The Real Mavericks

According to an interview on KVUE, an ABC affiliate, Friday, October 4, 2008, some of the Maverick family is taking exception to McCain and Palin calling themselves mavericks. With the family's long history as Democrats it is easy to understand why. Members of the family have gone so far as to start a webpage, http://www.realoriginalmaverick.com, in order to explain to the rest of the country just who or what Maverick really means.

This stance is easy to understand since it is a matter of historical record (Maverick Family Papers, Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin) that Samuel A. Maverick was a Democrat who served in the Texas Fourth through Ninth legislatures (1851-63). After the Civil War he fought the Republican Reconstruction of Texas until his death on September 2, 1870.

The Handbook of Texas says Samuel Augustus Maverick arrived in Texas in March of 1835. He was placed under house arrest in San Antonio and remained there during the siege of Bexar. The diary he kept during the siege is a compelling history of the event. In February of 1836 he was selected as one of two delegates to go to Washington-on-the-Brazos to attend the independence convention that was held there. He was one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. He and his descendents have played a significant part in Texas politics ever since.

His grandson Fontaine Maury Maverick, aka Maury Maverick, was an ardent supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. He served in the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat from 1935 to 1939 before serving as Mayor of San Antonio Texas from 1939 to 1941. After World War II he practiced law in San Antonio.

Maury Maverick, Jr., son of Maury Maverick and great-grandson of Samuel A. Maverick, also served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1950 to 1957 as a Democrat. He then was a lawyer for a number of years before closing his office and taking up writing full time. He died at age 80. His obituary can be found in the archives of the San Antonio Express and News.

Even if a Maverick isn't elected to serve in public office he or she will probably be active in supporting the Democratic Party here in Texas. Hence the strong objection to Republicans eo-opting the term for their personal use.

Many do not realize that, until there was an influx of East Coast people moving to Texas during the 1970's, Texas was a solid Democratic bastian. Nowadays people whose roots go back to before Texas was part of the United States are a rare breed. Before the migration of people from the north and east though, the majority of Texans considered the Mavericks and Johnsons, Lyndon B. Johnson in particular, as our own. Some of us had living great-grandparents who remembered the Republican Reconstruction after the Civil War. To say they were not in favor of the Repubican party is to understate the case. Sometimes these people were called "Yellow dog" Democrats because, if asked, they would tell you they'd vote for a yellow dog before they'd vote for a Republican. When you consider that the term yellow dog is an extremely insulting one here in Texas, that is stating a very strong opinion.

The term maverick first entered the American lexicon courtesy of a herd of cattle he left at Decrows Point, Texas on Matagorda Bay. The herd wandered off the ranch and, since Maverick refused to brand them, people began to say an unbranded calf belonged to Maverick. In time any unbranded cattle were called mavericks. The term spread throughout the west.

Since Samuel Maverick was known as man who did things his own way the term maverick also came to be applied to any politician that was difficult to handle.