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Samuel Maverick

American politician (1803-1870)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ346455
Source-derived summary

Samuel Augustus Maverick (July 23, 1803 – September 2, 1870) was a Texas lawyer, politician, land baron and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. His name is the source of the term "maverick", first attested in 1867. He was the grandfather of Texas politician Maury Maverick, who coined the term gobbledygook (1944).

Early years

Samuel Augustus Maverick was the oldest son of Samuel Maverick, a Charleston businessman, and his wife Elizabeth Anderson. His Maverick ancestors had arrived in the New World in 1624, before emigrating to Barbados and later to Charleston. After his paternal grandfather died, in 1793 his grandmother, Lydia Maverick (née Turpin), married American Revolutionary War general Robert Anderson. In October 1802, his father married Anderson's daughter Elizabeth, and nine months later, on July 23, 1803, Maverick was born at his family's summer home in Pendleton District, South Carolina. To his family, Maverick was known as "Gus".

Over the next four years the family lived in Charleston, and his mother bore four more children, one of whom, Robert, lived less than a day. In September 1809, his sister Ann Caroline died of yellow fever.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Samuel Maverick” as american politician (1803-1870). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1803, 1870, 1867, 1944—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1803-07-23. The account is most persuasive where Samuel, Maverick and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american politician (1803-1870). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q346455. VIAF identifies the subject as 1548792. The Library of Congress control number is n88014455. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1803, 1870, 1867 and 1944.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Samuel Maverick”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Samuel Maverick primary sources, Samuel Maverick archive and Samuel research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Samuel Maverick”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Samuel Maverick” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.