A Guide to the George T. Howard Papers, 1847-1908

Biographical Note

George Thomas Howard was born in Washington, D.C., in 1814. Coming to Texas in 1836, he joined the army of the new Republic and served in Galveston and San Antonio, compiling a distinguished record of frontier service. He was part of the Santa Fe Expedition in 1841 and imprisoned in Mexico when the venture's participants were captured in New Mexico. Escaping from prison, he returned to Texas, took part in the 1842 Somervell expedition, and served as sheriff of Bexar County. During the Mexican War, Howard was a member of the Texas Volunteer Cavalry, again compiling a noteworthy military record.

After the war, Howard devoted much of his time to a freighting and supply business in partnership with Duncan C. Ogden. During the Civil War, he joined the Confederate Army and worked to supply troops and negotiate trade agreements.

In 1848, Howard married Mary Frances McCormick in Washington, D.C. The couple had seven children. Howard died in Washington on 1866 August 6. Mrs. Howard died in Washington in 1909.

William Eager Howard (1877-1948) was a son of George T. Howard's brother Henry Peyton Howard. William practiced medicine in San Antonio and Dallas and was an avid collector of books and manuscripts related to Texas and Mexico. Dr. Howard donated portions of his collection to several institutions in Texas; his donation of over 2,000 Texana items to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library became the core of its collection.

References

Chabot, Frederick C. With the Makers of San Antonio. San Antonio: Artes Graficas, 1937.

George T. Howard biographical file. Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.

Lackman, Howard. "George Thomas Howard." Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fho77.

Scope and Content Note

The George T. Howard Papers consist of correspondence, legal documents, financial documents, printed material, and an artifact, primarily related to Howard’s business activities in the last two decades of his life.

Correspondence includes several letters to Howard written during his absence from San Antonio concerning his freighting business, property, and events in San Antonio immediately after the Civil War. Some letters written after Howard’s death are addressed to his wife and concern business matters and a claim for damages inflicted by Federal troops occupying the Howard’s property in 1866. Correspondents include Phillip N. Luckett, Sackfield Maclin, and Duncan C. Ogden.

The majority of the legal documents concern land transactions, many associated with property on the Medina River, southwest of San Antonio; land on the Leona River in Uvalde County; and various lots in and around San Antonio. Some of the parties to the transactions include Luciano Navarro, Duncan C. Ogden, Gouveneur H. Nelson, and Henry P. Howard. Other items document leases, the sale of a slave, and a lawsuit involving Juan N. Seguín and Gertrudis Flores y Seguín.

Financial records include miscellaneous account statements, a list of property assessments, and a balance sheet of the firm Howard and Ogden. Later items are associated with Mrs. Howard.

Other material includes Howard’s certificates of amnesty, records of Howard’s estate, miscellaneous printed items, and a leather pouch. The papers also include correspondence, legal documents, and financial records associated with Charles A. Snowden. Snowden was appointed as surveyor for an effort to delineate the boundary between western Texas and the territories of the United States in 1858-1859. Most of the correspondence between Snowden, Anson Mills, and W. R. Scurry concerns a dispute over supplies that led to Snowden’s resignation.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

No restrictions. The collection is open for research.

Usage Restrictions

Please be advised that the library does not hold the copyright to most of the material in its archival collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to secure those rights when needed. Permission to reproduce does not constitute permission to publish. The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming to the laws of copyright, literary property rights, and libel.

Related Material

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], George T. Howard Papers, 1847-1908, Doc 5189, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.

Acquisition Information

The donor of the collection and date of acquisition are unknown. These materials were possibly part of the collection donated by his nephew William Eager Howard, although no documentation stating this directly has been found.

Processing Information

Processed by Warren Stricker, 1997 May.

Finding aid edited and encoded by Caitlin Donnelly, 2010 August.

Detailed Description of the Collection