There May Be Truth in the McCain-Palin "Maverick" Claim

Samuel Augustus Maverick (July 23, 1803-September 2, 1870) was a Texas lawyer, politician, land baron and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. From his name comes the term "maverick", first cited in 1867, which means independent minded. Maverick was considered independent minded by his fellow ranchers because he refused to brand his cattle.[1] In fact, Maverick's failure to brand his cattle had little to do with independent mindedness, but reflected his lack of interest in ranching.[1] He is the grandfather of U.S. Congressman Maury Maverick, who coined the term gobbledygook (1944). (wikipedia)

Samuel Maverick, a Texan back when it was its own country, had a lot of cattle... like many others who claimed the wildlands of the back-country West as "common lands". Most people who had cattle kept an eye on them, and the practice of annually rounding up one's branded cattle to sort out and sell some, and brand the calves of the new season, eventually became universal. But, in Sam Maverick's day, when longhorn cattle were sometimes only valued for their hides & tallow (because there was no refrigeration, and the railroads hadn't pushed near enough yet- so sailing ships were the method of transport), there were plenty of "cow-rich & cash poor" ranchers... including him.

So, Maverick figured that he would brand None of his cows... and at roundup time, his crews went through the bush and drove unbranded cattle to his ranch, to be done with as he saw fit. Of course, there were always escaped cattle around... and not all of them Maverick's... but it wasn't considered a problem, at the time.

* You can read his whole excellent discussion from this MySpace link under Sunday, September 28, 2008 "my iron is red hot"