James Coryell was born in Ohio around the turn of the 19th Century and migrated by way of the Mississippi River to New Orleans when he was 18.
From there, he went to San Antonio to check out the Texas country - a vast, unclaimed empire that he had heard a lot about in New Or leans. In San Antonio, Coryell met up with James Bowie, of knife, Ala mo and mine fame.
Frank E. Simmons, in his 1936 History of Coryell County
, wrote: 'At San Antonio, he aligned himself with James and Rezin P. Bowie, Cephas Ham and others who were making history more to their own notion than the notion of the constituted authorities.'
Simmons' account differs in some particulars with other recorded ac counts, but he provides an intriguing snapshot of Coryell and his life and times.
Of the Bowie-Coryell connection, Simmons writes: 'In 1831, he joined James and Rezin P. Bowie in their expedition to search for the San Saba mine, and on that expedition, participated in the famous Bowie Indian fight, where the little company was assaulted by more than 160 Waco, Tehucanna and Cad do Indians.
'After a terrible battle in which Bowie had several men wounded, and the enemy lost half their numbers, the Bowie company of 11 men managed to extricate themselves from their perilous position.'
From there, we know that Coryell met up with Andrew Cavitt and end ed up in present-day Falls Coun ty at Viesca, near the Falls of the Brazos. The two had already been to the Leon River country and staked out claims near the mouth of what is today Coryell Creek in the county also named for James Coryell.
Coryell and the Cavitt family tried to make a go of it during a tumultuous time in the state's history. Santa Anna and the Mexican Army had martyred the men of the Alamo and were marching north. The exodus of settlers from Texas is known as 'The Runaway Scrape.' Coryell and Cavitt were among those who stayed and covered the settlers' retreat.
Cavitt died of a fever some three months after San Jacinto. Coryell continued to live with the Cavitts and was in Ranger service with Sterling C. Robertson. He was also employed to solicit and assist settlers to Robertson's colony.
In May of 1837, Coryell and either two or three companions strayed about a mile from the fort to cut down a tree for the honey inside. They were eating the honey when Indians attacked. Coryell was severely wounded, but his companions escaped. Coryell lingered between life and death at the Cavitt home, but died two days later.
He was buried a short distance from the fort. Simmons' account quotes an old slave who said that when the slaves were given their own burial ground near old Viesca, there was already a grave just a few feet from the south line of the slaves' burial ground. That was believed to have been Coryell's grave.
It is believed the grave caved in several years later, but was covered and filled by the slaves who did not wish Coryell's spirit to be ill at ease.
Descendants of Cavitt, along with Simmons, lobbied to have the grave located and then moved to Coryell County.
Apparently, that never happened. Coryell's burial site remains unknown.
