Emory Rains
Emory, Rains County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(May 2, 1800 - Aug. 11, 1878) Texas pioneer Emory Rains served as an alcalde under Mexican rule and as a counselor in the East Texas Regulator-Moderator War of the 1840s. As a senator in the Republic of Texas Congress, he helped pass the Homestead Act. Rains also served in the 1845 Constitutional Convention and in the State Legislature, where he worked for the formation of this county, which was named in his honor. The Rains County Seat, