Community of Egypt
Egypt, Wharton County, Texas
Marker Inscription
One of most historic towns in county. Named following the drouth of 1827, when pioneers of Stephen F. Austin's colony came to this fertile region to obtain corn. They called it "Goin down into Egypt for corn", after biblical passage. Noted patriots were among earliest settlers: Eli Mercer, one of first sugar producers in Texas; and W. J. E. Heard, leader of citizen soldiers. Others were dairy king Gail Borden; William Menefee, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence; and Maj. Andrew Northington, stagecoach operator and surveyor.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Egypt earned its biblical name during the drought of 1827, when settlers in Stephen F. Austin's colony came to this fertile bottomland for corn, saying they were "going down into Egypt for corn." Among its earliest residents were notable figures of the Texas founding era, including sugar pioneer Eli Mercer and William Menefee, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Dairyman Gail Borden and stagecoach operator Maj. Andrew Northington were also early settlers.
Why it matters
Egypt was a cradle of Anglo colonization in Texas, home to founders whose names run through the story of the republic's birth.
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Related people
- · Stephen F. Austin
- · Gail Borden
- · William Menefee
- · Eli Mercer
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
William Jones Elliot Heard and Egypt Plantation
Egypt, TX
William Jones Elliot Heard came to Mexican Texas on one of Stephen F. Austin's land grants and settled in 1832 on rich bottomland his neighbors dubbed "Egypt" for its biblical fertility. He commanded a company at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, then built a cotton gin, ran cattle, and raised the crops of a working plantation, later serving as chief justice of Wharton County. The brick home he built in 1849-54 sheltered six generations of his family.
Egypt Plantation Cemetery
Egypt, TX
In 1838, during the Republic of Texas, William Jones Elliot Heard bought more than 2,000 acres in what became Wharton County and founded the Egypt Plantation, setting aside three acres for a family burying ground. Its oldest marked grave, covered like others by a brick crypt, belongs to Heard's young son George, who died in 1854, and his wife America was laid to rest here the following year. Still tended by Heard's descendants, including the Northington family, the cemetery holds many of his heirs and a number of unmarked graves.
Joseph and Rachel Rabb Newman
Egypt, TX
In 1823 the Newmans joined Rachel's parents among Stephen F. Austin's "Old 300" — the first Anglo-American families to settle Mexican Texas under empresario contract. Granted a league and a labor of land by Mexico, they farmed and raised stock on the raw frontier that became Wharton County, weathering the hardships that thinned so many early colonies. Their ten children scattered into Texas history, most famously the notorious frontierswoman Sally Scull.
Glen Flora Plantation
Glen Flora, TX
This house was built by a Mr. Sanford between 1860 and 1866, spanning the Civil War years in the plantation country of Wharton County. By 1881 it was home to W. H. Hood, who went on to found the town of Glen Flora in the 1890s. It was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1967.