Dear Family;
A copy of a scholarship Ross and I have established in Martin Parmer's name follows. I would urge any
of you who would like to contribute to this fund. We thought it was way past time Martin Parmer was honored.
Fran Vick
Martin Parmer Scholarship in Texas History
We, Frances B. Vick and Ross W. Vick, Jr., hereby dedicate $25,000 of the distribution from the charitable
remainder interest of the Fraces B. and Ross W. Vick, Jr. Charitable Remainder Trust to to the Board of Regents of The University
of Texas System for the use and benefit of The University of Texas at Austin. Said funds shall be used to create the
Martin Parmer Scholarship in Texas History as a permanent endowment for the benefit of the Department of History, College
of Liberal Arts. Funds distributed from the endowment shall be used to provide scholarship support for undergraduate
students concentrating in studies on Texas History, in accordance with the standard University and College scholarship procedures.
This endowment is created in memory of Martin Parmer, the Ring-Tailed Panther who was elected to a two year
term in the Missouri General Assembly (1820-21), named as a delegate to the Missouri Constitutional Convention of 1821.
Three years later he represented Clay County for a term in the Missouri State Senate (1824-1825). As a result of his
military service in the War of 1812, he was chosen colonel of the Missouri militia, where, after 1821, he led four military
companies against the Indians. He came to Texas in 1825 where he became one of the leaders of the Fredonian Rebellion.
After being pardoned in 1835, he returned to East Texas in time to be elected as a delegate from Tenaha (now Shelby County)
to the Consultation of 1835. The same year he was elected to the General council. The following year San Augustine
County selected Parmer as one of its delegates to the Constitutional convention of 1836. At Washington-on-the-Brazos
he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence and was assigned to the committee to draft the new constitution. From
the Constitutional Convention he was appointed "Impresario of Horses" by his friend Sam Houston, who was eventually on his
way to the San Jacinto Battle. In 1839 President Mirabeau B. Lamar appointed Parmer Chief Justice of Jasper County.
He died on March 2, 1850, the anniversary his signing the Declaration of Independence. He is buried in the State Cemetery
in Austin. Parmer County, organized on August 21,1876, was named in his honor. Because Frances B. Vick, and
all of his descendants are proud of him and his contribution to the founding of the State of Texas, he is honored by this
scholarship.
These endowment funds may be merged or commingled with other funds held by the Board of Regents of The University
of Texas System for investment purposes, in accordance with the policies of the Board of Regents. Funds distributed from the
endowment in a year may be retained and expended for the purposes of the endowment in subsequent years and a portion may be
designated, at the discretion of the Board or The University of Texas at Austin, as a permanent addition to the principal
of the endowment.
Such endowment shall never become a part of the Permanent University Fund, the Available University Fund or
the General Fund of the State of Texas, and shall never be subject to appropriation by the legislature of the State of Texas.
All future additions to the endowment, made by any party, including the Board of Regents or The University of Texas at Austin,
shall be subject to the provisions of this donation instrument and shall be considered permanent endowment funds. If in the
opinion of the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System, future circumstances change so that the purposes for which
the endowment is established become illegal, impractical, or no longer able to be carried out to meet the needs of The University
of Texas at Austin, said Board may designate an alternative use for the endowment payout to further the objective of the University,
in the spirit of our original purpose.
It is our hope that other persons may elect to contribute to this endowment and we intend to foster an interest
by advising friends and family of the honoree that donations are welcome. If by the receipt of such gifts, the funding level
of the endowment reaches that required for another category of endowment, whether for student, faculty, or programmatic support,
we encourage the College to consider requesting that the Board of Regents re-designate the endowment to another category if
that will better meet academic, teaching or research needs of the College. More than one such re-designation may be possible,
depending on the amount of gifts received over time, and all such re-designations should retain the name of Martin Parmer.
We request that plans for any re-designation be made in consultation with us, or the survivor of us. Following our lifetimes
we ask that any plans for re-designation be made in consultation with any family of ours or of the honoree who have made a
meaningful contribution to the endowment.
