Jesse Cornelius Tannehill

(1797 – 1863)

Jesse Cornelius Tannehill was born December 30, 1797 in Kentucky. In 1827 he moved to Caney, Texas in Matagorda County. In early 1829 he moved to Bastrop County where he joined Stephen F. Austin’s Little Colony. In 1832 he secured the headright of 4,428 acres on the Colorado River above Bastrop in what is now Travis County. Tannehill was active in the land development of Travis County, and with several others he laid out the townsite of Montopolis at about the same time Waterloo was selected as capital of the Republic of Texas. Brother Tannehill died on March 18, 1863. He was buried in the family cemetery near his home, and he and his wife were reinterred in the State Cemetery in 1965.

He served as Worshipful Master of Austin Lodge No. 12 in 1844, 1845 and 1849. Unfortunately all additional records have been lost in the the fire that destroyed the lodge in 1866.

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