GANT, WILLIAM WASHINGTON (1809-1840). William Washington Gant, soldier, legislator, and publisher, was born in January 1809 in Tennessee. He arrived in Texas on February 21, 1835, and settled in what was then Washington County. In early 1836 Gant and Andrew J. Geer began publication of the Texas Reporter at Washington-on-the-Brazos. At least two issues were published, one on January 14, 1836, and one on March 2, 1836. Gant joined Capt. Peyton R. Splane's company on February 27, 1836, and fought at the battle of San Jacinto with Capt. Robert J. Calder's company. It is claimed that Gant was a physician and treated Juan N. Almonte after San Jacinto. He remained in the Texas Army until May 29, 1836. In the summer of 1836 he was elected to represent Washington County in the First Congress of the republic, which convened on October 3, 1836. He continued to represent the county in the Second and Fourth congresses of the republic and completed his term on February 5, 1840. He married Harriet E. Hoke, the widow of H. E. Hoke, on June 18, 1840. Gant died and was buried in October 1840 in Washington County and was later reinterred at Navasota. After his death his widow married a wealthy landowner and planter named John M. Brown.
Asa Walker, a defender of the Alamo, moved to Texas at Gant's expense and took Gant's overcoat and rifle with him to the Alamo, leaving his friend an apologetic note. Gant later sought and received appointment as the administrator of Walker's estate because of this debt.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Eugene C. Barker, "Notes on Early Texas Newspapers," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 21 (October 1917). Sam Houston Dixon and Louis Wiltz Kemp, The Heroes of San Jacinto (Houston: Anson Jones, 1932). Worth Stickley Ray, Austin Colony Pioneers (Austin: Jenkins, 1949; 2d ed., Austin: Pemberton, 1970). Charles F. Schmidt, History of Washington County (San Antonio: Naylor, 1949). Texas House of Representatives, Biographical Directory of the Texan Conventions and Congresses, 1832-1845 (Austin: Book Exchange, 1941). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.
