Dilue Rose Harris
Columbus, Colorado County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Dilue Rose Harris (1825-1914) is best known for her journal writings concerning events of the Texas Revolution. Her 30,000 word "Reminiscences" were published in the "quarterly" of the Texas State Historical Association, and have provided a valuable source of information about Texas at that time. Dilue Rose came to Texas in 1833, and was married to Ira Harris (1816-1869) when she was almost 14 years old in 1839. They moved to Columbus in 1845, built this house in 1858 and reared nine children while living here. Dilue and Ira Harris are buried in the Columbus City Cemetery.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Dilue Rose Harris came to Texas as a child in 1833 and lived through the turmoil of the Texas Revolution, later setting her memories down in a 30,000-word "Reminiscences" published by the Texas State Historical Association. Married young to Ira Harris, she moved to Columbus in 1845 and raised nine children in the house built here in 1858. Her firsthand account remains one of the most valuable windows into everyday life during the birth of the Texas Republic.
Why it matters
A woman's plain-spoken diary became a primary source historians still lean on, a reminder that much of what we know about frontier Texas survives because ordinary people wrote it down.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Dilue Rose Harris
- · Ira Harris
Related events
- · Texas Revolution
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Dilue Rose and Ira Albert Harris House
Columbus, TX
Dilue Rose and Ira Albert Harris moved from Houston to Columbus in 1845, where Ira served as county sheriff and city marshal. Dilue drew on her girlhood during the Texas Revolution to write vivid reminiscences that were later published and became a treasured eyewitness account. In 1858 the couple built this unusual concrete house—with a rare basement—where they raised their nine children.
Masonic Cemetery
Eagle Lake, TX
The Eagle Lake Masonic Lodge purchased this burial ground in 1880, though the earliest known interment here dates to 1867. Its graves gather a remarkable cross-section of local life, from a mayor and U.S. representative to a World War II Women Airforce Service Pilot and the namesake of Oldham County. Curbing, obelisks, and Masonic gravestones still mark the historic grounds, tended today by a cemetery organization.
William B. DeWees
Columbus, TX
William B. DeWees came from Kentucky in 1822, when Texas was still part of Mexico, and received a land grant in 1824 as one of Stephen F. Austin's 'Old 300' colonists. He worked as a blacksmith and trader, and after Columbus burned during the 1836 revolution he laid out the present town and gave land for its courthouse and school. His published letters left rare eyewitness accounts of the 'Runaway Scrape' and life in colonial Texas.
Abram Alley Log Cabin
Columbus, TX
Abram Alley came from Missouri in the 1820s to join his brothers among the first colonists of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, settling near the Colorado River. During the Texas war for independence he helped settlers flee the advancing army in the panicked Runaway Scrape, and his own home was burned. He returned late in 1836 to build this oak-log cabin, where he and his wife raised five children and welcomed travelers.