HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

William Ware

Utopia, Uvalde County, Texas

Marker Inscription

William Ware Capt. William Ware was born in 1800 to Joseph and Elizabeth Ware in Kentucky (Georgia in some sources). In 1828, he and his wife, Ann Murphy, and their three children moved to Montgomery County, Texas. From there, Ware raised a military company in 1835 and fought at the Siege of Bexar. In 1836, he raised the Second Company of the Second Regiment, Texas Volunteers, and fought with the Texas army at San Jacinto. That same year, the widowed Ware married Betsy Crane. While moving to Kaufman County in 1849, Betsy died en route to Sabinal Canyon. Ware and his son, John Crane Ware, arrived in 1852. Here they built a cabin, which became the cornerstone for the settlement of Waresville. Ware died in 1853 and was buried in the Waresville cemetery. (2003)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Born in 1800, William Ware brought his family to Montgomery County, Texas, in 1828 and threw himself into the fight for Texas independence, raising a military company that fought at the Siege of Bexar in 1835 and leading volunteers at the decisive Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. Years later he pushed west into Sabinal Canyon, arriving in 1852 to build a cabin that became the seed of the settlement of Waresville. He died the next year and was buried in the cemetery there.

Why it matters

Ware's life bridges two founding chapters of Texas β€” the revolution that won its independence and the frontier settlement that followed β€” in a single westward-moving pioneer.

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Related people

  • Β· William Ware
  • Β· John Crane Ware

Related events

  • Β· Siege of Bexar
  • Β· Battle of San Jacinto

Themes & tags

Military & WartimeWestward ExpansionFrontier HistoryMemorial

Nearby & related markers

Benjamin F. Highsmith

Utopia, TX

Benjamin F. Highsmith came to Texas as a young Missourian and threw himself into the fight for independence, serving in the Army of Texas in 1835–36 and later riding as a Ranger under the famed Captain John Coffee Hays. He joined the 1842 Somervell Expedition against Mexican forces and lived on into the twentieth century, a link to the founding generation of the Republic.

In This Vicinity June 24, 1841, Captain John Coffee Hays

Utopia, TX

In June 1841, near this spot in the rugged hill country of the young Republic of Texas, Captain John Coffee Hays led a small company of Texas Rangers, aided by allied Mexican fighters under Captain Flores, in a sharp clash with a band of Comanche warriors. Such encounters were the grim, constant reality of a contested frontier where Rangers, settlers, and Comanche bands fought for control of the land. The State of Texas marked the site in 1936.