James Sanders Holman

Holman was an early Texas pioneer and the first mayor of Houston. He was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1804 and moved to Texas, along with many members of his family, in 1834-35. He served in the Texas Army and fought at the siege of Bexar, then settled in Houston where he worked as an agent for the Allen brothers, who established the town of Houston, and for the Texas Railroad, Navigation and Banking Company. He was elected as the first mayor of Houston, serving three months. After a brief stint as the clerk for the Houston-Galveston district court, he returned to the US to advocate for annexation, engage in land speculation, and retrieve his wife and children. He settled in Travis County in 1854 and died near Bryan in 1867.