Jean-Charles Houzeau

Jean-Charles Hozeau was a man of multiple talents: astronomer, naturalist, surveyor and journalist. In 1820 he was born in the little community of Havré which is now a suburb of Mons, Belgium. 

In 1842 he commenced working at the Brussels Observatory and eventually became its director. His devotion to a republican form of government got him in trouble with the authorities and he was removed from his post. When he chose to go into exile Hozeau joined the ranks of those few but influential and often highly educated immigrants motivated by political rather than economic circumstances.

Upon being dismissed from the staff of the Royal observatory in Belgium, he immigrated to New Orleans aboard the Metropolis, in 1857.

Houzeau moved to San Antonio on May 21, 1858 after a brief stay in New Orleans. While in San Antonio he worked at surveying irrigation ditches, opened old Spanish acequias, and cut new channels to help farmers with water.

He moved to Uvalde where he planned various geological and scientific expeditions into different parts of the state.

While on one of these expeditions in 1861 Houzeau explored the upper Brazos River and descended it, crossing then to the Colorado watershed. He had strong abolitionist views, and these became apparent when he assisted the escape of some slaves.

He eventually found himself in Austin where he violently refused service in the Confederate army, he then traveled back to San Antonio hoping to escape the dilemma of being drafted in the confederate army.

Houzeau decided to lend all possible aid to the Union army, and the most prominent Unionist living in San Antonio was Charles Anderson who was arrested previously because he had freed his slaves. Houzeau decided to help Anderson escape prison and provided him with enough provisions and a mount so he could travel far enough to ensure he was beyond danger.

To evade suspicion, Hozeau, disguised as a Mexican laborer accompanying a wagon train to Brownsville, left San Antonio carrying secret documents from local Unionists. Along the wagon’s route, they were stopped by Confederate soldiers. Hozeau’s dark complexion and fluency in Spanish, supported his disguise and the Confederate soldiers’ search failed to discover the Union Documents secreted in his shotgun. He was then able to travel into neutral Mexico and deliver the documents to a US consul. 

In January of 1863, Hozeau moved to Federal occupied New Orleans to edit the bilingual New Orleans La Tribune L’Union, a pro Union newspaper

That same year in 1863, he traveled to Philadelphia as a correspondent for the La Tribune (L'Union).

In 1868 he lived on a plantation in Jamaica until 1876 where he returned to his native Belgium.

Upon his return to Belgium he resumed his former post as director of the Royal Observatory in Brussels.