John William Smith

Born William John Smith in Virginia, he reversed his names in San Antonio because Spanish speakers found it easier, became Catholic in 1828, and in 1830 married María de Jesús Delgado Curbelo, a descendant of Canary Islanders. They had six children. In December 1835 he drew the town plat that let Texan forces take San Antonio house to house, and Travis later sent him as the last messenger from the Alamo to the convention at Washington. He worked as a go-between for Spanish-speaking landowners and English-speaking speculators. He died at Washington in January 1845.

What the plaque says

John William Smith Soldier in the army of the Republic. Member of Congress. First mayor of San Antonio. Born in Virginia, 1792. Died in Washington Texas, January 13, 1845

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site — 0.8 mi
  The townsite on the Brazos where delegates met in a cold, unfinished hall in March 1836 to declare Texas independent, with Independence Hall rebuilt and Anson Jones's Barrington farm worked as in 1850.
• Star of the Republic Museum — 1.0 mi
  A star-shaped museum of the Republic of Texas years, 1836 to 1846, built at Washington-on-the-Brazos after a Brenham campaign and opened on March 1, 1970.
• Navasota — 6.5 mi
  A railroad and cotton town where the La Bahia Road crossed the Navasota River, scarred by an 1865 explosion and yellow fever, and the home ground of the songster Mance Lipscomb.
• Independence and Old Baylor Park — 11 mi
  A crossroads north of Brenham that was the richest town in Texas when it won Baylor University in 1845, refused the railroad, and lost the college to Waco and Belton in 1886.

More markers nearby

• Asa Brigham — steps away
• Washington-on-the-Brazos — 0.8 mi
• Washington County — 0.9 mi
• George Campbell Childress Statue — 0.9 mi