HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Dalrymple, William Cornelius

Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas

Marker Inscription

(August 3, 1814 - March 29, 1898) North Carolina native William Cornelius Dalrymple served in the Texas Revolutionary forces and as a Texas Ranger during the 1830s. He married Elizabeth Wilbarger in Bastrop County, Texas, in 1840, and settled on the San Gabriel River in 1846. He served Williamson County as one of six commissioners to select the county seat, as Tax Assessor/Collector, and as State Representative in 1855 and 1857. In 1860 Texas Governor Sam Houston appointed him his aide-de-camp and Commander in Chief of the Texas Militia. In 1865 he served as State Senator and delegate to Texas' Constitutional Convention. (1995)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

William Cornelius Dalrymple left North Carolina for Texas and served in its revolutionary forces and as a Texas Ranger in the turbulent 1830s. Settling on the San Gabriel River, he helped select the Williamson County seat and rose through public life as tax assessor, state representative, and senator. In 1860 Governor Sam Houston named him aide-de-camp and commander of the Texas Militia.

Why it matters

His long service links the Texas Revolution, the frontier Rangers, and the state's political life into the Civil War era.

Own a business near here? Add it to the map.

Related people

  • ยท William Cornelius Dalrymple
  • ยท Sam Houston

Themes & tags

Westward ExpansionMilitary & WartimeFrontier HistoryMemorial

Nearby & related markers

Taylor, John McQueen

Georgetown, TX

John McQueen Taylor came to Texas from Tennessee in 1829 as a colonist in Lorenzo de Zavala's empresario grant, arriving while the region was still Mexican territory. He took part in the 1834 Anahuac disturbances and, as a soldier in the Texas Army, fought in the Grass Fight and the Siege of Bexar during the Revolution. He later served as a justice of the peace before settling in Williamson County to raise his family.

Judge Greenleaf Fisk

Georgetown, TX

Greenleaf Fisk left a New York minister's household for the Texas frontier, arriving in Bastrop in 1834 and fighting in the decisive Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. He served in the Republic of Texas Senate and, when Williamson County was organized in 1848, became its first chief justice, reportedly walking a dozen miles to hold court. A surveyor whose name marks countless land records, he later helped found Brownwood.

James B. Williams

Georgetown, TX

James B. Williams left Kentucky with his bride and extended family, reaching the Berry's Creek area of Central Texas on Christmas Eve of 1848. He rode with his uncle's Texas Ranger company through the 1850s and early 1860s, when such units guarded the exposed frontier, and eventually made his permanent home in Glasscock Valley north of Georgetown. He and his wife Sarah raised thirteen children on the land they helped settle.