Edward Burleson

(1798 – 1851)

Edward Burleson was the second Worshipful Master of Austin Lodge No. 12 and served from 1842 to 1843. He was a charter member of Austin Lodge No. 12, but demitted from the Lodge on December 2, 1843.

Brother Burleson was born on December 15, 1798 in Buncombe County, North Carolina. He arrived in Texas in 1830. On April 4, 1831 he received a parcel of land in Stephen F. Austin’s second colony, in today’s Bastrop County.

On March 12, 1836 he was elected colonel of the First Regiment of Texas Volunteers, whom he commanded at the Battle of San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution. In 1837 he was elected as Brigadier General of the militia and in 1838 he was appointed as Colonel of the First Regiment of infantry of the regular army of Texas.

He was politically active, and represented Bastrop County in the House of Representatives in the Second Congress from 1837-1839, and was a senator in the Third Congress, 1838-1839. In 1838 he laid out the town of Waterloo (today City of Austin). On September 6, 1841 he was elected Vice-President of the Republic of Texas. In 1844 he ran for president but lost to fellow Mason Anson Jones.

He died on December 26, 1851 and was buried at what became later the Texas State Cemetery. Austin Lodge No. 12 held his funeral service.

Brother Burleson was very active masonically, and even served as Grand Junior Warden in 1843.

While he was Worshipful Master of Austin Lodge No. 12, Bro. Burleson was elected as Vice-President of the Republic of Texas. The election was on September 6, 1841, and he was inaugurated on December 10.

When Burleson died on December 26, 1851, he was the first person to be buried in the newly established State Cemetery, receiving a Masonic burial by his brethren of Austin Lodge No. 12.

Brother Burleson is buried at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas.