GRANT, GEORGE W. (?-1889). George W. Grant was an early advocate of education in Walker County. The census of 1850 shows a George W. Grant, age thirty-six, living. In 1871 Grant began holding classes within the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville;^qv he is credited with originating the idea of establishing Sam Houston Normal Institute (now Sam Houston State University) in that town in 1879 and was a member of the first board of directors of the institute. He and his brother operated a stage stop thirteen miles from Huntsville, and he served as county judge of Walker County from 1876 to 1878. He established the community of Grant's Colony several miles northeast of Huntsville to induce members of the Society of Friends (Quakersqv) to come to Walker County; he built farm homes and a meetinghouse for school and religious use. He was married but childless. He died in 1889.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: A History of the First Christian Church . . . Huntsville, Texas, 1854-1936 (MS, Estill Library, Sam Houston State University, 1936). Huntsville Item, March 6, 1941.

Mary S. Estill