format this article to print THURSTON, JOHN M. (1812-1836). John M. Thurston, Alamo defender and officer of the Alamo garrison, son of Thomas Whiting and Mary Dorsey (Luckett) Thurston, was born in Pennsylvania on April 17, 1812. There is evidence that he was actually named Mountjoy Luckett Thurston, but he took the name of his brother John, who died in infancy in 1811. Thurston came to Texas from Kentucky and received a commission as a second lieutenant in the regular Texas cavalry on December 21, 1835. In January 1836 he delivered thirty-six pounds of rifle powder to Capt. Philip Dimmitt, qv for which he received a pay voucher. He later signed this claim over to T. D. Hendrick. Thurston traveled to the Alamo as an officer of Capt. John H. Forsyth's qv cavalry company, accompanying Lt. Col. William B. Travis, qv and died in the battle of the Alamo qv on March 6, 1836. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Comptroller's Records, Texas State Archives, Austin. Daughters of the American Revolution, The Alamo Heroes and Their Revolutionary Ancestors (San Antonio, 1976). Bill Groneman | |
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