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National Register of Historic Homes
Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks
Texas Historic Markers
Historic
Markers - Cemeteries
Other Monuments & Markers
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC
HOMES.
Sabine County has only one property listed in the National Register of
Historic Places. Identification, location and marker inscription of this
place are as follows:
Name: Gaines-Oliphant
House.
Location: Seven miles east of Milam on State Highway 21.
Marker Inscription:
A two story dogtrot log structure with porch, clapboard siding, two additions
c. 1860, adjacent double pen log barn. Built at Sabine River crossing
of the Camino Real (Spanish Royal Highway) by James Taylor Gaines (c.
1776-1856)for his father-in-law, Edmund Norris. Gaines was planter, ferry
operator, Sabine District Alcalde c. 1824, signer of the Texas Declaration
of Independence, and contributor to Texas Constitution, Republic Senator.
House acquired 1843 by Martha Causey Oliphant; bought c. 1910 by Waller
family. Administered by the Sons of the Republic of Texas. Included in
the National Register in 1977.
RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC
LANDMARKS.
There are two recorded Texas Historic Landmarks in Sabine County. They
are the Old Jail Building and the Sabine County Courthouse in Hemphill.
Identification and marker inscriptions follow.
Name: Sabine County Jail.
Location: Courthouse Square, Hemphill.
Marker Inscription:
Sabine County Commissioners contracted for this
two story Victorian jail building in 1903. It was completed the following
year during the county judgeship of James T Peace. Bricks for the exterior
were supplied from the local kiln of Henry Huffman. The original interior
space, which included an area for hanging, was remodeled in 1925 by the
Southern Steel Company of San Antonio. W. H. Davidson was county judge
at this time. Recorded a Texas Historic Landmark in 1980.
Today the old building is under custodianship
of the Sabine County Historical Commission.
Name: Sabine County Courthouse.
Location: Courthouse Square, Hemphill.
Marker Inscription:
An 1858 election called for Sabine County offices to be moved from Milam
(7 miles north) to this more central location. The new county seat, Hemphill,
was named for former supreme court justice, John Hemphill. The first courthouse
on this site burned in 1875 and was replaced by a larger frame structure.
The present building was started in 1906 by N. A. Dawson, under the direction
of James Barney Lewis. The top floor was removed following a fire in 1909
and remodeling of the structure was completed in 1938 by the Works Progress
Administration.
TEXAS HISTORIC MARKERS.
The names of each Sabine County Historic Marker, together with locations
and inscriptions, are shown below.
Title: Francis Marcus Weatherred
Location: Milam Cemetery, State Highway 87 and State Highway 21.
Marker Inscription:
Francis Marcus Weatherred came to Texas in 1835. Born in Albermarle County,
Virginia, July 15, 1781. Soldier in the Creek Indian War and the Texas
War for Independence, 1836. Died December 4, 1854. His wife, Nancy Dowell
Weatherred, was born in Virginia 1791. Died in Sabine County, Texas, 1864.
Title: Milam.
Location: Milam, Sabine County, Texas.
Marker Inscription:
Founded in 1828 as Red Mound. Named in 1835 for Benjamin Rush Milam. Seat
of Justice of Sabine Municipality, 1835, of Sabine County, 1837-58. Incorporated
December 29, 1837. International Revenue Post during the Republic. Headquarters
of the Quartermaster's Department C.S.A., for Sabine County, 1861-65.
First home in Texas of John S Roberts, a signer of the Texas Declaration
of Independence. Home of John C Hale, martyr of San Jacinto.
Title: The Milam Masonic Institute.
Location: On State Highway 21, .25 miles east of Milam.
Marker Inscription:
Many pioneers belonged to the Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, an order
active in education. Among Masons settling in this area by 1845 were Republic
of Texas leaders William Clark, James Gaines, D.S. Kaufman, Willis H Landrum,
and F. M. Weatherred. The Rev. Littleton Fowler (1803-46), a Mason, opened
in 1845 in this county, the Midway Institute, which was soon absorbed
by Red Mount Seminary. Set to work at Red Mount (Milam), 1847, was Jackson
Lodge No. 35 A.F.&A.M, with John Boyd, G. A. Norford, A. D. Oliphint,
O. J. Polley, and J. T. Scruggs, as officers. The Lodge soon operated
the Milam Masonic institute, successor to the earlier schools. On the
charter application (1853), M.M.I. was listed as an already 'flourishing
school.' Later, Sexton Lodge No. 251, A.F.&A.M., operated M.M.I.,
a great contributor to East Texas culture until tax-funded education became
universal in the 1870s. Among the supporters of M.M.I. were Masons with
the family names Anderson, Causey, Davis, Deweese, Dorsey, Elliott, Gellately,
Halbert, Harper, Harris, Jacks, Low, McCloskey, McGown, McMahan, Mason,
Nethery, Noble, Pratt, Peeves, Penfro, Sanders, Slaughter Smith, Speights,
Sweet, Tucker, Vickers, Watson, White, Whittlesey, Williams, and Yeiser.
