Ancestors of the Texas Family


The Rev. John Maverick arrived in New England 30 May 1630, nine and one-half years after the arrival of the Mayflower. His oldest son, Samuel, had preceded him to the New World by six years, having arrived in 1624 with the first contingent of men from Dorsetshire, England. The Rev. John Maverick, first generation of Maverick in the New World, we shall call John. He was a Puritan Teacher and the father of eight children, most of whom migrated to America.

JOHN MAVERICK (sometimes spelled Mavericke or Mavracke) was baptized at Awlescomb, Devonshire, England 28 December 1578. He was the son of the Rev. Peter Maverick, Vicar of Awlescomb, and of Dorthie Tucke Maverick, whom we shall consider the fountain-head of the Mavericks of America. John received his B.A. and Master degrees at Exeter College, Oxford. On 28 Oct. 1600 he married Mary Gye. From 1615 to 1629 he was Rector of Beaworthy, Devonshire. He was chosen a Teacher in the Puritan Church, and shortly thereafter sailed for New England. In Massachusetts he took the Oath of Freeman in May 1631. He died at the home of his son Samuel on Noddles Island.

"3 Feb. 1636, Mr. John Maverick, Teacher of the Church of Dorchester, died, being nearly 60 years of age. He was a man of very humble spirit, and faithful in furthering the work of the Lord, both in the churches and civil state." (John Winthrop). The eight children of Rev. John and Mary Gye Maverick were:

Samuel, born about 1602 in Devonshire, England.

Ellias, born in England about 1604. Came to New England in 1630. He married Anne Harris. Their 5 sons lived in Massachusetts. He died in 1680.

Aaron, baptized at Huish, County Devon, England 6 March 1608. He probably died young.

Mary, baptized 6 January 1610 at South Huish, England. About 1635 she married Rev. James Parker of Dorchester, Mass. (He died in Barbados in 1652.)

Moses, known as "Moses Maverick of Marblehead" (Mass.), baptized in Huish, England 3 Nov. 1611. Came to New England about 1630. He married Remember Sara Allerton who had come over in the Mayflower. They had 7 children (Mayflower descendants), and he had four more children after the death of his first wife, and his marriage to Eunice Roberts in 1656.

Abigail, baptized in Huish, England 20 March 1614. Came to New England before 1638 and married John Manning of Boston. She died in Boston 25 June 1644.

Antipas, born in England in 1619. Came to New England before 1647. He died 2 July 1678, leaving several children.

John, born in England about 1621. He was later known as "John Maverick of Charleston" (S.C.).

Members of the Maverick family became quite numerous in New England. All of them must have been very proud of their ancestor, the Rev. John and of his oldest son, Samuel, for it seems that every John had a son named John and another named Samuel, and that every Samuel had a son named Samuel and another named John, while those not themselves so fortunately named, had at least one son named John or Samuel. (A Samuel Maverick, killed in the Boston Massacre of 1770, is buried on the Boston Common.) This multiplicity of John Mavericks and Samuel Mavericks makes it very difficult to trace the exact line of descent of the Mavericks of Texas. We shall follow the fortunes of only two of the children of John and Mary Gye Maverick, namely, the oldest, Samuel and the youngest, John.

