SANDUSKY, WILLIAM H. (1813–1847). William H. Sandusky, draftsman and surveyor, was born on January 29, 1813, in Columbus, Ohio, the son of John and Elizabeth (Clarno) Sandusky. At an early age he moved to Pekin, Illinois. In 1838 he established himself in Austin, Texas, as an artist and draftsman. He assisted in surveying the town and making a map of it. He served the state as a surveyor and later as registrar of the General Land Office. In 1840 he was appointed secretary to President Mirabeau B. Lamar; a year later he resigned for health reasons. On May 11, 1841, he was appointed draftsman for the coastal survey of Texas under Edwin Ward Moore. On July 21, 1842, Sandusky married Jane McKnight, and the couple lived in Galveston, where he advertised as a maker of maps, charts, landscapes, and plans of cities and towns. He worked in Galveston until his death on January 18, 1847. Though reflecting limited skill, his sketches of the city of Austin add important material to the early historical record of the city.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pauline A. Pinckney, Painting in Texas: The Nineteenth Century (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967). Vertical Files, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
