Chambers' Creek
Forreston, Ellis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Named in honor of Thomas Jefferson Chambers (1802-1865) to whom the first land grant within present Ellis County was made in 1834 by the Mexican government also known as Howe's Settlement in honor of William R. Howe, first settler in the region in 1843. An early post office in Robertson County first county seat of Navarro county, 1846-1848.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This creek carries the name of Thomas Jefferson Chambers, who in 1834 received the first land grant within present-day Ellis County from the Mexican government — a reminder that Texas settlement began under Mexican rule. The place was also known as Howe's Settlement for William R. Howe, the region's first settler in 1843. Its early post office and brief turn as the first seat of Navarro County (1846–1848) mark it as one of the area's founding sites.
Why it matters
The creek's tangled names and short-lived county seat capture the fluid, fast-changing landscape of early Anglo settlement on the Texas frontier.
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Related people
- · Thomas Jefferson Chambers
- · William R. Howe
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of the Plantation Home of Edward H. Tarrant
Forreston, TX
War of 1812 veteran and Republic of Texas frontier commander Edward H. Tarrant built his home on this Ellis County land in 1845 and raised the county's first mill nearby. A statesman and campaigner against Native peoples, he lived here until his death in August 1858. The State of Texas marked the plantation site in 1936.
The Sims Family of Ellis County
Italy, TX
The Sims family were among the first pioneers of Ellis County, settling along Chambers Creek in 1851 where Nicholas P. Sims operated a mill and helped lay out the county's early roads. In 1852 Nicholas donated land for a Methodist church and, with his brother-in-law Ezekial Marshall Brack, organized the Waxahachie Masonic Lodge; Brack went on to serve as county judge. Over 150 years the family built ranches, a cotton gin, and — through bequests from Nicholas and his stepson S. M. Dunlap — public libraries in Waxahachie and Italy.
Shawnee Cattle Trail
Italy vicinity, TX
In use from about 1850 to 1873, the Shawnee Trail was the earliest and easternmost of the great cattle trails that drove Texas herds north to market, crossing western Ellis County and fording the Brazos at Waco, the Trinity at Dallas, and the Red River at Preston en route to Missouri. The Blackland Prairie's forage, water, and gentle terrain made ideal droving country, and towns like Waxahachie rose as supply stops. Outbreaks of tick fever and the Civil War disrupted the drives, and after Joseph McCoy opened the Chisholm Trail in 1867 the Shawnee slowly gave way, though herds still moved up it through 1873.
John Marr Hardeman
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This marker honors John Marr Hardeman, a Tennessee-born settler who took up arms as a soldier in the army of the Republic of Texas during the pivotal year of 1836. He lived on into old age in the young state he had helped win, dying in 1891, and is remembered here alongside his wife Mary.