Jacob de Cordova
| Jacob Raphael De Cordova | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Jacob Raphael de Cordova June 6, 1808 Spanish Town, Jamaica |
| Died | 26 January 1868 Texas, USA |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Texas House of Representatives |
Jacob Raphael De Cordova, (6 June 1808 – 26 January 1868), was the founder of the Jamaica Gleaner. He settled in Texas in 1839 and lived in Galveston. After living in Galveston, De Cordova moved to Houston, Texas where he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives to the second Texas Legislature in the year 1847. [1]
Jacob Raphael de Cordova, Texas land agent and colonizer, was born in Spanish Town (near Kingston), Jamaica, on 6 June 1808, the youngest of three sons of Judith and Raphael de Cordova, British Jews of Spanish descent. Since his mother died at his birth, he was raised by an aunt in England. He was well educated and became proficient in English, French, Spanish, German and Hebrew. In 1834 Jacob moved back to Kingston, where he and his brother Joshua started a newspaper, the Kingston Daily Gleaner, which is still published today. In early 1836 Jacob went to New Orleans, where he shipped cargoes of staples to Texas during its struggle for independence. At this time he served a term as Grand Master of the Odd Fellows. After the Battle of San Jacinto he visited the Republic of Texas to install members in the Odd Fellows lodges, the first established outside the United States.
He settled in Texas in 1839 and lived in Galveston and later Houston, where he was elected a state representative to the Second Texas Legislature in 1847. De Cordova traveled extensively through Texas, including the frontier western areas. Through scrip and direct purchase he acquired large amounts of land to sell to settlers; at one time he had 1,000,000 acres (4,000 km2) in scrip or title. To attract settlers to Texas, he made speeches about Texas in New York, Philadelphia and other US cities, and to the cotton-spinners association in Manchester. His lectures were published on both sides of the Atlantic and were widely read. His land agency, which he owned with his half-brother Phineas de Cordova, became one of the largest such agencies that ever operated in the Southwest. De Cordova and two other men laid out the town of Waco in 1848-49. Town lots of 1 acre (4,000 m2) sold for five dollars, and nearby farmland brought two to three dollars an acre.
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