Samuel Maverick - Marriage and Return To Texas

Marriage and Return To Texas

Shortly after returning to Alabama, Maverick met eighteen-year-old Mary Ann Adams, whom he married within three months. At the beginning of 1837, he sold his Alabama plantation and with his wife moved to New Orleans, both to receive faster news from Texas and to supervise the agent who was conducting mercantile activities on his behalf. In March, Maverick brought his wife to South Carolina to meet his father. The elder Maverick offered to give the newlyweds his plantation, but Maverick refused as he wished to return to Texas. While they were in South Carolina, Mary Maverick gave birth to a boy, Samuel Maverick, Jr..

In October 1837, the new family and seven slaves left South Carolina. After a brief stop in Tuscaloosa, they travelled overland to the Republic of Texas, accompanied by their slaves, Mary's brother Robert, and his three slaves. The party reached Texas near New Year's Day 1838. On February 4, they reached the home of George Sutherland, and the bulk of the travelling party remained as boarders there for the next four months. Maverick continued to San Antonio and began buying headright certificates using the money he received from the sale of his lands in Alabama. He received his own headright on March 2 after four citizens testified that Maverick had participated in the Texas Revolution.

Maverick's family joined him in San Antonio on June 15, 1838, where they rented rooms in the same home as Mary's brother William. They purchased their own home along the San Antonio River in early 1839, where their son Lewis Antonio Maverick was born in March 1839.

By the end of 1839, Maverick had purchased 41 lots. He assumed that there would be an influx of settlers eager to buy the land, but emigration slowed after 1838. Maverick received his Texas law license in November 1838 and began arguing cases in district court. In January 1839 he was elected the mayor of San Antonio. During his one-year term, he also acted as city treasurer and served as a precinct justice of the peace. For the next several years, Maverick spent a great deal of time away from home, either surveying frontier lands or traveling to New Orleans on business. He narrowly escaped death while on a surveying trip in late 1839. Because he had promised his wife that he would be home on a specific day, Maverick left the surveying camp early. Later that day, Comanches raided the camp and killed all but one person, who was scalped.

Comanche raids were frequent in the San Antonio area, and Maverick joined the militia. When an attack was noticed, the church bell would ring, and Maverick and his fellow militia members would have to be ready to leave within 15 minutes. They would chase the raiders with the hopes of recovering captives and any stolen goods. Maverick participated in the Council House Fight on March 19, 1840, as the citizens of San Antonio attempted to capture or kill a band of Indians who had reneged on previous agreements to return captives. Two days after the fight, Maverick left for New Orleans, leaving his family under the protection of his wife's two brothers. During his trip, he collected money from rents on various properties and sold more of his lands in Alabama and South Carolina. He used the money to buy two years of provisions, which he shipped to Linnville. Before he could escort the goods to San Antonio, a band of Indians led by Buffalo Hump raided Linnville and destroyed all of the supplies.

In December 1840, his wife's uncle, John Bradley, moved to Texas with his wife and their young children and settled near the Mavericks. By the end of the year, Maverick owned full title to 4,605 acres (18.64 km2), with 12,942 acres (52.37 km2) under survey. The following year, Maverick became the treasurer of the city council.