Tod-Milby Home Site
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
John Grant Tod (1808-1877), a Kentuckian, left home at 17 to go to sea. Served in Mexican, U.S. navies. Came to Texas, 1837; served in Republic Navy, 1837-1845, as naval agent, supervising purchase and equipment of vessels of second Texas Navy; commander, naval yard at Galveston; acting secretary of Navy; commodore. Tod carried official notification of Texas' annexation from the Congress of the United States, presenting it to President Anson Jones, January 13, 1846. Served in U. S. Navy as agent of the Quartermaster's Department during Mexican War, 1846-1848. Assistant state engineer, 1857-1859. Was one of organizers and builders of Texas' first railroad, the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado; came to Harrisburg to serve as its treasurer. Purchased cottage here and moved into it with his family in November, 1866. This remained the family residence for seventy-six years. Additions made by son-in-law, C. H. Milby, resulted in a large brick house. This structure, known as the "Milby House," was an historic landmark until demolished in 1959. Captain Tod and his family are buried in Glendale Cemetery, five blocks southeast on Magnolia Street. (1967)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John Grant Tod, a Kentuckian who went to sea at seventeen, came to Texas in 1837 and served the Republic's second navy as naval agent, Galveston yard commander, and commodore; in January 1846 he carried the official notice of annexation to President Anson Jones. He later served in the U.S. Navy during the Mexican War and helped organize Texas's first railroad, the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado. He bought a cottage here in 1866, and his son-in-law C.H. Milby's additions turned it into the brick "Milby House," a landmark until its 1959 demolition.
Why it matters
Tod's career links the founding of the Texas Navy, the moment of annexation, and the coming of the railroad — three of the forces that carried Texas from independent republic into the industrial United States.
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Related people
- · John Grant Tod
- · Anson Jones
- · C.H. Milby
Themes & tags
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