Samuel Maverick

Samuel Augustus Maverick (July 23, 1803 – September 2, 1870) was a Texas lawyer, politician, land baron and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. His name is the source of the term "maverick," first cited in 1867, which means "independently minded." Various accounts of the origins of the term held that Maverick came to be considered independently minded by his fellow ranchers because he refused to brand his cattle, though it might have instead reflected a lack of interest in ranching. Unbranded cattle which were not part of the herd came to be labeled "mavericks". He was the grandfather of Texas politician Maury Maverick, who coined the term gobbledygook (1944). Early years Samuel Augustus Maverick was the oldest son of Samuel Maverick, a Charleston businessman, and his wife Elizabeth Anderson. His Maverick ancestors had arrived in the New World in 1624, before emigrating to Barbados and later to Charleston. After his paternal grandfather died, in 1793 his grandmother, Lydia Maverick (née Turpin), married American Revolutionary War general Robert Anderson. In October 1802, his father married Anderson's daughter Elizabeth, and nine months later, on July 23, 1803, Maverick was born at his family's summer home in Pendleton District, South Carolina. To his family, Maverick was known as "Gus". Over the next four years the family lived in Charleston, and his mother bore four more children, one of whom, Robert, lived less than a day. In September 1809, his sister Ann Caroline died of yellow fever. His father, having watched his ten siblings succumb to the same disease as children, moved his family permanently to Pendleton. For the rest of his life, the elder Samuel Maverick cautioned his children to always live in a healthful climate so that they would not fall victim to a tropical disease. While in Charleston, the elder Samuel had operated a successful business importing goods from England, the Netherlands, Germany, Cuba, and France. After moving to Pendleton he gradually withdrew from his Charleston-based ventures and began to operate a small business in Pendleton. In 1814, the Maverick family expanded with the birth of another daughter, Lydia. Four years later, when Maverick was fifteen, his mother died. It is likely that Maverick's early education took place at home. In early 1822, he traveled to Ripton, Connecticut, to study under a tutor. In September of that year he was admitted to Yale University as a sophomore.