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Photos courtesy David Bowles
A painting of “Austin’s First Daughter,” Elnora Brown, done about
1858, when she was about 18 years old.
HISTORY
Elnora Van Cleve Brown
Memorial held for ‘Austin’s First Daughter’
By Tiffany Young
Thank You
for 30 Great Years in the Lakeway Community.
Descendants of ‘Austin’s First
Daughter,’ Elnora Van Cleve
Brown, honored Travis
County pioneers with a memorial
dedication April 23 at a cemetery off
Pace Bend Park Road in Spicewood,
near Lake Travis. About 100 people
gathered at the event, which had a
color guard, bagpiper, re-enactors
and musket fire.
On April 7, City of Austin Mayor
Lee Leffingwell declared Saturday,
April 23, as “Elnora and Daniel
Brown Memorial Dedication Day”
in honor of the occasion.
Born on April 14, 1841, Elnora
Van Cleve was the second baby of
record—and the first girl—born
in the City of Austin. Her parents,
Lorenzo Van Cleve and Margaret
Smith, were the third couple to
receive a marriage license from the
city. The first baby of record, Sam
Houston Jones, was born six weeks
earlier.
Elnora Van Cleve’s parents moved
to Austin from Bastrop because her
father was a master craftsman. He
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was commissioned to do woodwork
by Maribeau Lamar, who served as
the second president of the Republic
of Texas. A copy of the original
receipt can be found in the state
archives at the capitol.
Her uncle, James W. Smith, was
the first Travis County judge—then
called chief justice— elected in 1840.
David A. Bowles, a historian and
author of the “Westward Sagas”—a
series based on his descendants—is
the great-grandson of Elnora Van
Cleve Brown and her husband
Daniel Brown. He said his extended
family has been holding what they
call a heritage event—a family
reunion in a location of historical
significance in which a past family
member took part—every other year
since 2006. Bowles said they chose
Spicewood as the location of this
year’s heritage event because it is
where Elnora Van Cleve Brown and
her husband purchased land around
1879 and raised their 15 children
before being buried at Collier-
Gregg Cemetery, a privately owned
impactnews.com • May 2011 | FEATURES | 31
David A. Bowles, great-grandson of Elnora
Van Cleve Brown, is a genealogist who has
written a series of books, “Westward Sagas,”
based on his descendants, including
the Van Cleves.
Madeline Azachi places flowers on her great,
great, great-grandmother’s tombstone.
cemetery.
Bowles found the original land
records of the property on the Pedernales
River in Elnora Van Cleves’
Bible, which led him to research his
descendants from his grandmother
to Lorenzo Van Cleve and Margaret
Smith.
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