author
Samuel Maverick
Best remembered as the Texas figure whose name gave English the word “maverick,” he was a lawyer, landowner, and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. His life ties together frontier politics, San Antonio history, and one of the most enduring words in American speech.
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About the author
Born in South Carolina in 1803, he studied at Yale and trained in law before moving to Texas in the 1830s. He became deeply involved in the region’s turbulent early history and was one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
He later built a prominent life in San Antonio as a lawyer, politician, and major landowner. He is most famous today because his surname became the common word "maverick," a label for an independent-minded person, traced to cattle left unbranded from his herds.
Remembered as a notable figure of early Texas, he died in San Antonio in 1870. His story still stands out because it connects public life, frontier enterprise, and a word that long outlived the man himself.