Samuel Augustus Maverick was the first and only son of Samuel Maverick of South Carolina and his wife, Elizabeth, a daughter of General Robert Anderson, of Revolutionary fame. This couple were married October 5, 1802. They had three children, the elder being Samuel A., born in Pendleton, South Carolina, July 23, 1803, died in San Antonio, Texas, September 2, 1870. The two daughters were Mary Elizabeth and Lydia Ann.
From the Texas Volume of the Encyclopedia of the New West, published in 1881 and edited by that splendid historian, John Henry Brown, we take the following in regard to the career of the subject of this sketch, Samuel A. Maverick:
"Samuel A. Maverick graduated from Yale College in 1825, afterwards attended a law course under Judge Randolph Tucker, at Winchester, Virginia. He came to Texas in 1835, and to the day of his death occupied an honorable prominence as a citizen, a public servant and landholder. His acquisition of lands by the purchase of scrip, headrights and bounty warrants and their location upon the public domain continued to his death, whereby he was reputed by some, but doubtless erroneously, to be the largest landholder in the world. His possessions, however, became immense and were acquired in so honorable and legitimate a manner that no term of reproach ever stained his name.
"Mr. Maverick in February, 1836, was elected from San Antonio de Bexar to the convention that declared the Texas independence on the 2nd day of March. This document was first published March 2, 1836, which was the first day of the sitting of the convention. Consequently those members who came in a day or two late, have their names to the Declaration, but not to this first printed copy. (These were Samuel A. Maverick, of Bexar; A. Briscoe and John W. Moore, of Harrisburgh; S. Rhodes Fisher, of Matagorda; George Childress and Sterling C. Robertson, of Milam; Samuel P. Carson, of Red River; John W. Bower of San Patricio, and J. B. Woods.) He was mayor of San Antonio in 1839, and again in 1862; an alderman in 1841-4, and again in 1851; and was city treasurer in 1841-2. While a prisoner in the Mexican castle of Perote (having been captured in San Antonio September 11, 1842 with the judge, lawyers and citizens) he was elected a member of the eighth Texas congress of 1843-4, and released by Santa Anna at the intercession of his old friend and kinsman, the Hon. Waddy Thompson of South Carolina, then minister to Mexico, and reached home in time to sit in that body. He was representative in the legislature in 1851-2, and in 1853-4; senator in 1855-6, and in 1857-8, and again a representative in 1859-60 and the two extra sessions of 1861. He was from December 5 to 9, 1835, in the successful storming of San Antonio under Milam and Johnson. He first arrived in San Antonio September 8, 1835. On the 16th of October, 1835, he was arrested and imprisoned by the Mexican commander, Colonel Domingo Ugartachea, but released by General Cos on the 3rd of December, and escaped to the Texas forces, then besieging the place, in time to re-enter the city under Milam.
"By the secession convention of 1861, with the Hon. Thomas J. Devine and Dr. (afterwards Colonel) Phillip N. Luckett, he was appointed a commissioner to demand the surrender of the army and garrison at San Antonio and other places, which he accomplished.
"It should have been earlier stated that on the 27th of August, 1848, he was one of an expedition authorized by the state government, of fifty men and ten Delaware Indians, commanded by Colonel John C. Hays and Captain Sam Highsmith, that left San Antonio to explore the country and open a road to El Paso, an enterprise then touching the popular heart of Texas, and deemed of the utmost importance, not only in developing the west, but in asserting our title to the Rio Grande as the western boundary of Texas. Not as a mere adventurer nor as a soldier, but unknown to himself, Samuel A. Maverick was a volunteer in that expedition, actuated by the higher impulses of a statesman. No brighter spot occurs in his history. His action, a man of wealth and education, given to secret communion with his wiser self, has never been explained, and is doubtless an unknown factor in the make-up of his sterling character to his own children, then mere children or unborn. This writer knows whereof he speaks, and the wisdom of Mr. Maverick was most signally verified by what followed in the great agitations and compromises in the American congress of 1850. At the time it was regarded as a hazardous expedition into terra incognito. The party became lost and underwent the pangs of thirst and hunger. Snakes, lizards and terrapins were eaten to prevent starvation; but the expedition was successful, and returned to San Antonio on the 10th of December, after an absence of three and a half months. The same trip will be made, inside of one year, on the iron horse, in four days.
