Fisher, George, 1795-1873

Early Texas settler George Fisher (1795-1873) was born Djordje Ribar in Hungary to Serbian parents. After serving in the Slavonic Legion during the Serbian Revolution from 1813 to 1814, he immigrated to America, eventually settling in Mississippi, and adopted the name George Fisher, the English variant of Djordje Ribar.

In 1825, he traveled to Mexico, becoming a citizen in 1829. That same year, he was appointed collector of customs for Galveston, Texas, and in 1830 became administrator of the port of Galveston. When Manual de Mier y Terán ordered the port suspended in 1830, Fisher became secretary of the ayuntamiento, or governing body, of San Felipe. The following year, he established the Anahuac customhouse, decreeing all ships from certain ports be cleared through Anahuac, which led to the Anahuac Disturbances and to Fisher’s move to Matamoros in 1832. He published the newspaper Mercurio del Puerto de Matamoros from 1832 until 1835, when he moved to New Orleans as commissary general and secretary for the Tampico Expedition, which unsuccessfully sought to provoke Mexican insurrection by attacking Tampico.

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