Fisher Family

A native of Pennsylvania, Samuel Rhoads Fisher (1794-1839) came to Texas in 1830, settling in Matagorda, where he became an active member of the colony. He represented that municipality at the convention of 1836 and signed the Declaration of Independence at Washington-on-the-Brazos. Fisher was appointed Secretary of the Navy for the Republic of Texas, but resigned following a protracted dispute with President Sam Houston.

Samuel Rhoads Fisher married Ann (also referred to as Nancy) Pleasants (1796-1862), the daughter of Israel Pleasants of Pennsylvania. Their children were Samuel William Fisher (1819-1874), who married Eliza Ophelia Smith (1823-1877), daughter of Patrick Smith of Cincinnati, Ohio; Ann Pleasants Fisher (1823-1906 or 1907) who married, first, James Wilmer Dallam (1818-1847) and, second, John Woods Harris (1810-1887); Israel Fisher (1826?-1848); Rebecca Fisher (1830-1862), who married John Calhorda Perry (1818-1861); Rhoads Fisher (1832-1911), who married Sophia Rollins Harris (1840-1889); and Elizabeth Rhoads Fisher (died 1836).

Samuel William Fisher, the eldest child of Samuel Rhoads Fisher, continued to live in Matagorda. The children of Samuel William and Eliza Ophelia Fisher were Samuel Rhoads Fisher (1849-1911), who married Helen M. Woolridge (1853-1934); Frederick Kenner Fisher (1852-1920), who married Lucy Adelaid Selkirk; Coleman Fisher (1853-1855); Walter Pemberton Fisher (1856-1900), who married Lillie B. Harris (died 1900); Nannette (sometimes referred to as Annette) Pleasants "Nettie" Fisher (1857-1939), who married John W. Armstrong (1843-1911); William Comstock Fisher (born 1860), who married Alice Porter; Henry Mansfield Fisher (died 1862); and Charles James Fisher (1867-1901?).

References

Armstrong Family Papers, 1906-1969, Doc 6170, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.

Biographical Directory of the Texas Conventions and Congresses . Austin, Texas: Book Exchange, Inc., 1941.

Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Founders and Patriots of the Republic of Texas: The Lineages of the Members of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Volumes I and II. Austin, Texas: Daughters of the Republic of Texas, 1962, 1974.

Fisher Family Papers, 1817-1911, Col 887, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.

Franklin, Ethel Mary, ed. "Memoirs of Mrs. Annie P. Harris." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 40 (January 1937): 231-246.

Historic Matagorda County, Volume I. Houston: D. Armstrong Co., Inc., 1986.

Kemp, Louis Wiltz. The Signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence . Salado, Texas: The Anson Jones Press, 1959.

Kemp, Louis Wiltz. "Samuel Rhoads Fisher." Handbook of Texas Online . http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ffi23 .

From the guide to the Fisher Family Papers Col 887., 1817-1911, (Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library at the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas)