commissioner for overseeing land claims within the Peters Colony. In 1853 he was elected the 10th mayor of Austin but resigned in September to accept an appointment by President Franklin Pierce as United States consul to Panama. He returned to the United States in 1857 and, despite declining health, was nonetheless active in the election of 1860 as a bitter opponent of secession. In 1865 Andrew J. Hamilton appointed him mayor of Austin (19th), his third time to hold the post over a 25-year period. While he did serve as mayor of the capitol of Texas three time, he never completed one year in each of these terms. In October he left Austin to serve as Andrew Johnson's appointee as Corpus Christi's customs collector. He remained in this position until 1869 when Ulysses S. Grant fired him. Ward married Susan L. Marston, a widow with two children, on June 20, 1844. Three years later their home was built by the noted Austin architect, Abner H. Cook, on the corner of Hickory (now 8th Street) and Lavaca. This corner now houses the United States Court House, to be move the new Federal Court House in front of Republic Square. Death and legacy Ward contracted typhoid fever and died on November 25, 1872 in his Austin home. He is interred at the Texas State Cemetery, with a granite headstone marking the grave site which was commissioned by the State of Texas in 1932. He was buried with the honors of Masonry and Odd Fellowship in the Texas State Cemetery. On August 16, 1872, the first county seat of Johnson County was named Wardville in his honor. Ward County, Texas, created in 1887, was also named in his honor fifteen years after his death. References Bibliography External links Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) Irish-American history and culture in Texas Mayors of Austin, Texas People of the Texas Revolution Businesspeople from Dublin (city) 1807 births 1872 deaths 19th-century American politicians Builders