in Mississippi but later his body was brought to Austin, Texas, and laid to rest in the state cemetery.