William Templeton Millican

The land behind the name came in two stages. In the Austin colony William T. Millican received title to one sitio on July 16, 1824, but the patent was not issued until October 10, 1845, two years after his death. Separately, his army service from April 25 to July 25, 1836 entitled him to a bounty warrant for 320 acres. The 1826 census listed two sons and two daughters; at his death in September 1843 he was survived by his wife, three sons and four daughters.

What the plaque says

William Templeton Millican Old Three Hundred Colonist William T. Millican was born in South Carolina about 1780 and came to Texas with his parents and siblings in 1821. They joined Stephen F. Austin's first colony and were granted land in this area on which to make their home. The community that grew up around their land became known as Millican. W. T. Millican's property was granted in 1824, and in the 1826 census he was listed as a farmer and stock raiser. Just prior to the outbreak of the Texas Revolution, he served as a delegate to the consultation at San Felipe in 1835, which endorsed the establishment of a provisional government for the colonists. The Millican family fled their home in 1836 as part of the Runaway Scrape, as news spread of Sam Houston's retreat eastward from Mexican general Santa Anna. Millican's father, Robert Hemphill Millican, died during the flight. By the time the rest of the family reached Liberty, victory had been won at San Jacinto and they returned to their home. From April until July 1836, W. T. Millican served in the Republic Of Texas army to guard the frontier and posthumously was awarded land at this site from Sam Houston for his service. During the years of the Republic, Millican served as a public official in several capacities, including Justice of the Peace and a member of the committee appointed to select a county seat for Brazos County (first called Navasota County) upon its establishment in 1841. He died two years later and was buried in the Weaver Cemetery in Millican. (2002)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum — 11 mi
  The library of the forty-first president on the Texas A&M campus, opened in 1997, where George and Barbara Bush and their daughter Robin are buried in a family plot on the grounds.
• Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site — 11 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.
• Independence and Old Baylor Park — 12 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.
• Navasota — 12 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.

More markers nearby

• Millican, C.S.A. — 3.3 mi
• Millican Massacre — 3.4 mi
• Wellborn Cemetery — 5.3 mi
• A&M College Consolidated Rural School — 9.4 mi