Veteran Bio

In the Headright Certificate issued to Colonel Millard in 1838 for one league and one labor of land by the Board of Land Commissioners for Jefferson County it is stated that he came to Texas in August of 1835. He settled in what is now Jefferson County. A town was laid out and named Beaumont in honor of the wife of Mr. Millard who had died in Mississippi. Mr. Millard and Claiborne West were sent as delegates to the "Consultation" held in San Felipe de Austin in 1835 and on November 14, 1835, Mr. Millard was elected a member of the General Council of the Provisional Government.

Colonel Millard was commissioned by the "Consultation" as Lieutenant Colonel of the First Regiment Infantry, Army of Texas. He commanded the regular infantry at San Jacinto and on May 14, 1838 was issued Donation Certificate No. 9 for 640 acres of land for having participated in the battle. On December 5, 1837 he received Bounty Certificate No. 707 for 1280 acres of land for having served in the army from December 15, 1835 to December 10, 1836.

Colonel Millard was appointed the first Chief Justice of Jefferson County, the senate confirming on November 8, 1837. It appears, however, that he did not qualify for the office at this time for Jefferson County Records show Chichester Chaplin as Chief Justice in 1837. Colonel Millard made bond for the office on June 26, 1839, and served until 1841 when he resigned and succeeded on June 30, 1841, by Daracourt J.O. Millard.

Colonel Millard moved to Galveston in 1843 and died there in 1844. On August 28, 1844, he signed his will in the presence of A.B. Shelby, Samuel Hyatt, William N. Harper and H.N. Potter. It was opened for Probate in Jefferson County March 7, 1845, and is on file now in the Clerk's office of that county. In the will Colonel Millard appointed John R. Talley and Joseph P. Pulsifer as executors of his estate and among other things provided as follows: The bulk of his property was to go to his two sons, Frederick Leiss and Henry B. Millard. To his two brothers-in-law, Jefferson Beaumont and Franklin Beaumont of Natchez, Mississippi, he left one thousand acres of land each. He directed that his slave Philip continue his vocation of barber, under the direction of the executors.

Colonel Millard was a prominent member of the Masonic Lodge and in 1840 was secretary of the Grand Lodge of Texas he at that time being a member of Harmony Lodge No. 6 of Galveston.

At one time Colonel Millard and George W. Glasscock were partners in the buying and selling of lands. When the partnership dissolved each of Colonel Millard's land was situated in the present County of Williamson and it is in this county that his sons Frederick and Henry B. made their homes when they moved to Texas. Both were living in Williamson County early as the year 1857 and Henry B. was living there, near Florence, in 1874.

On July 16, 1867, Henry B. Millard gave two hundred acres of land situated about eight miles east of Georgetown "In consideration of the permanent location of the Texas University at Georgetown in Williamson County...." Jefferson Municipality was created by the General Council of the Provisional Government of Texas in 1835. Rev. Homer F. Thrall in his Pictorial History, page 672, stated that the municipality which later became the county was named for Jefferson Beaumont. Mr. Beaumont was a brother-in-law of Henry Millard had been a member of the "Consultation" of which created the "General Council." Mr. Beaumont was a resident of Natchez, Mississippi at the time the county was created but later came to Texas. He was the second Chief Justice of Calhoun County.

MILLARD, HENRY The "Morning Star", Houston carried this item February 7, 1843: "Colonel Henry Millard who was arrested several weeks ago by Col. Hockley, has been released by order of General Morehouse. Col. Millard demands a court of inquiry to investigate the charges made against him by Col. Hockley."

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