Samuel Maverick

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Samuel Augustus Maverick was born in the summer of 1803 in South Carolina to Samuel and Elizabeth Anderson Maverick.  His father operated an import business.  Young Samuel worked in the family business, graduating from Yale University in 1825.  He left the family business and moved to Virginia in 1828 to study law.  For a while he practiced law and in 1833 he moved to Georgia for a year before relocating to Alabama to operate a plantation that had been given to him by his father.

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John Salmon “RIP” Ford, Texas Ranger

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John Salmon Ford was born in 1815 in South Carolina.  His family later moved to Shelbyville, Tennessee where he studied medicine.  Ford came to Texas shortly after the Battle of San Jacinto, arriving in June of 1836.  One of his first memories in Texas was to attend a Forth of July celebration in San Augustine in which Sam Houston was honored.  Houston was still suffering from his wounded leg, but he gave a rousing speech.  Ford joined the  Texas Army and served until about 1838 under Col. Jack Hays, participating in many Indian battles.  He then set up a medical practice in San Augustine which he operated until about 1844.  During this time, he also studied law and passed the bar exam.  In 1844, he won an election and began serving in the Texas House.  It was Ford who introduced the resolution for Texas Annexation by the United States.

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YO Ranch

This famous ranch was founded by Charles Armand Schreiner, who was born in 1838 in Alsace-Lorraine, an area that lay between Germany and France.  He came to the still young United States of America with his parents and family in 1852, settling in Bexar County.  In an unexpected turn of events, both of his parents died shortly thereafter.  His father Gustav passed as the result of a rattlesnake bite within a year from their arrival, followed by his mother Charlotte’s death four years later.  His family was dispersed at that point, with his only sister getting married, one brother leaving for California to find gold and two other brothers remaining in San Antonio where they had found employment.

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