The Fearless Fifty-Nine, Michel Branamour Menard

Michel Branamour Menard was the 31 year old Liberty representative. Menard joined the fur trade at 15 in Detroit. He was illiterate until he worked with his uncle, Pierre Menard, the former lieutenant governor of Illinois. He became a resident trader to a band of Shawnees and was chosen as chief and moved with them to Arkansas Territory. In 1829 he applied for citizenship in Nacogdoches where he continued trading. By 1834 he owned 40,000 acres scattered around Texas. After the Convention, he acquired a title to a league and labor on the eastern end of vacant Galveston Island, a site forbidden to non-Hispanic Texans. His titled was questioned and he had to pay the republic $50,000 to clear the title. The Galveston City Company was created in 1838 and began issuing deeds to investors and purchasers. He became a representative in Texas Congress from 1840 to 1841. Menard was married four times with four children.