George Wilkins Kendall
George Wilkins Kendall | |
|---|---|
| Born | George Wilkins Kendall August 22, 1809 |
| Died | October 21, 1867 (aged 58) Boerne, Texas, US |
| Resting place | Boerne Cemetery |
| Known for | War correspondent Pioneer Texas sheep ranching |
| Spouse | Adeline Suzanne de Valcourt |
| Children | Four |
George Wilkins Kendall (1809–1867) was a journalist, war correspondent, and pioneer Texas sheepman, known as the father of the Texas sheep business.
The New Orleans Picayune newspaper. By 1838, the paper had extended its coverage to the Republic of Texas. Kendall was given a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1989, Marker number 2169, as a gravestone.[1] During the Civil War, Kendall produced wool for Confederate uniforms and blankets.[2][3]
Early years
George Wilkins Kendall was born on August 22, 1809,
Puritan parents, Captain Thaddeus Kendall and his wife Abigail Wilkins Kendall. His immediate family drifted from one location to another. George eventually went to Amherst, New Hampshire, to live with his grandfather Samuel Wilkins.[4]
Career
Journalism
Kendall learned printing as a youth at
Soldier and war correspondent
Kendall traveled to the
leper colony, with Kendall suffering smallpox.[8] Kendall posted detailed letters during his imprisonment, twenty-three of which were subsequently published in The Picayune over a period of a year. Kendall was released in 1842, as a result of intervention by influential friends. In 1844, he published a 900-page book, Narrative of an Expedition Across the Great Southwestern Prairies, from Texas to Santa Fé, which sold 40,000 copies over eight years.[4][9]
The New Orleans Picayune began to advocate for westward expansion, annexation of Texas, and war with Mexico. In 1846, Kendall enlisted in the
General William Jenkins Worth and documented the Veracruz landing of General Winfield Scott. Kendall sustained a knee wound in the Battle of Chapultepec. By the end of the 1846–1848 Mexican–American War, Kendall had filed 214 reports. He became the best-known correspondent of that war.[8][11] His dispatches have been collected and republished in a modern, scholarly edition.[12]
After the war Kendall took a European sabbatical for several years, where he met his wife and finished his 1851 book The War between the United States and Mexico.[4][8]
Sheep ranching
Kendall was a pioneer in Texas sheep ranching, and is regarded as the father of the industry in Texas. In 1852, Kendall went into the Texas sheep business with three friends. They began with twenty-four Spanish
Atlanta, Georgia, and began large-scale operations.[4] Kendall submitted regular reports of the business to the New Orleans Picayune, promoting the industry and praising the Texas Hill Country for what he considered its ideal sheep ranching environment. He often contributed articles on the subject to Texas publications. In 1864, he was the first to begin dipping sheep in large vats to eradicate scab disease.[14]
Personal life and death
In 1849 he married French citizen Adeline Suzanne de Valcourt in Paris. The couple had four children. Daughter Georgina deValcourt Kendall Fellowes became trustee of the Kendall family records, which are housed at the University of Texas at Arlington.[15]
George Wilkins Kendall died of pneumonia[16] in the Texas county that bore his name, on October 21, 1867, and is buried at the Boerne Cemetery.
Bibliography
- Kendall, George Wilkins (2010) [First printed in 1845]. Narrative of an Expedition Across the Great Southwestern Prairies, from Texas to Santa Fé. Nabu Press. OCLC 61972787.
- Kendall, George Wilkins; Nebel, Carl (1851). The War between the United States and Mexico illustrated, : embracing pictorial drawings of all the principal conflicts by C. Nebel ... With a description of each battle, by George Wilkins Kendall. New York. )
- Kendall, George Wilkins; Cress, Delbert Lawrence (1999). Dispatches from the Mexican War. University of Oklahoma Press. OCLC 651480927.
- Randall L.L.D., Henry Stephens; Kendall, George Wilkins (1865). Sheep Husbandry: With an Account of Different Breeds. Orange Judd. OCLC 310367102.
- Kendall, George Wilkins (1884). Narrative of the Texan Santa Fé Expedition. Wiley & Putnam. OCLC 561051363.
References
- ^ "George Wilkins Kendall – Boerne, Kendall County, Texas". Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. William Nienke, Sam Morrow. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
- ^ https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=47507
- ^ https://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/Details/5259000598
- ^ a b c d Cutrer, Thomas W. "George Wilkins Kendall". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
- ^ McLeary, Paul (12 September 2005). "The Times-Picayune: How They Did It". Columbia Journalism Review.
- ISBN 978-1-178-24278-2.
- ^ "Santa Fe Expedition". Lone Star Junction. 1998. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-313-33423-8.
- ISBN 978-1-59967-489-6.
- ^ Dishman, Chris (August 2009). "Street Fight at Monterrey". Military Heritage Magazine.
- ISBN 978-1-171-78638-2.
- ^ George Wilkins Kendall, Dispatches from the Mexican War, edited by Lawrence Delbert Cress. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1999.
- ^ Greene, Daniel P. "Waco Springs". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
- ^ Carlson, Paul H. "Sheep Ranching". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
- ^ "Kendall Family Papers 1789–1949, bulk 1846–1946". The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. Archived from the original on 31 January 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
- ^ Coppedge, Clay. "Escapes-George Kendall". Texas Escapes. Texas Escapes – Blueprints For Travel, LLC. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
Further reading
- Copeland, Fayette. Kendall of the Picayune (1943, reprint 1997)
External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to Narrative of the Texan Santa Fé Expedition.
- Kendall Family Papers finding aid at University of Texas at Arlington Libraries Special Collections via Texas Archival Resources Online (TARO)
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