Alexander Somervell SOMERVELL, Alexander, soldier, was born in Maryland in 1820. After living several years in Missouri and Louisiana, he went to Texas in 1831- 82. Throughout the struggles of 1835-36 he was an active soldier, participating in the storming of San Antonio. He was made a lieutenant-colonel at the battle of San Jacinto, and later was acting secretary of war and a senator in the first congress in 1836-37. In 1839 he was elected brigadier-general, commanded an unsuccessful expedition to Mexico in 1842, and was collector of customs for the district of Matagorda from 1842 till annexation in 1845. He was accidentally drowned in Matagorda bay in 1854. Somervell county bears his name.  Thomas Jefferson McCamant, M. D. One of the best known residents in this section of Texas is Thomas Jefferson McCamant, of El Paso, Texas. He has been for many years engaged in the practice of his profession in this part of the state and has won a reputation for skillful work and for closely following the high ideals of his profession. He has held a number of public positions, being keenly interested in politics and in civic matters, and he has filled each post with .honor to himself and to the great satisfaction of his many and warm friends. Thomas Jefferson McCamant was born at Glenrose. Texas, on the 27th of November, 1874. He is a son of William Graham McCamant, who was born in Old Town, Virginia. William McCamant left his native state in 1854 and came to Texas overland, making the journey in a prairie schooner. He was a well known civil and mechanical engineer and was the government surveyor for the counties of Erath, Hood and Somerville, living during that time in the three counties, but never changed his residence, because Hood and Somerville were originally contained in Erath. He was the first settler in Somerville county, and previous to locating in this county he lived for a time at Greenville, Texas. He was in the frontier service against the Indians under the command of Major Valentine, and was in a number of Indian raids, in all of which he was so fortunate as to come out unscathed. He was later a member of one of the Texas regiments that fought on the side of the Confederacy during the Civil war. He died at Glen- rose, Texas, in 1884. William McCamant married Susan Gardner, who was born and reared in Virginia, and there received her education. She was married in her native state and came to Texas with her husband, being an able helper to him in those early pioneer days. She was the first member of the Presbyterian church to settle in Somerville county, and when that church was organized in the county there were only two members, Mrs. McCamant and a gentleman by the name of Mr. Davidson. During the war she made many of the clothes that were worn by the Texas soldiers at the front. Mrs. McCamant died in Glenrose in 1886 at the age of sixty- three. Three children were born to William McCamant and his wife. The eldest, Mrs. lola Graham Thompson, was born at Cranberry, Texas, and died in Meridian, Texas, in 1898. Mrs. Margerie Robinson, the second child, is still living in the old homestead at Glenrose. Doctor McCamant was the youngest of the three children, and, although he was born where Glenrose is now located, at the time of his birth it was a single log cabin a half mile southwest of Barnum's Mill. He attended the old school, known as Presbyterian College, at Glenrose, and here he was graduated in 1894 with the degree of B. S. After this he worked for a few years in a drug store in Glenrose and then determined to pursue his scientific studies further and become a physician. He therefore took up the study of medicine in the medical department of Port Worth University, and in 1902 was graduated with a cum laude, a high honor. He began to practice in Aspermont, Texas, and remained there for nine years, during which time he built up a flourishing practice. While living in Aspermont he took an active part in the political affairs of the community and was chairman of the Democratic committee for Stonewall county. He was also campaign manager in Stonewall county for W. R. Smith in both of his campaigns for Congress. In 1911 he was appointed state quarantine officer by Governor Colquitt, and in February of that year he came to El Paso, making this city his headquarters. He has taken up his general practice also since coming here and this, together with the duties attaching to his public position, make him a very busy man. He has a large practice and is generally recognized as one of the most successful physicians in this city. The doctor is a member of the American Medical Association, of the Texas State Medical Society and of the El Paso County Medical Society. In politics he is a. member of the Democratic party. He has always taken a deep interest in the various fraternal societies to which he belongs and he has been an active member of the Masons for many years. He is a member of the Knights Templar of Haskell, Texas, is a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, belonging to Maida Temple, in El Paso, and he is also a Royal Arch Mason, belonging to Lodge No. 157. He holds membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, No. 187, of El Paso, and the Loyal Order of the Moose, No. 526. In 1912 Doctor McCamant won much praise and made a number of bitter enemies through his work as the investigator of the illegal practitioners of medicine, an investigation that resulted in the indictment of ten illegal practitioners and in the departure of several from the city. On the 13th of May 190?, Doctor McCamant was married to Miss Helen Livermore, of Denver, Colorado, the only daughter of W. B. Livermore, who now lives in Whillets, California. Doctor and Mrs. McCamant have no children. Doctor McCamant believes that El Paso will become the leading city in the state in time, and he is especially enthusiastic over the local administration, saying that it is one of the best governed cities in the state, every improvement that has been made having been carried by the vote of the people. Personally he hopes that he may spend the balance of his life in this city, where he has made so many friends.