Sewell, Marcus L. (ca. 1810–1836)

Marcus L. Sewell, Alamo defender, was born in Overton County, Tennessee, between 1810 and 1815. He traveled to Texas by way of Huntsville, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana, before settling on one-third of a league of land in Nacogdoches on May 2, 1835. He was a shoemaker by trade. On February 23, 1836, Sewell was mustered into the Gonzales Ranging Company by Capt. Byrd Lockhart. He rode to the relief of the Alamo with this group, which arrived on March 1, 1836. Sewell died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836, and John S. McDonald acted as administrator of Sewell's estate. On December 15, 1849, the Sewell heirs received a total of 1,920 acres of bounty land that included 1,476 acres in Bexar county on the west bank of the Nueces River about two miles southwest of San Antonio, and later a Goliad Donation land grant of 640 acres in DeWitt County.