De Cordova, Jacob

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DE CORDOVA, JACOB

DE CORDOVA, JACOB (1808–1868), Texas pioneer. De Cordova was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, and raised in Philadelphia. In 1834 he founded the Kingston Daily Gleaner, Jamaica's first daily paper, which his eldest brother's family has continued to publish. Returning to the United States in 1835, de Cordova was attracted to Texas by business, settled there, and became a citizen (1837). In 1842 he opened a large land agency. Thereafter he wrote guidebooks and lectured in New York, Philadelphia, and Manchester, England (1856–58), to attract settlers to Texas. Two years after Texas statehood (1845), de Cordova was elected to the Texas House of Representatives. Together with his brother Phineas (1819–1903), he published the semi-monthly Texas Herald, along with a weekly, the Southwestern America (1849–52), which helped stimulate railroad building in the state.

[Edward L. Greenstein]

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