DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just here to pass it along. Now, Galveston has seen more than its share of consequential lives, but every now and then you come across a name that the whole arc of Texas history seems to bend toward. Samuel May Williams is one of those names.
He was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on October 4th, 1795. That's a long way — in miles and in world — from the Texas coast where his story would play out. His wife, Sarah Scott Williams, was born in Kentucky on December 7th, 1807.
Two people from two different corners of the young republic, and both of them would end their days in Galveston. But let's talk about what Samuel May Williams did in between. The marker calls him an intimate friend of Stephen F.
Austin, which — if you know anything about the founding of Texas — is not a small thing to put on a man's stone. He served as Secretary of Austin's Colony. That means he was there, right at the center of it, handling the business of a settlement that was carving a new civilization out of raw land.
An intimate friend and a trusted secretary. That's the kind of man others lean on when the stakes are highest. And the stakes kept rising.
He bore important commissions. He became what the marker calls a pioneer banker. Now think about what banking means on a frontier — it means you are the person willing to put your name and your resources behind the whole uncertain enterprise.
It means belief when belief costs something. The marker sums him up in a phrase that doesn't waste a single word: commercially the influential citizen of Texas. Not of Galveston.
Of Texas. And it follows him through every form that Texas took — Colony, Republic, State. Three different governments, three different flags, and Samuel May Williams was there through all of it, serving, the marker says, patriotically and efficiently throughout years of self-sacrifice.
He died in Galveston on September 13th, 1858. Sarah followed on August 31st, 1860. The State of Texas erected this marker in their memory.
Colony, Republic, State. The man outlasted the forms of Texas itself — and Texas, in the end, made sure he wasn't forgotten.
What the marker says
TEXT: In memory of SAMUEL MAY WILLIAMS Born in Providence, R. I. October 4, 1795 Died in Galveston, Texas September 13, 1858 His wife SARAH SCOTT WILLIAMS Born in Kentucky December 7, 1807 Died in Galveston, Texas August 31 1860 Erected by the State of Texas REVERSE Intimate Friend of Stephen F. Austin and Secretary of Austin's Colony Pioneer Banker Bearer of Important Commissions Commercially the Influential Citizen of Texas. Colony, Republic, State Who Served Patriotically and Efficiently Throughout Years of Self-Sacrifice.