SAMUEL MAVERICK, first Maverick in the New World, was born about 1602 in Devonshire, England. He arrived in New England in 1624 and settled at Winnissimet (now Chelsea) on the Mystic River.
"Here it was that Samuel Maverick
broke the land and sowed the crop,
Built the barns, and strung the fences
in the little border station,
Tucked away below the foothills where the trails run out and stop."
About Jan. 1629 he married Amias Cole Thompson, widow of his late friend, David Thompson. In 1633 he received a grant of "Noddles Island" (comprising what is now East Boston). In that same year smallpox, "the White Man's Scourge", attacked the native Indians. The wild men were much impressed to find that though their own people forsook them, the English came daily to attend their needs. "Among others" writes Winthrop, "Mr. Maverick of Winissimet is worthy of perpetual remembrance; himself and wife and servants went daily to them, ministered to their necessities, and buried their children". In 1638 John Josselyn wrote of his visit to America:—"July 10 I went ashore to Noddles Island to Mr. Samuel Maverick, the only hospitable man in all the country, giving entertainment to all comers gratis". Samuel was appointed by Charles II as one of a Royal Commission to demand the evacuation of the Dutch New Netherland government from what is now New York. For his success in this undertaking, he was granted "a house on the Broad Way" (now No. 50 Broadway, New York City.) He died about 1679, probably in New York City. Samuel and Amias Cole Thompson Maverick had 3 children, the oldest of which was Nathaniel, named for his great-uncle, Nathaniel Maverick, a lawyer who had remained in England, and was Chief Clerk to the Town Clerk of London.

NATHANIEL MAVERICK (son of Samuel) was born in New England in 1629. In 1649 he sold Noddles Island (with the permission of his family) to Capt. Briggs, for 40,000 lbs. of white sugar. He moved to Barbados, one of the Windward Islands, an English possession near South America. Nathaniel became a very substantial plantation owner in Barbados. He helped finance the new settlement of Charles Town, South Carolina, but he did not go there. On 16 Aug. 1670 (at the age of 41) Nathaniel signed his last will. He died in Jan. or Feb. 1673. He bequeathed his soul to God who gave it, in assured hope of being saved through the merits of Jesus Christ. He expressed the wish that his body be buried under the south-east window of St. Lucy's Church, next to the grave of his son, Moses Maverick. After his death, an able and honest man was to be employed to manage the estate. He desired that his father come to the Island of Barbados and be allowed full maintenance from the estate. Should his wife remarry, she was to be allowed an interest in the estate, but if possible should remove therefrom. To his daughter, Mary Maverick, he bequeathed 40,000 lbs. of Muscovato sugar, paid in installments of 10,000 lbs. each; the first installment to be paid at her marriage or when she reaches the age of 18 years. Each of his overseers was to receive 500 lbs. of sugar to buy a mourning ring with the inscription "The memorial of a dear friend". After his just debts had been paid, the remainder of the estate be divided equally between his three sons: John Mavericke, Samuel Mavericke and Nathaniel Mavericke.

When each son had received his education, he was to be appointed to some able merchant as an apprentice, or otherwise at the descretion of his overseers. No son was empowered to sell his interest in the estate before 24 years of age. "Memorandum:—Mother, Amias, £ 10 per annum. Sister, Mary Hooke, 10,000 lbs. of sugar to buy a mourning gown".

JOHN MAVERICK (eldest surviving son of Nathaniel) later moved to Charleston, and he may possibly be ancestor of the Mavericks of Texas.

JOHN MAVERICK, youngest son of the Rev. John Maverick, was born in England about 1621. He was married in London, 15 April 1645 to Jane Andrews. They lived for a time at Dorchester, Mass. but left there for Barbados before 1670. He was a man of consequence, as the records show that "he came from Barbados with his servants, and settled in Charleston". In 1672 he was elected to the first Parliament of the Province of South Carolina, and was known as "John Maverick of Charleston". John and Jane Andrews Maverick had one son named John and probably other children. John Maverick is considered by some students as the most probable ancestor of the Maverick family of Texas.

Charleston was devastated by fire in 1740; by hurricanes in 1752 and in 1854; by epidemic in 1854; by an earthquake on 31 August 1886, which damaged 90% of the buildings. These calamities have made it very difficult to find old records there.

