The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 71, July 1967 - April, 1968 Page: 165
686 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Wealthy Texans, z86o
as "gentleman," and six as a combination of planter or farmer and
something else. There were three land agents, two stock raisers, two
railroad directors, two millers, one druggist, one superintendent, one
builder, and one contractor in the group. B. E. Buckner of Harris
County was a "policyholder," S. B. Giles of Travis County was a
minister, and L. Horst, also of Travis County, was a butcher. Susan
Thorn of Nacogdoches was listed with the pleasant occupation of
"traveling in Europe."
Individual holding of real and personal property was fairly evenly
divided among the 263 wealthy Texans. Median real property holding
for the group was $73,310, compared to the median personal property
holdings of $75,000. On the other hand, slightly more individuals in
the group held more real than personal property.
Table 1 shows the breakdown of real and personal property holding
for members of the group. It may be noted that the extremes in real
property held ranged from twenty-four individuals who held less than
$25,000 to the twenty-eight individuals who held over $2oo,ooo. In
personal property holding the extremes ranged from thirty-three
individuals who held less than $25,000 to the fifteen individuals who
held over $200,000. Table 1
PROPERTY HOLDING OF WEALTHY TEXANS, 1860
Number of Individuals
Amount of Property Held Real Property Personal Property
None Listed in Census 1 3
Less than $25,000 23 30
$25,00o and less than $50,000 42 40
$50,000 and less than $100,ooo 86 100
$100oo,ooo and less than $2oo,ooo 83 75
$200,00o and over 28 15
Total 263 263
In total property holdings eight Texans held half a million dollars
or more in individual property. Wealthiest man in the state in 186o
was the Kentucky-born Brazoria planter John H. Herndon, who held
$1,605,ooo in real and $106,050 in personal property." Houston
merchant William Marsh Rice, with $750,000 in total property, was
the second wealthiest individual in the state." Others by county with
'There is an excellent biographical sketch of Herndon in Walter P. Webb and H.
Bailey Carroll (eds.), Handbook of Texas (2 vols.; Austin, 1952), I, 802.
'For Rice's role in early Houston, see Andrew Forest Muir, "William Marsh Rice,
Houstonian," East Texas Historical Journal, II (February, 1964), 32-39.165
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 71, July 1967 - April, 1968, periodical, 1968; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117145/m1/197/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.