"During the war Mr. Maverick was chief justice of Bexar county from 1863 till removed by the military fiat of General Sheridan, of the United States army, after the close of the war.
"Mr. Maverick remained in private life till his death in 1870. It will be seen from 1835 to 1867, a period of thirty-two years his services were in almost constant requisition by the people in some public capacity. He never sought office, never electioneered as a candidate, and was devoid of any official aspiration. He simply served the people honestly when drafted into their service. No decent man lives who will aver that he ever did a dishonorable act, or swerved from the highest sense of regard for integrity and the rights of the people in all his career.
"This sketch of his Texas career is a voluntary offering from one who has known him long and well and often served with him in the councils of the state, and who aided, if he did not lead, in bestowing his name upon a county in Texas as a fixed and ever-continuing memorial of his honor, his patriotism and his rare intelligence. However honorable the name in New England and South Carolina, it nowhere shines more brightly or is cherished more kindly that in that of Samuel A. Maverick, deceased, of Texas.
"Mrs. Maverick was eminently worthy of such a husband. One who has known her long and intimately, says: 'She is a noble woman, wife, mother and patriot—a woman of great thought and great heart—yet the most modest and unpretentious of women. She has fine administrative abilities, and in all respects is justly entitled to be classed as a model woman. Texas is proud of her, and jealously regardful of the character of her children.'
"The children of Samuel A. and Mary A. Maverick were ten in number, four of whom died in infancy. Of the others, Samuel, born May 14, 1837, was educated at Edinburg, Scotland; is merchandising at San Antonio, Texas; married May 14, 1871, to Sallie, daughter of Thomas Frost, late of Tennessee. Their children are Samuel A., born September 2, 1872; John Frost, born March 23, 1874; Mary Agatha, born September 12, 1875; Sallie, born August 20, 1877; and Elizabeth Givens, born October 11, 1879. Lewis Antonio, (the first American boy born in San Antonio) born March 23, 1839; was educated at the Universities of Vermont and North Carolina; married Ada, daughter of the late, John Bradley of San Antonio. Lewis died June 6, 1866, leaving no issue. His widow has since married Judge Jacob Waelder of San Antonio. George Madison, born September 7, 1845; was educated at the Universities of North Carolina and Virginia; is practicing law at St. Louis, Mo.; married June 26, 1872, to Mary Elizabeth, daughter of John Vance of Castroville, Texas. Their children are Mary Rowena, born February 10, 1874; Lola, born November 24, 1875, and George, born April 16, 1880. William H., born December 24, 1847; educated at the Universities of North Carolina and Virginia; is in the real estate business at San Antonio, Texas; married June 24, 1873, to Emilie Virginia, daughter of the late General Robert H. Chilton, of Virginia. The children are William Chilton, born February 19, 1875; Lewis, born February 12, 1877, and Laura Wise, born November 22, 1878. Mary Brown, born June 17, 1851; educated at Staunton, Virginia, and Mrs. Ogden Hoffman's, New York City; married August 17, 1874, to Edwin H. Terrell, lawyer, of Indianapolis, Indiana, now residing at San Antonio, Texas. Their children are Maverick, born June 12, 1875; George Holland, born October 1, 1877, and Edwin H., born July 23, 1879. Albert, born May 7, 1854; educated at the University of Virginia, and is now ranching in Bandera county, Texas; he was married March 20, 1877, to Jeannie L., daughter of Jesse L. Maury, of Charlottesville, Virginia. They have two children, Jesse, born December 27, 1877, and Agatha, born December 9, 1879."
John Henry Brown, 1881
Since the above was written nine more children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Albert Maverick, as follows:
Jesse Maverick, born December 27, 1877; married to James S. McNeel; Agatha Maverick, born December 9, 1879, married to Norval J. Welsh; Ellen Maverick, born December 2, 1881, married Louis A. Wright; Albert Maverick, born August 14, 1883, married Lillian Williams; Reuben Maverick, born September 7, 1885, (deceased); Phillip Maverick, born January 2, 1887, married Jean Evans; Virginia Maverick, born March 3, 1889, married Murray F. Crossette; James Slayden Maverick, born December 27, 1890, married Hazel Davis; Mary Maverick, born October 17, 1892, married Robert McGarraugh; George Madison Maverick, born December 11, 1893, married Ruth Newell; Maury Maverick, born October 23, 1895, married Terrell Dobbs.