PART II

THE TEXAS MAVERICK ANCESTORS

"SAMUEL MAVERICK of Charleston", the earliest authentic Maverick ancestor of the Texas Mavericks, was born at Charleston S.C. about 1715. He was a shipbuilder on James Island, S.C. He married Catherine Coyer, who was born in London, England in 1720, and was brought to Charleston as a young child. Her family were Huguenots who had come from Montpellier in Southern France. She died at Charleston, 3 Oct. 1799 and is buried in St. Phillip's Episcopal Church Yard. Samuel of Charleston and Catherine Coyer Maverick had five children, the oldest of whom was:

CAPT. SAMUEL MAVERICK, born at Charleston, S.C., 3 Jan. 1742; baptized at St. Andrews parish church in September of that same year. On 5 March 1772 he married Lydia Turpin, daughter of Capt. Joseph and Mary Brown Turpin. Capt. Samuel was, like his father, a shipbuilder on James Island, S.C., and is said to have owned 15 sea-going ships. Capt. Samuel and Lydia Turpin Maverick had six children, but only the oldest of these, Samuel, survived childhood days. Their youngest child was born at Providence, R. I. and died there. Capt. Samuel Maverick was taken prisoner during the American Revolution, and lay in irons off the New York coast for 11 months on the British prisonship "Old Jersey". Released in 1778, he walked the entire distance to Charleston, suffering great privation. In the fall of the following year, and not long before the British succeeded in taking Charleston, Capt. Samuel, his wife, their 7-year-old son, Samuel, and Mrs. Maverick's father and mother and her brother, William Turpin, left Charleston. They traveled overland to Providence, R.I., arriving there in the winter of 1779. They stayed at the home of Mrs. Maverick's grandmother Turpin. On 3 Jan. 1784 Capt. Samuel died of dropsy caused by broken ribs he had received while a British prisoner of war. He died on his 42nd birthday, when his oldest child was 11.

SAMUEL MAVERICK, born at Charleston, S.C. 30 Dec. 1772, (Mentioned above as the oldest child of Capt. Samuel and Lydia Turpin Maverick). He was in Providence R.I., when in Dec. 1782, at the age of 10, he started his career as a merchant, or, as he said, a "trader". He made molasses candy in his great-grandmother's home, and sold it on the bridge in Providence. Soon after his father's death, Samuel and his mother, and her mother and father and brother, William Turpin set sail on the John Brown, bound Providence to Charleston. Encountering a great storm, the ship was at sea for 21 days. It reached Charleston not long after that city had been evacuated by the British. Times were hard in Charleston, and Samuel had to spend the money he had saved from his trading, but his grandmother gave him five marbles which she had found. These he sold for five coppers, and so started again in business. In later years he wrote to his 10-year-old grandson, Samuel Maverick in Texas, telling him that ten years of age was a good time to start making money; "but" he warns, "if you should go into the marvell trade, you must be sure to take the advice my Uncle Turpin gave me:—to be sure never to play marvells for winning, as that is gambling, and that will never do; it would spoil all your money if you mix it with good honest trading money". Telling of his early life, Samuel wrote: "Capt. I. L. Tilden, an old and respected acquaintance of my grandfather, Joseph Turpin, continually came to our house in Tradd Street, Charleston, on his way to Bordeaux in France, and used to return to Charleston to sell his cargos, for he owned ship and cargo, and was a rich man in those days. He, seeing that I was a trading character like himself, he told me that he would carry a venture for me to Bordeaux, and I sent 5 crowns by him the first voige, and afterwards more, and directed him to buy ostrich feathers, ladies' fans and umbrellas, which he did, and I made a handsum profit,—sold them for more than double the cost. There was no duty on importing goods in those days, or very little, and my Uncle William Turpin, with whom I lived as shop boy, allowed me to sell tarr by retail to the waggoners to grease their wagons, and in December 1792 I sent an adventure to Bordeaux of 65 French Crowns, but this I lost by the French Revolution. The merchants' property was confiscated, and on 1 January 1793 I took stock, as you will see by referring to my little ledger kept at that time, I had gained after losses and paying for schooling and clothing 12/0/1, and Wadsworth and Turpin then owed me for nine months wages 25/0/9 so that when I was (20) twenty years old I was worth, clear of the world and by my own exertion, 37/8/1, which is $161.31, fair and square, and I well recollect that I was delighted with the future prospect, and, although I have met with sad accidents in trade since, and by loss of stock in the National Bank, yet the idea of independence is the thing; by one's own industry, no matter how small or how great; and to trust in the providence of God in a kingdom of itself".