Title: New Hope-Bethel Baptist Church.
Location: 4.4 miles north of Milam, 0.3 miles off State Highway 87.
Marker Inscription:
In the early 19th century, Bethel Baptist Mission was established one
mile east of this marker on a lane that is now Farm Road 276. About 1818,
Elder William Cook (d 1829), having emigrated from North Carolina to Southwestern
Louisiana, began preaching both east and west of the Sabine. A log cabin
under a Catawba tree on the property of Henry Chambers and his son, Allen,
was the site of Bethel Mission services. Elder Cook's work here and elsewhere
is described by heirs of the pioneers and by a 1910 Louisiana history,
"Footsteps of the Flock", by Ivan M. Wise. Bethel Baptist Church
was constituted on Feb. 7, 1841, as a congregation of the Pilgrim Church
of regular Baptist faith and order. At that time a frame meeting house
was built. Bethel broke off its fellowship with the Pilgrim order in 1849,
joining the Central Missionary Baptist Association. The name "Bethel"
was changed about 1870 to "New Hope". This church joined the
Southern Baptist Convention in 1927. It also belongs to the Sabine Valley
Baptist Association. W. T. Love has been pastor since 1937. New Hope Bethel
church stands on land which was donated by J. G. Mason. The present brick
sanctuary was erected in 1970.
Title: Matthew Arnold Parker (May 27,
1801 - March 19, 1862).
Location: On State Highway 87 right-of-way, 4.5 miles north of Hemphill.
Marker Inscription:
First chief justice of Sabine County, Republic of Texas. Parker was born
in Georgia. He came here from Louisiana in 1822, settling at this site
which was on the land later included in his headright grant from the Republic.
In 1836 he served in the defensive Sabine Volunteers. President Sam Houston
appointed him chief justice (or county judge) in Dec. 1836, and he was
on a commission to detect fraudulent land claims in 1840. After his wife,
Mary (Isaacs) died(1845) he married Elizabeth Lowe. He was father of 16
children. He died in De Witt County and was buried near Nordheim.
Title: Las Borregas Camp Site.
Location: State Highway 21 and State Highway 87 intersection, west side
of Milam.
Marker Inscription:
Las Borregas Creek formed east line of Spain's 1794 grant to J. I. Pifermo,
first landowner in present Sabine County. Upstream, about 1800 at Jack
Cedar Crossing of Crow Ferry Road, Spain had an army Post to protect settlers
and travelers. The "Father of Texas", Stephen F. Austin, spent
his first night(July 16, 1821) in Texas on this creek.
Title: El Lobanillo.
Location: State Highway 21, near post office, Geneva.
Marker Inscription:
Pueblo of Gil Ybarbo (1729-1809), where his ill mother and other refugees
remained when Spain evacuated colonists from western Louisiana and East
Texas in 1773. Granted to Juan Ignacio Pifermo, and inherited in early
1800s by John Maximillian (1778?-1866), this is now Known as the oldest
continuously occupied site in East Texas.
Title: Mial Scurlock.
Location: Scurlock Cemetery, off Goat Hill Road, via State Highway 21
and Farm Road 1, four miles east of Geneva.
Marker Inscription:
Mial Scurlock (b. 1809) and his brother, William Scurlock (1807-1885),
left their Mississippi home in 1834 to settle in Texas, then a part of
Mexico. That same year they received a land grant here in the Sabine District
and, with their slaves, began farming the site. The following year, when
disputes between Texas settlers and Mexico resulted in the Texas Revolution,
the Scurlocks joined the Texas Army at San Augustine. Mial participated
in the Siege of Bexar and in the battle of The Alamo, where he was Killed
on March 6, 1836, in the defense of his adopted land.
Title: Sabine County.
Location: Hemphill Courthouse grounds.
Marker Inscription:
A borderland between Spain and the United States, 1803-1819. Entry for
many Anglo-American colonists and travelers after 1820, first included
in the municipality of Nacogdoches; after 1832 in the municipality of
San Augustine; on December 15, 1835, it became the municipality of Sabine,
borrowing its name from the river which forms its eastern boundary. Became
a county in 1836. Organized in 1837. Milam, county seat, 1837-1858, Hemphill,
since 1858. In the heart of the pinelands. In memory of Benjamin Holt,
Absolom Hier, Jesss Parker, members of the Convention of 1832. William
Clark Jr., James Gaines, signers of the Declaration of Independence, 1836.
