George Wilkins Kendall was born on August 22, 1809, in Mount Vernon, New Hampshire, to Thaddeus and Abigail Kendall. He grew up in his grandfather Samuel Wilkins’s household. According to an early biographer, he “learned the printer’s trade” in Burlington, Vermont, “and then worked as a journeyman in the middle, southern, and western states.” He moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, around 1835, and he helped establish the Picayune two years later.

 

He took part in the Texan Santa Fe Expedition in 1841, and he was captured by Mexican authorities. He was released from prison the following year, and he published a narrative of the expedition. He served in the Mexican American War, and he took part in the Battle of Monterrey and the Battle of Chapultepec. He also served as a war correspondent, publishing dozens of reports on the conflict.

 

He married Adeline de Valcourt around 1849, and the couple had four children. The family moved to Texas around 1852, and he purchased a “large grazing farm.” According to one writer, he “amassed a fortune” and “often rais[ed] $50,000 worth of wool in a single year.” He died of pneumonia in Boerne, Texas, on October 21, 1867.

 

Image: George W. Kendall (courtesy Wikicommons)

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