AUSTIN - Along with Stephen F. Austin, he is considered a founding father of Texas. As a leading participant in the Texas Revolution, he was one of three Mexican signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. He was the sole Hispanic representative at an 1845 convention that led Texas to statehood. Alamo hero James Bowie was his nephew.

Yet, in the state Capitol, where monuments to Texas historical figures are as common as cowboy boots in the Legislature, for Jose Antonio Navarro - an early Texas statesman, legislator, rancher, merchant and namesake of a North Texas county - such an honor is not to be found.

That will change on Feb. 27, when a cenotaph will be dedicated to Navarro at the State Cemetery.

"It will be the 220th anniversary of his birthday … a fitting tribute to his life, for a man who helped shape and determine the destiny of Texas," said Navarro's great-great-great granddaughter, Sylvia Navarro Tillotson of Dallas. "This will be the first monument to him in Austin."

Will Erwin, senior historian at the State Cemetery, said Navarro was "one of those historical figures who was a part of most of the big events that you read about in the history books.

"We always appreciate an opportunity to talk about that part of Texas history, and this new monument will allow us to talk about his life and his accomplishments," Erwin said. "It will put a face on him, so it's not just someone you read about."

Born in San Antonio in 1795, when Texas was still a part of Mexico, Navarro, whose mother descended from Spanish nobility, grew up with a rudimentary education but taught himself the law. After becoming licensed to practice law, he represented Texas in the Legislature the early 1830s, and in the federal congress in Mexico City. Historical records show he helped Stephen F. Austin obtain his contracts from the Mexican government to bring settlers into Texas and served as a land commissioner for the Dewitt Colony between 1830-32.

Original signer

As part of a longstanding friendship with Austin, Navarro was an early supporter of independence for Texas. While participating in the independence convention, he received word of the March 1836 fall of the Alamo, where Bowie died, and worked to secure the release of three relatives being held by the Mexicans.

He was one of the original signers of Texas' Declaration of Independence from Mexico, along with his uncle Jose Francisco Ruiz, the only native Texans among the 59 men who put their names to the document. Historical records show he was the only native-born Texan on the committee that wrote both that constitution and the one that was drawn up when Texas became a state in 1845, an accomplishment that historians say gives him special distinction.

In 1841, he participated in the ill-fated Santa Fe Expedition that was intended to persuade New Mexico to secede from Mexico and join with the new nation of Texas. Captured, tried and sentenced to death, Navarro refused to renounce his allegiance to Texas and remained a prisoner in Mexico for several years before he escaped and returned home in 1844.

Tillotson said that it was during that period, when the Mexican government tried to get him to renounce his support of Texas, that Navarro gave the quote for which he, perhaps, is most famous: "I will never forsake Texas and her cause; I am her son."

Returning to Texas a hero, Navarro participated in the government he had helped establish. A steadfast defender of Tejano rights, he served in the first session of the Texas House and in the state Senate between 1846 and 1849. He worked closely with noted state Sen. Juan Seguin to promote legislation supporting the Tejano citizenry, a group that was becoming a political minority.

'Significant' place

"His place in Texas history is significant," said Emiliano Calderon, site educator at San Antonio's Casa Navarro State Historical Site, Navarro's onetime homestead that has been restored. "He's definitely someone historians can look to understand Tejano viewpoints during this period because of the amount of writing he did and the legislation he produced."

Navarro County near Dallas was named for him in 1846, with its county seat designated as Corsicana, in honor of his father's birthplace of Corsica, an island in the Mediterranean.

In his later years, Navarro was a successful rancher near Seguin and became an outspoken advocate of state's rights, although he did not support Texas' secession from the Union in 1861. Nonetheless, his four sons fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Navarro also was a successful merchant who often was called upon to supply goods and merchandise to the military. He died in 1871.

"What makes his story more impressive is that he did not speak English. He had a translator with him," Tillotson said. "Imagine trying to do what he did through all those years if you didn't speak English."

As a girl, Tillotson said she was always told she was related to "a very famous man,' but she knew little about Navarro's accomplishments until later in her life. Several years ago, she became involved in the restoration of Casa Navarro in downtown San Antonio and realized there was no statue of him in Austin.

"He is buried in San Antonio, but the next best thing to have him buried there would be to have a monument to him in Austin," she said. "So, that's what we did."

Love of Texas inherited

In 2012, as a board member of the Texas Historical Foundation that supports Texas heritage preservation and awareness, she began work to recognize Navarro's achievements in Austin at a place visited by tens of thousands of tourists annually. The volunteer-led effort eventually raised funds to cover the approximately $50,000 cost of the project.

Instead of a traditional monument, a bronze bust of Navarro will sit atop a marble pillar, its sides featuring inscriptions highlighting his accomplishments and place in history. Noted Texas sculptor Gilbert Beall was commissioned to craft the bust, she said.

"This is important for my children and grandchildren to understand his accomplishments and his place in Texas history, but also for other Texans to understand that, as well," she said. "If I inherited anything from him, it was his love of Texas."

At the cemetery, Navarro's bust will be sited on Republic Hill where 15 other signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence are buried, including his old confidant, Stephen F. Austin.