Henderson Yoakum

Yoakum wrote the charter of Austin College in 1849, the Handbook of Texas says, even though he belonged to the Methodist Church, and he served as a trustee from 1849 to 1856. In fall 1856 he went to Houston to give a Masonic address and handle court business. A severe tubercular attack struck him in court, and he was taken to the home of Judge Peter W. Gray for treatment. He died there on November 30, 1856. The marker stands in Oakwood Cemetery near the Sam Houston gravesite.

What the plaque says

Henderson Yoakum (September 6, 1810 - November 30, 1856) A graduate of the United States Military Academy (1832), Henderson Yoakum saw duty on frontiers and in the Mexican War. He practiced law and served in the Senate in his native Tennessee, moving to Texas in 1845. In Huntsville he became a civic leader and friend of Sam Houston. Joining fellow citizens in establishing Austin College, he became that school's first librarian and a teacher of law. In 1855, after years of work, he published a comprehensive, two-volume history of Texas. He and his wife Eveline (Cannon) had nine children. Descendants are still active in cultural life of Texas. (1976)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fanthorp Inn State Historic Site — 31 mi
  A cedar-log dogtrot cabin of 1834 on the road through Anderson that grew into a seventeen-room inn and post office for travelers of the Republic, kept by one family until 1976.

More markers nearby

• Oakwood Cemetery — steps away
• Sam Houston — steps away
• Anthony Martin Branch — steps away
• The Huntsville Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1867 — steps away