From the Texas Volume of the Encyclopedia of the New West, published in 1881 and edited by that splendid historian, John Henry Brown, we take the following in regard to the career of the subject of this sketch, Samuel A. Maverick:
"Samuel A. Maverick graduated from Yale College in 1825, afterwards attended a law course under Judge Randolph Tucker, at Winchester, Virginia. He came to Texas in 1835, and to the day of his death occupied an honorable prominence as a citizen, a public servant and landholder. His acquisition of lands by the purchase of scrip, headrights and bounty warrants and their location upon the public domain continued to his death, whereby he was reputed by some, but doubtless erroneously, to be the largest landholder in the world. His possessions, however, became immense and were acquired in so honorable and legitimate a manner that no term of reproach ever stained his name.
"Mr. Maverick in February, 1836, was elected from San Antonio de Bexar to the convention that declared the Texas independence on the 2nd day of March. This document was first published March 2, 1836, which was the first day of the sitting of the convention. Consequently those members who came in a day or two late, have their names to the Declaration, but not to this first printed copy. (These were Samuel A. Maverick, of Bexar; A. Briscoe and John W. Moore, of Harrisburgh; S. Rhodes Fisher, of Matagorda; George Childress and Sterling C. Robertson, of Milam; Samuel P. Carson, of Red River; John W. Bower of San Patricio, and J. B. Woods.) He was mayor of San Antonio in 1839, and again in 1862; an alderman in 1841-4, and again in 1851; and was city treasurer in 1841-2. While a prisoner in the Mexican castle of Perote (having been captured in San Antonio September 11, 1842 with the judge, lawyers and citizens) he was elected a member of the eighth Texas congress of 1843-4, and released by Santa Anna at the intercession of his old friend and kinsman, the Hon. Waddy Thompson of South Carolina, then minister to Mexico, and reached home in time to sit in that body. He was representative in the legislature in 1851-2, and in 1853-4; senator in 1855-6, and in 1857-8, and again a representative in 1859-60 and the two extra sessions of 1861. He was from December 5 to 9, 1835, in the successful storming of San Antonio under Milam and Johnson. He first arrived in San Antonio September 8, 1835. On the 16th of October, 1835, he was arrested and imprisoned by the Mexican commander, Colonel Domingo Ugartachea, but released by General Cos on the 3rd of December, and escaped to the Texas forces, then besieging the place, in time to re-enter the city under Milam.
"By the secession convention of 1861, with the Hon. Thomas J. Devine and Dr. (afterwards Colonel) Phillip N. Luckett, he was appointed a commissioner to demand the surrender of the army and garrison at San Antonio and other places, which he accomplished.
"It should have been earlier stated that on the 27th of August, 1848, he was one of an expedition authorized by the state government, of fifty men and ten Delaware Indians, commanded by Colonel John C. Hays and Captain Sam Highsmith, that left San Antonio to explore the country and open a road to El Paso, an enterprise then touching the popular heart of Texas, and deemed of the utmost importance, not only in developing the west, but in asserting our title to the Rio Grande as the western boundary of Texas. Not as a mere adventurer nor as a soldier, but unknown to himself, Samuel A. Maverick was a volunteer in that expedition, actuated by the higher impulses of a statesman. No brighter spot occurs in his history. His action, a man of wealth and education, given to secret communion with his wiser self, has never been explained, and is doubtless an unknown factor in the make-up of his sterling character to his own children, then mere children or unborn. This writer knows whereof he speaks, and the wisdom of Mr. Maverick was most signally verified by what followed in the great agitations and compromises in the American congress of 1850. At the time it was regarded as a hazardous expedition into terra incognito. The party became lost and underwent the pangs of thirst and hunger. Snakes, lizards and terrapins were eaten to prevent starvation; but the expedition was successful, and returned to San Antonio on the 10th of December, after an absence of three and a half months. The same trip will be made, inside of one year, on the iron horse, in four days.
"During the war Mr. Maverick was chief justice of Bexar county from 1863 till removed by the military fiat of General Sheridan, of the United States army, after the close of the war.
