RUEG, HENRY (1798-?). Henry (Henri or Enrique) Rueg, early merchant and political chief of the Department of Nacogdoches, was born in Rolle, Switzerland, in 1798, the eldest son of Leonard and Louise (Chalebanat) Rueg. He came to the United States in 1818 and brought several Dutch families to settle on the Red River near Campti, Louisiana. The colony was soon abandoned, and Rueg and his brother Louis proceeded to Texas in 1821. In 1831, after engaging for some time in horse and mule trading, the Rueg brothers opened a mercantile business in Nacogdoches. They did some land business during 1835. Henry Rueg was appointed political chief of the Department of Nacogdoches when it was established. He entered upon the duties of office on October 18, 1834, and continued until January 10, 1836, when his archives were delivered to David A. Hoffman, alcalde of Nacogdoches. Rueg went to Natchitoches, Louisiana, and on November 21, 1836, married Marie Louise Flores of Bayou Pierre, Louisiana. He left his ranch, in what is now Angelina County, in the hands of Napoleon de Vaultz, a Frenchman who had been a trader among the Indians. The property was seized by an attachment issued for Justin Castanie as a result of the sale of two leagues of land on the south side of Red River, the title to which proved invalid.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Alcalde Papers, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin. Robert Bruce Blake Research Collection, Steen Library, Stephen F. Austin State University; Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin; Texas State Archives, Austin; Houston Public Library, Houston. Nacogdoches Archives, Steen Library, Stephen F. Austin State University; Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin; Texas State Archives, Austin. Henderson K. Yoakum, History of Texas from Its First Settlement in 1685 to Its Annexation to the United States in 1846 (2 vols., New York: Redfield, 1855).
