Samuel May Williams

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Samuel May Williams — and friend, this one's a life worth hearing. Now, some men are built for one place, one purpose, one chapter. Samuel May Williams was not that kind of man.

This was a man who seemed to collect worlds — and then spend them. He came into this life the son of a ship captain, born in Rhode Island, which tells you something right there. The sea was in the blood before he ever had a say in the matter.

After 1810, he was apprenticed to his uncle in Baltimore, learning the machinery of commerce — ledgers, transactions, the language of money. Then, after 1816, he turned up in Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires.

The man learned Spanish, learned the culture that came wrapped around it, and filed it all away. By 1819 he was in New Orleans, and it's right there in New Orleans that his path may have crossed with a certain empresario by the name of Stephen F. Austin.

May have. The marker's honest enough to leave a little daylight in that door. But what happened next is not in doubt: Williams came to Austin's Texas colony in 1823, and he brought everything with him — the Spanish, the business sense, the steady hand.

He became Austin's translator and clerk. For those services, and for his status as a settler, Williams received eleven leagues of land. Forty-eight thousand, seven hundred and twelve acres.

Not a bad arrangement for a man who'd started out apprenticed to an uncle in Baltimore. In 1828, he married Sarah P. Scott.

They would have nine children together, which suggests that whatever else Samuel May Williams was doing — and he was always doing something — he was also building a home. Now here's where the story shifts gears. In 1833, Williams and a partner named Thomas F.

McKinney founded a mercantile firm down in Quintana, right at the mouth of the Brazos River. Commerce, trade, the pulse of a young and restless land. But 1835 brought news that no ledger could contain.

Williams had traveled to the United States to sell bank stock when word reached him — fighting had broken out in Texas. And Samuel May Williams did not hesitate. Using the partnership's credit, he made purchases for the Texas army.

He and McKinney would run up ninety-nine thousand dollars in expenses supporting the Texas Revolution. Ninety-nine thousand dollars. That is not a footnote.

That is a bet on the future of a nation. The future, it turned out, was good for business. The firm moved to Galveston, and Williams and McKinney threw their weight behind the development of that city alongside Michel Branamour Menard.

By 1838, Williams was helping the Texas navy build seven ships — seven — as if one revolution hadn't been enough adventure for a lifetime. In 1848, he opened a bank in Galveston. And in the home that stands here, marked by this stone, Samuel May Williams lived out the rest of his days.

The boy from Rhode Island, the apprentice from Baltimore, the man who learned Spanish in Buenos Aires and spent his firm's credit on a revolution — he is buried now in Galveston's Episcopal Cemetery. Some men collect worlds. Samuel May Williams spent his building one.

What the marker says

Born the son of a ship captain in Rhode Island, Samuel Williams was apprenticed to his uncle in Baltimore after 1810 to learn business skills. After 1816 he lived in Buenos Aires, where he learned Spanish and its related culture. By 1819 he was working in New Orleans, where he might have met empresario Stephen F. Austin. Williams came to Austin's Texas colony in 1823, and became the empresario's translator and clerk. For his services and immigrant status, Williams received 11 leagues (48, 712 acres) of land. He married Sarah P. Scott in 1828; They had nine children. Williams and Thomas F. McKinney founded a mercantile firm in 1833 in Quintana at the mouth of the Brazos River. Williams had traveled to the United States in 1835 to sell bank stock when he learned of fighting in Texas. Using the partnership's credit, he made purchases for the Texas army. Williams and McKinney incurred expenses of $99,000 supporting the Texas revolution. By 1838 Williams was helping the Texas navy build seven ships. His firm had moved to Galveston, where the partners promoted development of the city with Michel Branamour Menard. Williams opened a bank in Galveston in 1848, and lived in this home until his death. He is buried in Galveston's Episcopal Cemetery. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986