On 17 April 1793 Samuel's mother, Lydia Maverick ("a wealthy widow of Charleston") married Gen. Robert Anderson, and went to live with him at Pendleton, S.C. She died 19 Jan. 1803 and was buried on the Anderson plantation at Pendleton.

Samuel lived with the Turpin family at Charleston. He became quite a prominent merchant, and it is said that he shipped the first bale of cotton from the United States to England and that he "sent ventures to The Celestial Empire". On 5 October 1802, at age 29, he married Elizabeth Anderson, a daughter of Gen. Anderson, and moved soon thereafter to Pendleton, in the hills of western South Carolina. Samuel Maverick became a prominent plantation-owner and horticulturist at Pendleton, a large land-owner, and was said to be "the richest man in South Carolina". His plantation was named Montpelier, after the ancestral home of his grandmother, Catherine Coyer. Samuel and Elizabeth Anderson Maverick had five children. She died at Pendleton, 27 Sept. 1818, when her oldest child, Samuel Augustus Maverick was fifteen years old. Samuel Maverick did not remarry. He died at his plantation home at Pendleton 28 April 1852.

SAMUEL AUGUSTUS MAVERICK was born at Montpelier Plantation, Pendleton, S.C., 28 July 1803. He graduated from Yale College, and studied law in Virginia before moving to Texas in 1835. He was elected by the men in the Alamo, and as their representative signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. On 4 August 1836 he married Mary Ann Adams at her home at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and with her returned to San Antonio. "The Memoirs of Mary A. Maverick" give a wonderful account of how a lady of energy and high moral character met the trials, the dangers and the adventures of life on the Texas frontier.

Samuel Augustus Maverick became one of the largest landowners in Texas. He died 2 September 1870 after a life filled with service to his fellow men . . . Mary Adams Maverick died 24 February 1898. Both died at San Antonio Texas, and they are buried side by side there in the old City Cemetery. . . .

Samuel Augustus and Mary Adams Maverick had ten children, six of whom grew to adult age. These six were:

SAMUEL MAVERICK, born 15 May 1837 at Pendleton, S.C. Died 28 Feb. 1936 at Austin, Texas. Married 14 May 1871 Sarah (Sally) Frost. They had two sons and five daughters.

LEWIS ANTONIO MAVERICK, born 23 May 1839, First American boy born and reared in San Antonio, Texas. Died 16 June 1866 at age 27, from tuberculosis contracted while he served as an officer in the Confederate Army. Married in 1865 Adah Bradley. No offspring.

GEORGE MADISON MAVERICK, born 9 Sept. 1845, at Matagorda, Texas. Died 16 Sept. 1913 at London, England. Married 26 June 1872 Mary Elizabeth Vance. They had two sons and four daughters.

WILLIAM HARVEY MAVERICK, born 24 Dec. 1847, died 10 Dec. 1923 at San Antonio, Texas. Married 23 June 1873 Emily Virginia Chilton. They had four sons and one daughter.

MARY BROWN MAVERICK, born 17 June 1851 at San Antonio, Texas. Died 2 Jan. 1891 at Brussels, Belgium. Married 17 Aug. 1874 Edwin Holland Terrell. He was United States Ambassador to Belgium. They had four sons and three daughters.

ALBERT MAVERICK, born 7 May 1854, died 24 Jan. 1947 at San Antonio, Texas. Married 20 March 1877 Jane Lewis Maury. They had six sons and five daughters.

James Slayden Maverick, 1969

1 comment:

  1. I am looking for info on Frankie Maverick. She was my Texas History teacher in seventh grade,

    ReplyDelete