Thomas Joseph
Galveston, Galveston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Feb. 11, 1823 - Mar. 10, 1905) Born in Hartford, Conn., Thomas Miller Joseph came to Galveston about 1841 with his mother Annis (Rogers) (d. 1879) and the family of his Uncle Alexander Edgar. Admitted to the bar, he became a Democratic Party leader, serving as chief justice (county judge), major, state legislator, and senator. He and his wife Mary Minor (Trueheart) (d. 1885) had eight children. Joseph may be buried over his mother's grave site which, like others, was lost after several storms. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Thomas Miller Joseph (1823–1905) arrived in Galveston about 1841 as a young man from Hartford, Connecticut, and made the booming island city his home for the rest of his long life. Admitted to the bar, he rose as a Democratic Party leader, serving as county judge, state legislator, and senator, and raising eight children with his wife Mary. Fittingly for a place battered by hurricanes, his own grave may lie atop his mother's, its exact spot lost after storms swept the cemetery.
Why it matters
His career traces the making of civic and political leadership in nineteenth-century Galveston, then one of Texas's most important cities.
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Related people
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Themes & tags
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