In 1836, brothers Joseph and Nathaniel Kerr of Lake Providence, Louisiana, set off on horses to join the Texas Revolution. Joseph died fighting at the Alamo; Nathaniel was felled by an illness shortly before the battle. As a reward for their service, their relatives received 960 acres in the newly founded Republic of Texas. I have a framed copy of the land grant hanging in my hallway to acknowledge the first members of my family to live in Texas—however briefly.By the time I was born, whatever heroic qualities my forebears possessed seemed to have all but disappeared over many generations of rising prosperity and comfort. Growing up in the Austin suburbs, the Old West seemed about as remote from my daily experience as the Qin…
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