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)