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Born in Worthington, Ohio, on March 14, 1837, William Henderson Maltby served as a journalist and newspaper publisher for three Corpus Christi newspapers. While living in Cleveland, Maltby worked as a typesetter for the Cleveland Herald in 1859. That same year, his older brother, Henry, began publishing the Ranchero in Corpus Christi. Soon after, William left Cleveland to assist his brother with this newspaper. The brothers lived in a boarding house where William met his wife, Mary Grace Swift. They married on July 15, 1860. When the Civil War began, Maltby earned the rank of lieutenant of an artillery battery and later became its captain. This unit became Company I of the Eighth Texas Infantry Regiment and defended Aransas Pass. Union forces captured Maltby’s entire battery on November 17, 1863. Now a prisoner of war, Maltby found himself in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where his other brother, jasper, served as a union brigadier general. After being exchanged and released, Maltby returned to Corpus Christi and reunited with Mary Grace and their child born during his absence. Soon after, Maltby became publisher of the Corpus Christi Advertiser. A disastrous yellow fever epidemic swept the community in 1867, claiming the lives of at least 150 residents including Mary Grace. Maltby remarried Anna Marie Headen in 1870 and the couple had three children in addition to the two from Maltby’s previous marriage with Mary Grace. In 1877, Maltby and Eli T. Merriman established the Corpus Christi Free Press, which became the forerunner of the Corpus Christi Caller. Maltby continued to work in the newspaper business until his death on August 20, 1880. (2017) |