"Mr. Maverick remained in private life till his death in 1870. It will be seen from 1835 to 1867, a period of thirty-two years his services were in almost constant requisition by the people in some public capacity. He never sought office, never electioneered as a candidate, and was devoid of any official aspiration. He simply served the people honestly when drafted into their service. No decent man lives who will aver that he ever did a dishonorable act, or swerved from the highest sense of regard for integrity and the rights of the people in all his career.
"This sketch of his Texas career is a voluntary offering from one who has known him long and well and often served with him in the councils of the state, and who aided, if he did not lead, in bestowing his name upon a county in Texas as a fixed and ever-continuing memorial of his honor, his patriotism and his rare intelligence. However honorable the name in New England and South Carolina, it nowhere shines more brightly or is cherished more kindly that in that of Samuel A. Maverick, deceased, of Texas.
"Mrs. Maverick was eminently worthy of such a husband. One who has known her long and intimately, says: 'She is a noble woman, wife, mother and patriot—a woman of great thought and great heart—yet the most modest and unpretentious of women. She has fine administrative abilities, and in all respects is justly entitled to be classed as a model woman. Texas is proud of her, and jealously regardful of the character of her children.'
"The children of Samuel A. and Mary A. Maverick were ten in number, four of whom died in infancy. Of the others, Samuel, born May 14, 1837, was educated at Edinburg, Scotland; is merchandising at San Antonio, Texas; married May 14, 1871, to Sallie, daughter of Thomas Frost, late of Tennessee. Their children are Samuel A., born September 2, 1872; John Frost, born March 23, 1874; Mary Agatha, born September 12, 1875; Sallie, born August 20, 1877; and Elizabeth Givens, born October 11, 1879. Lewis Antonio, (the first American boy born in San Antonio) born March 23, 1839; was educated at the Universities of Vermont and North Carolina; married Ada, daughter of the late, John Bradley of San Antonio. Lewis died June 6, 1866, leaving no issue. His widow has since married Judge Jacob Waelder of San Antonio. George Madison, born September 7, 1845; was educated at the Universities of North Carolina and Virginia; is practicing law at St. Louis, Mo.; married June 26, 1872, to Mary Elizabeth, daughter of John Vance of Castroville, Texas. Their children are Mary Rowena, born February 10, 1874; Lola, born November 24, 1875, and George, born April 16, 1880. William H., born December 24, 1847; educated at the Universities of North Carolina and Virginia; is in the real estate business at San Antonio, Texas; married June 24, 1873, to Emilie Virginia, daughter of the late General Robert H. Chilton, of Virginia. The children are William Chilton, born February 19, 1875; Lewis, born February 12, 1877, and Laura Wise, born November 22, 1878. Mary Brown, born June 17, 1851; educated at Staunton, Virginia, and Mrs. Ogden Hoffman's, New York City; married August 17, 1874, to Edwin H. Terrell, lawyer, of Indianapolis, Indiana, now residing at San Antonio, Texas. Their children are Maverick, born June 12, 1875; George Holland, born October 1, 1877, and Edwin H., born July 23, 1879. Albert, born May 7, 1854; educated at the University of Virginia, and is now ranching in Bandera county, Texas; he was married March 20, 1877, to Jeannie L., daughter of Jesse L. Maury, of Charlottesville, Virginia. They have two children, Jesse, born December 27, 1877, and Agatha, born December 9, 1879."
John Henry Brown, 1881
Since the above was written nine more children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Albert Maverick, as follows:
Jesse Maverick, born December 27, 1877; married to James S. McNeel; Agatha Maverick, born December 9, 1879, married to Norval J. Welsh; Ellen Maverick, born December 2, 1881, married Louis A. Wright; Albert Maverick, born August 14, 1883, married Lillian Williams; Reuben Maverick, born September 7, 1885, (deceased); Phillip Maverick, born January 2, 1887, married Jean Evans; Virginia Maverick, born March 3, 1889, married Murray F. Crossette; James Slayden Maverick, born December 27, 1890, married Hazel Davis; Mary Maverick, born October 17, 1892, married Robert McGarraugh; George Madison Maverick, born December 11, 1893, married Ruth Newell; Maury Maverick, born October 23, 1895, married Terrell Dobbs.
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