The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, Volume 21, Number 1, November 1985 Page: 41
106 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
HENRY MILLARD, FORGOTTEN TEXIAN
by Judith Walker Linsley and Ellen Walker Rienstra
No name is more familiar to students of the history of Southeast Texas,
particularly of Jefferson County and its county seat, Beaumont, than that
of Henry Millard. It is regularly recited by school children as the name of
a founder of the town, along with Thomas Huling and Joseph Pulsifer. It
appears countless times, by way of his bold, decisive signature, on old deeds,
commissioners' court minutes, municipal proceedings, and many other early
records. It is well documented in contemporary accounts of the Consulta-
tion Convention and of the Battle of San Jacinto. Yet Henry Millard the
man fails to emerge. Apart from short biographical sketches, which often
contain recycled errors, strangely little is known about him.
A thorough search and a painstaking examination of facts, however,
reveal the dimensions of an energetic, impetuous personality. Millard was
a prototypical Anglo-Texian, a fractious, independent idealist with a strong
opportunistic streak and little patience with inefficiency or stupidity. This
lack of patience kept him on the move for most of his adult life, but he
left his indelible mark in every place he lived. Cast in the mold of his friend
Sam Houston, yet lacking Houston's breadth of vision, Millard was a man
of his time, but in the end, time itself short-changed him, robbing him of
the opportunity to make good his potential and gratify his ambitions.
The Early Years
Millard, the son of Josiah and Nancy Millard of Saratoga County, New
York, was probably born there several years before the turn of the nine-
teenth century.1 Sometime before 1807, the Millard family moved to the
Missouri Territory, and in the spring of 1811, a certificate for settler's rights
was issued to "Josiah Millard, of Bois Bruile, Ste. Genevieve District." 2
They were still in Ste. Genevieve as late as 1821, when Josiah Millard pledged
'The year 1807 is commonly used as the date of his birth, but if that were the case, he would
have been only 13 years old at the time of his first known business transactions. A note in his
memorandum book (Probate Packet #73, Henry Millard, Jefferson County Court House, Beau-
mont, Texas) indicates that in the 1820's in Natchez, he was acting in place of a parent to his brother
Sidney Hosmore Millard, born in 1805, who would have been the older brother if Millard had been
born in 1807. The New York census for 1800 lists in the household of Josiah Millard four male
children under the ages of ten years, one of whom was undoubtedly Henry's elder brother Alfred,
born in 1793, and one was probably Henry himself.
2Ronald Vern Jackson, Early American Series: Early Missouri, 1789-1819 (Accelerated In-
dex Systems, Inc., 1980), Vol. I, New Orleans Public Library, New Orleans, Louisiana. Certificate
#1007, issued by land commissioners in favor of Josiah Millard, in April, May, or June of 1811,
from Nadine Hodges, Mrs. John Vineyard, and Mrs. Howard Woodruff, Missouri Pioneers (privately
published, 1%7), New Orleans Public Library.Nov. 1985]
41
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas Gulf Historical Society. The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, Volume 21, Number 1, November 1985, periodical, November 1985; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1433656/m1/43/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Gulf Historical Society.