The life of George Fisher, 1795-1873, and the history of the Fisher family in Mississippi

About this book

This book has essentially three parts. The first is a biography of George Fisher (Djordje Shagich), a monastery-educated Serb who came to Mississippi in 1815, advocated freedom for the Greek people from the Ottoman empire, and later became active in Mexican politics during the early years of that new nation. He was later banished from Mexico in 1836 for publishing editorials critical of the Santa Anna government. In 1838 he became a citizen of the Republic of Texas and was a spy for the new Republic investigating the sentiments among the peoples of the Yucatan. He resided in Houston from 1838 to 1851. He was a store owner and became a member of the Texas Bar. He was appointed Secretary of the Texas Land Commission, charged with straightening out property ownership, and later held the same position in the Territory of California. His last years were spent in San Francisco, where he was a Federal Judge, as well as Ambassador to the US representing the Greek and the Hawaiian people. A biographer described him in about 1840 as "perhaps the nation's greatest living linguist" - he spoke some 12 languages and wrote 8 of them. The second part of the book follows some of the development of his Mississippi descendants over the years of the late 1800s to mid-1900s. The third part is a standard genealogical listing of all descendants who could be located by the authors as of 1958 or so. The biography is well annotated and reads more as a history thesis than as a historical novel. For those interested in the latter, see "The Immigrant - The Judge Fisher Story" by A. B. Slavkovic, available on line from the author, which deals as well with some of Fisher's exploits before he came to Mississippi.