Howard, George Thomas, Family

George Thomas Howard (1814-1866) was a soldier, Bexar County sheriff, and San Antonio merchant. He was born on September 2, 1814, near Washington, D.C. He migrated to Texas in 1836, served in the army of the Republic as commanding officer at Galveston in 1837, fought Native Americans in the San Antonio vicinity in 1839 and 1840, and participated in the Council House Fight and the Plum Creek Fight in 1840. Howard accompanied the Texan Santa Fe Expedition as a merchant and aide-de-campe to Hugh McLeod. After his capture and imprisonment in Mexico, Howard subsequently escaped to join the Somervell Expedition. He then assisted Henri Castro in the colonization of Castroville, served in the Mexican War, and financed and participated in the Chihuahua-El Paso Pioneer expedition to explore the possibilities for a road and mail stations to El Paso in 1848. Howard also operated a freight transport business in San Antonio, served as United States Department of the Interior Superintendent of Indian Agents for Texas from 1850-1855, and served as a Confederate officer, supplying cattle for Southern forces and negotiating cotton exchange contracts with Mexican suppliers. After illness and lapsing into a coma, Howard died on August 6, 1866, and was buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

Howard married sixteen-year-old Mary Frances McCormick of Washington, D.C., on October 7, 1847. The couple had seven daughters and one son by 1863. Mary inherited his estate and continued to run his business.

Sources:

Biographical sketch of George Thomas Howard, Box 2E255, George Thomas Howard Family Papers, 1822-1909, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.

Lackman, Howard. The early years in Texas of George Thomas Howard . Masters thesis, University of Texas at Austin, [1952].

Lackman, Howard. George Thomas Howard, Texas frontiersman . PhD diss., University of Texas at Austin, 1954.

Lackman, Howard. Howard, George Thomas. Handbook of Texas Online, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/HH/fho77.html (accessed May 6, 2010).