372
WRITINGS OF SA!l·I HOUSTON~ 1859
up a mercantile business in Clark County, but soon removed to Mobile, where he developed one of the largest mercantile establishments in the South. In 1827, a great fire in Mobile burned up all his savings, but he reestablished himself and carried on his business until 1837, when he decided to go to Texas. He settled at Matagorda, to which place he removed his family, consisting at this time of his mother and at least one brother .and one sister. He bought the MatagordcL B11lletin, and edited it till 1840, when he removed to Galveston, where he edited the National Banner, in order to advertize West Texas lands, of which he had become the owner of vast tracts. With the removal of the capital to Austin, he sold out his interest in the National Bcmne1·, and returned to Matagorda to resume editorship of the Bulletin, which property he had never disposed of. His nex1; move was back to Galveston where he established a large drug store and operated it for several years. When the Mexican War broke out he went to Matamoros, bought land at Point Isabel on the Rio Grande, acquired controlling interest in a newspap~r, the A me1·ican Flag, at Mata- moros, and developed it into one of the most popular newspapers of the times, since it was the only American newspaper published in that part of Mexico. At the end of the Mexican War, he was one of a party of surveyors who laid out the town of Brownsville. In a few months later, he moved his press there. Simon Mussina was one of the chief plaintiffs against Judge John C. Watrous, on account of his corrupt decisions concerning land claims in and about Brownsville. This notorious case had a great effect on Mussina's life, because it drew him into long-drawn-out land litigations which he seemed never to be able to escape from for the rest of his life. In 1868 he moved to Austin for a time and began proceedings for the La Vega land grant-an eleven league grant which embraced a part of eastern Waco. This case was in litigation for many years. Out of his experience in handling land cases, Mussina made a wide reputation as an astute lawyer, thoroughly versed in the subject of Texas lands and land titles. In 1870-1873, he served as president of the board of trustees for the State Blind and Insane Asylums, and in 1871, he was an alderman of the city of Austin. Although he never joined any church, he served as vestryman at St. David's Episco- palian Church for several years.· But business again moved his home back to Galveston, and there he died at St. Mary's Infirmary, at the age of eighty- four years. Simon Mussina was never married, but he practically reared his father's family. At least one brother, Jacob, and one sister accompanied him and his mother to Texas. The sister married a Presbyterian minister of Gal- veston, and Mussina was buried from the First Presbyterian Church of that city. He became a Master Mason in 1850, and raised his rank in that organiza- tion to the Chapter. In politics he was a Whig until the dissolution of that party, whereupon he became a Democrat. For many years he was the staunch personal friend of Sam Houston, with whom he always agreed on political questions, He supported Houston in all his campaigns, but was his "right-hand man" in the campaign of 1859. Years after Houston's death he took great pride in exhibiting Houston's letters to him in evidence of the implicit confidence the "old Chief" had in his loyalty. See Encyclo· vedia of the New West; Galveston Daily News, February 12, 14, 1889; Austin Daily Statesman, Februa1·y 12, 1889.
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