DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Stewart Property on the west end of Galveston Island — and friend, this piece of ground has seen some living. Now before we get to colonels and cattle ranches and university deeds, let's start where the story really starts — right here on this ridge. This was one of the earliest known sites of occupation on the west end of Galveston Island.
The Karankawa Indians, nomadic people, used this ridge as a campsite. They moved with the land and the seasons, and this particular spine of earth was worth stopping for. Remember that.
The land draws people. It kept drawing them. Fast forward to 1856.
A man named Colonel Warren D. C. Hall purchases the property.
Hall was born in 1788, and by the time he put his name on this land he was already a veteran of several military expeditions and the Texas Revolution. A man who'd seen some things, in other words. He held the property until his death in 1867.
The next owner gave the estate its first proper name. Colonel Marcus F. Mott — a Galveston attorney, born 1837 — called the place "Mottexas." You have to appreciate a man who worked his own name into the name of Texas.
Mott lived until 1906, but here's the dark turn the land took next: his home burned. In 1925, that house was gone. Out of the ashes — and I mean that plainly — a prominent businessman named George Sealy, Jr. purchased the land.
Born in 1880, Sealy built a home here and gave the site a new name: "Isla Ranch." He held it and worked it until his death in 1944. But before that, in 1933, the name that would stick arrived. Maco Stewart, Sr. — born 1871, a native Galvestonian — acquired the site.
He was the organizer of the Stewart Title Company, and from 1933 forward, this ground carried the Stewart name. Maco Stewart, Sr. died in 1938. Then in 1940, the estate passed to Maco Stewart, Jr., born in 1896.
He made several changes to the house and operated a ranch on the acreage. And then in 1944 — the same year George Sealy, Jr. died, as it happens — Stewart, Jr. deeded the land to the University of Texas. The University used the property in connection with its Galveston medical branch all the way until 1967.
Maco Stewart, Jr. himself died in 1950. From Karankawa campsite to revolutionary veteran's holding, from a burned estate to a cattle ranch to a university property — this ridge on the west end of Galveston Island kept pulling the next chapter toward it. The marker says the Stewart property has revealed much about the island's heritage through its association with individuals and families involved in the growth and development of Galveston.
And standing here, looking out at this land, that's not hard to believe at all.
What the marker says
One of the earliest known sites of occupation on the west end of Galveston Island, this ridge was at one time a campsite for the nomadic Karankawa Indians. The property was purchased in 1856 by Col. Warren D. c. Hall (1788-1867), veteran of several military expeditions and the Texas revolution. The estate was named "Mottexas" under the next owner, Galveston attorney Col. Marcus F. Mott (1837-1906). His home burned in 1925 and the land was then purchased by prominent businessman George Sealy, Jr. (1880-1944), who built a home here and named the site "Isla Ranch." Association of the property with the Stewart name began in 1933 when Maco Stewart, Sr. (1871-1938), a native Galvestonian and organizer of the Stewart Title Company, acquired the site. Maco Stewart, Jr. (1896-1950) received the estate in 1940 and made several changes to the house while operating a ranch on the acreage. In 1944 Stewart deeded the land to the University of Texas, which used the property in connection with its Galveston medical branch until 1967. The Stewart property has revealed much about the island's heritage through its association with individuals and families involved in the growth and development of Galveston.