Michel Branamour Menard was the founder of Galveston, Texas and wa a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. He was born on December 5, 1805 in La Prairie, Canada to Michel B. Menard and Marguerite de Noyer Menard. His parents were of French heritage.
His obituary from the New Orleans Times-Picayune in its issue of September 9, 1856 provides more background. Michel began working on his own when he was about sixteen by securing a job with an American fur trading company out of Detroit. Having learned the business, at around the age of nineteen, he was invited to move to Missouri and work for an uncle, Pierre Menard, in the fur business. His uncle had traded extensively with the native tribes over the years, as well as being involved in politics. Pierre had served as the first Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. Michel became involved in trading with the Shawnee. When he came to Missouri, he could neither read nor write any language but during his tenure in Missouri, he learned to read, speak and write English. His obituary noted that he had earned a high regard from the tribe because of his honesty in dealing with them. Later in life, the obituary mentions, he was visited in Texas by tribe members and was warmly greeted.
He came to Texas around 1833, settling in the Nacogdoches area, and set about trading with the native tribes as well as the Mexicans in residence there. It has been acknowledged that during the Texas Revolution, the Mexican authorities tried to recruit the native tribes for their support against the Anglos. Menard’s influence was said to have been helpful in preventing that from happening. He continued to trade with various parties as he acquired land in Texas. His area of business expanded down the Trinity River to within range of Liberty, Texas. He continued to trade with the native tribes and was well respected. Interim president of the Republic of Texas David Burnet engaged Menard to negotiate treaties with the area tribes.
The revolution progressed and Menard represented Liberty County at the convention in which the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed. The obituary reported that in 1836, in exchange for $50,000 in cash, Menard was granted a league and labor of land (just over 4,600 acres), located on the eastern part of the what is now Galveston island, upon which the city of Galveston was founded. There had previously been some habitation there, but at that time there were no dwellings. He set about encouraging people to settle there, despite various legal challenges from prior investors who asserted claims against the property. The cash payment is believed to have been made in order to perfect his title to the property.
The Galveston City Company, of which Menard was the primary organizer and investor, was formed in 1838 and is the entity that legally organized the city. This group laid out plans for streets, executed real estate contracts and sold land to later investors and settlers. According to its website, the City of Galveston was chartered in 1839.
On the 50th anniversary of the founding of Galveston, the Ste. Genevieve Herald (Missouri) posted an article about Menard in its issue of June 29, 1889. It was a reprint from another newspaper called the Galveston Tribune. Michel Menard was profiled as being one of the great men who were the first prominent settlers on the island and the first to create the foundation of the city. A unique comment in this article was that when Menard paid the Republic of Texas the $50,000, it was the first sum of money received into the treasury of the new Republic of Texas. It continued to note that he was involved in the consolidation of wharf owners to form the Galveston Wharf Company and was its first president. The article mentions that Menard opened the Gem Saloon on 21st Street which served as one of the earliest stores in Galveston. The article lamented that there was no marker for him. (Now there is a historical marker dedicated to him and another providing the history of his residence). It also noted that there was once a street named for him, but that by 1889, it had been renamed Winnie Street after Gilbert Winnie, the owner of a downtown livery stable. It remarked about how the city has grown and developed in the short span of fifty years.
Michel was married four times. His first wife was Marie Diana LeClere, said to have been from Missouri and also of French heritage. Miss LeClere was the sister of a close friend and business associate of Menard by the name of Isidore LeClere. He and Marie were married around 1832 when she was twenty-one and he was twenty-seven. Maria Diana died of cholera in 1833 in route to Texas. Earlier in the year, the couple lost a daughter named Emilie who only lived a few days. Both Marie and the newborn daughter are buried in Missouri. Next, he married Adeline Catherine Maxwell, said to be a second cousin and granddaughter of his uncle Pierre Menard, in 1837. Adeline succumbed to a yellow fever outbreak in 1838 and her burial location is unknown. After her death, Michel married a widow named Mary Jane Clemens Ridder about 1843. They were married about four years until she died of unknown causes in 1847. Finally, he married another widow by the name of Rebecca Mary Fluker Bass around 1849. They were married until Michel’s death in 1856. He was buried in the Old Catholic Cemetery in Galveston. Rebecca survived him another ten or eleven years until her own death in 1869. Rebecca, Michel and at least nine other Menard relatives are buried in the Old Catholic Cemetery. Some of those interments were his adopted children or their descendants and others were from different branches of the Menard family. Michel and Rebecca had one son, M. Doswell Menard, who died in 1884 at about the age of thirty-four. Doswell Menard was the only child born to Michel Menard who survived Michel.
Many articles note that some of Michel’s businesses failed late in his life and that he did not leave a great deal of wealth when he died. His estate mainly consisted of Wharf company stock. He died in his home at the age of 50 after he returned from a business trip. As noted above, he was survived by his wife and his son.
Menard County and the county seat of Menard (once known as Menardville) are named for him. It is located in west central Texas. The county was created in 1858 out of Bexar County. Residents endeavored to organize the county and were finally successful in 1871. It was once the home of Fort McKavett, a fort of the frontier era staffed by “Buffalo Soldiers.” The county consists of about 900 square miles and its population since 1900 has hovered between around 2,000 to 5,000. The current population is believed to be about 2,000.
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