SOMERVELL, ALEXANDER (1796–1854). Alexander Somervell, entrepreneur, soldier, and leader of the Somervell expedition, was born in Maryland on June 11, 1796. He moved to Louisiana in 1817 and was a planter in St. Landry Parish. In the early 1820s he moved to Missouri where he was probably a merchant. He moved to Texas in 1833 and was granted land in Stephen F. Austin's second colony. Somervell engaged in the mercantile business at San Felipe with James F. Perry. In October 1835 Somervell joined the volunteers marching from Gonzales to Bexar and was elected major. He participated in the siege of Bexar. He enrolled in the Texas army on March 12, 1836, and on April 8 was elected lieutenant colonel of the first regiment of Texas Volunteers, succeeding Sidney Sherman. He participated in the battle of San Jacinto and remained in the army until June 7, 1836. He served briefly as secretary of war in David G. Burnet's cabinet. Somervell represented Colorado and Austin counties in the Senate of the First and Second congresses, October 3, 1836, to May 4, 1838. By the time he was elected brigadier general on November 18, 1839, he was living in Fort Bend County. In January 1840 he was appointed commissioner to inspect land offices west of the Brazos. The following year he was named county clerk in Austin County. In 1842 Sam Houston gave him command of the Somervell expedition. Later that year, as a reward for his services, he was appointed collector of customs for the port of Calhoun. He probably held this position until the customs house was removed to the mainland in 1844. In partnership with two others, he helped develop the town of Saluria on northeastern Matagorda Island in Calhoun County between 1845 and 1847. Somervell died in February 1854 under mysterious circumstances. His body was found lashed to the timbers of the capsized boat in which, carrying a considerable amount of money, he had started from Lavaca to Saluria.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sam Houston Dixon and Louis Wiltz Kemp, The Heroes of San Jacinto (Houston: Anson Jones, 1932). Texas House of Representatives, Biographical Directory of the Texan Conventions and Congresses, 1832–1845 (Austin: Book Exchange, 1941).
