Sam Houston’s Daughter Dies after Schulenburg Automobile Crash
A Slice of History: 1932
The youngest daughter of General Sam Houston was fatally injured in an automobile crash on the eastern outskirts of Schulenburg on Dec. 2, 1932 while passing through town. Mr. Edmund Dusek who witnessed the crash reported that the Ford swerved and then rolled over into a ditch with the wheels in the air. The occupants were unable to remove themselves from the car until bystanders were able to right the car and remove the occupants. Mrs. Antoinette “Nettie” Houston Bringhurst, daughter of General Sam Houston, suffered four broken ribs and a broken collar bone. She was transported to a local doctor for first aid and then transferred to the hospital in San Antonio by Schwenke Funeral Home Ambulance escorted by two Texas Highway Patrolmen motorcycle officers. The other occupants, Mrs. Bringhurst’s daughter, Nettie Bush, a niece, and a ten-year-old granddaughter were not seriously injured but badly shaken.
The damaged car was taken to the Chevrolet garage where repairs were made so that the other occupants could continue their journey. Mrs. Bringhurst and her relatives were on the way to Houston and LaPorte to visit her brother Col. Andrew Jackson Houston, the only surviving son of General Houston. It was later determined that there was a large nail in the rear tire which caused the automobile to swerve and crash.
On Monday morning Dec. 5, Mrs. Bringhurst succumbed to her injuries. She was laid to rest in San Antonio on Tuesday. Her funeral services were held at the historic Alamo with the six flags of Texas surrounding her silver casket.
Mrs. Bringhorst was a patron of the arts and accomplished poetess. One of her notable poems was the “Flag of a Single Star” which was put to music and sung by the school children of Texas.
Mr. Bringhurst was the fifth born child of General Sam Houston in a line of eight children, four boys and four girls. She was married in the Governor’s Mansion in Austin, Texas on February 2, 1877, being given in marriage by Governor Hubbard, a close family friend. In 1925 Mrs. Bringhurst unveiled the statue of her father which stands at the entrance to Herman Park in Houston a fitting tribute to the Father of Texas Independence.