City of Beaumont
Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
City of Beaumont, Named in Honor of Mary Dewleigh Borlace Warren Beaumont by Her Husband, Henry Millard Who Laid Out the Town in 1835 on a Site Known as Tevis's Bluff, Incorporated 1838
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Beaumont was laid out in 1835 on a site known as Tevis's Bluff by Henry Millard, who named the new town in honor of his wife, Mary Dewleigh Borlace Warren Beaumont. Founded on the eve of the Texas Revolution, the town was incorporated in 1838 during the days of the Republic of Texas. It would later grow into a major Gulf Coast city.
Why it matters
Beaumont's founding during the birth of the Texas Republic marks the early settlement of the Sabine-Neches region that would, decades later, launch the American oil age at nearby Spindletop.
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Related people
- · Henry Millard
- · Mary Dewleigh Borlace Warren Beaumont
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Nancy Tevis
Beaumont, TX
In 1825 Nancy Nixon Tevis and her husband Noah settled a bluff on the Neches, becoming the first known Anglo-Americans there and later receiving a Republic of Texas land grant covering much of what became Beaumont. Widowed young, Nancy held her ground with eight children through the Runaway Scrape of 1836, ran a profitable ferry, and joined with others in 1837 to found the town — renaming it from Tevis Bluff to Beaumont. Fiercely protective of her rights, she once appealed directly to President Sam Houston over a land dispute.
French Trading Post
Beaumont, TX
Connecticut-born merchant and tanner John J. French built this house and store in 1845, drawing early settlers to 'French Town' to barter tallow, hides, corn, and beef for shoes, harness, salt, coffee, and cloth. The tannery stood nearby, the home stayed in the French family for 95 years, and roads and schools still carry the name; it was restored to its 1845 look after the Beaumont Heritage Society took it on.
Prater Cemetery
Beaumont, TX
Prater Cemetery grew from a family burial ground that Edwin Prater formalized in 1894, buying a half-acre from his daughter and son-in-law to serve his descendants 'forever'—though travelers who died passing through had already been laid to rest there, and his infant granddaughter Seawillow Ballard was buried in 1888. Used chiefly by the Prater, Collier, Ballard, and Odom families, it holds Confederate veterans among its graves, including a ferry operator on the Neches River. Overgrown and nearly forgotten, it was rediscovered in 1968 and cleaned up by a Beaumont Boy Scout troop in 1976.
Spell Cemetery
Beaumont, TX
Set aside by the Marble family in the early 1870s, this small graveyard holds burials reaching back to the Civil War years, beginning with Martha Marble. The land passed to a daughter and son-in-law whose family name it still carries, and later generations formally recorded it as a cemetery in county deeds. Descendants organized an association to tend the historic ground.