biography – Page 8 – Texas History Notebook

Major Nicholas Nolan

Nicholas Merritt Nolan was born around 1835 in County Kilkenny, Ireland to James Nowlan and Bridget Maher Nowlan. Nolan emigrated to the United States as a youth. In 1852, he enlisted in New York in the United States Army as a private. He was promoted through the ranks and was a first sergeant at the outbreak of the Civil War. During the war, he was commissioned as an officer and served with the 6th United States Cavalry Regiment.

Colonel Ranald Slidell Mackenzie

Ranald Slidell Mackenzie was born on July 27, 1840 in Westchester, New York to Alexander Slidell Mackenzie (1803 – 1848) and Catherine Alexander Robinson Mackenzie (1814 – 1883). He was the oldest of their five children. His father was the son of John Slidell and Mary Mackenzie but his father had adopted the name of Mackenzie (his mother’s maiden name) in 1837. The explanation for the name change was that it was a condition set out in order for him to claim an inheritance from an uncle, his mother’s late brother. Alexander Mackenzie had served for many years in the United States Navy after entering as a midshipman in 1815. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1825 and commander in 1841.

President Teddy Roosevelt Visits Texas, 1905

President Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. was the 26th President of the United States. He was born October 27, 1858 in Manhattan, New York and died January 6, 1919 in New York. At the time he became President, he was 42 years old making him the youngest person to take that office. Roosevelt had been Vice President under William McKinley who was only a few months into his second term as President when he died. He had been shot by assassin Leon Czolgosz in Buffalo, New York on September 6, 1901. President McKinley was rushed to the hospital but he died on September 14, 1901. Roosevelt was sworn in and completed the remainder of McKinley’s term. He was elected in 1904 to a second term. He was only a distant (5th) cousin to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They were not closely related and their earliest common ancestor dates back about 100 years.

Henri Castro

Henri Castro (sometimes called Compte Henri De Castro de Boxar) was living in Paris, France at the time he arranged in 1842 to secure a land grant from Republic of Texas president Sam Houston. His first grant proposal was to bring 200 families to Texas the following year. He was not able to fulfill this agreement. A second effort was more successful. Castro’s ambitious agreement was to bring 600 families from Alsace in France to settle in Texas.

Tex Maule

Hamilton Prieleaux Bee “Tex” Maule was born on May 19, 1915 to 2nd Lieutenant Claude Wendell Maule (1889 – 1918) and Zelita Bee Maule (1891 – 1986). His father C. W. Maule had been serving in World War I when he contracted pneumonia and died in England after a short bout with the disease. The remains of 2nd Lt. Maule were removed for burial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Tex, one of two children of the couple, was born in Florida, though his family had lived in San Antonio for many years. His grandfather, named Hamilton Prioleau Bee, was a long time Texas resident who worked in the insurance business. The 1920, 1930 and 1940 census forms show Tex residing in San Antonio. He was single, living with his mother Zelita in the 1920 and 1930 census reports and married with no children in the 1940 census.