Captain William Scurlock, a participant in the battle of Coleto under
Colonel James W. Fannin, Jr. life spared March 27, 1836. Isaac W Burton,
Benjamin F. Bryant, John C. Hale, William Pace, Alfred Benton, Dr. Robert
K. Goodloe, San Jacinto veterans and other founders and defenders of the
Republic of Texas, who lived in this county, before or after the Revolution,
Some of the distinguished citizens contributed by Sabine County: David
S. Kaufman, first U.S congressman from Texas; Sam D. McMahan, pioneer
patriot; Littleton Fowler, early missionary; R. P. Sibley, J. C Caraway,
captains in the CSA.
Title: Jones-Sweet House.
Location: Geneva
Marker Inscription:
Jones-Sweet. C A. Jones (1869-1962) used pine lumber grown on his own
land to build the original two-room portion of this house upon his marriage
in 1892 to Roxie Horn (1876-1941). Jones, who operated a general store
and shingle mill, later enlarged the house, hauling stones to this site
by ox cart for the chimney. In 1907 he sold the structure to his father-in-law,
W. W. Horn (1841-1926), a prosperous farmer and Confederate veteran, who
further enlarged it. Acquired in 1937 by Horn's granddaughter, Imogene
(Mrs. Grover Sweet), the property has been continuously owned by family
members.
Title: McMahan 's Chapel.
Location: 5.5 miles west from Geneva on State Highway 21, 2 miles southwest
to chapel.
Marker Inscription:
The oldest Methodist church having a continuous existence in Texas. Organized
as a "Religious Society", September, 1833, at the home of Colonel
Samuel McMahan by the Rev. James P. Stevenson (1808-1885), as a Methodist
church July, 1834, by the Rev. Henry Stephenson. First building was completed
in 1839 by the Rev. Littleton Fowler and given the name of McMahan's Chapel.
Displaced by a new building in 1872 and again in 1900.
Title: Gaines Memorial Bridge.
Location: Seven miles east of Milam on State Highway 21.
Marker Inscription:
Named by the Highway Departments of Louisiana and Texas in honor of two
brothers: James Gaines, who owned and operated a ferry here, 1819 to 1844,
and was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and General
Pendleton Gaines, an officer of the U.S. Army, prominent in Louisiana
history, and who was stationed near here in 1836 to observe the campaign
in Texas.
Title: Sabinetown.
Location: Sabinetown.
Marker Inscription:
Established by Herman Frazier in 1839. Named for the river on which it
was located. A port of entry during the period of the Republic. Among
its earliest citizens were David S. Kaufman and Augustus Hotchess and
Shadrick Morris. Nearby lived Jesse J. Robertson and E. H. Hines. Post
office discontinued by 1880.
Title: Barney C. Lowe.
Location: Lowe Cemetery, two miles east of Brookeland.
Marker Inscription:
Barney C. Lowe, a participant in the capture of San Antonio in 1835. Born
in Kentucky, May 16, 1817. Died November 30, 1874. His wife, Philiann
Bradshaw Lowe, born November 10, 1823, died November 5, 1865. Erected
by the State of Texas - 1936.
OTHER MONUMENTS AND MARKERS.
In 1924 the commissioners court approved the erection of a monument in
Hemphill to honor Sabine County men who lost their lives during World
War I. This granite monument stands today on the northeast side of the
courthouse square and has the following inscription.
Erected to the memory of the Sabine County, Texas,
boys who made the supreme sacrifice in the World War, 1914-1918.
- Mack Isom
- Leo Vickers
- Dock Minton
- Marvin Arnold
- Nolan McDaniel
- Elijah Ferguson
- Marvin Mott
- Tommie Bell
- Gram Smith
Other monuments and markers in Sabine County are
shown below, together with location and marker inscriptions.
Title: Pendleton 1607-1701.
Location: Seven miles east of Milam on State Highway 21.
Marker Inscription:
Site of crossing on the Sabine River. Used more than 400 years,first by
the Indians, later by the Spaniards, French, other Europeans, and more
than 50,000 Anglo-Americans who came to settle in Texas prior to statehood.
Erected by the Texas Society National Society, Colonial Dames, AD 1969.
Title: Pendleton.
Location: Seven miles east of Milam on State Highway 21 where it crosses
the Sabine River into Louisiana.
Marker Inscription:
Texas-Louisiana Boundary
Kings Highway
Camino Real
Old San Antonio Road
Marked by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the State of Texas
-- AD 1918.
Title: Pendleton.
Location: Seven miles east of Milam on State Highway 21 where it crosses
the Sabine River into Louisiana.
Marker Inscription:
1609-1776. Site of the historic crossing on Sabine River. Erected by the
Sabine River Chapter, Texas Society of the National Society, Daughters
of the American Colonists.
For more Sabine County, Tx. history like
this, check Robert Cecil McDaniel's
books!
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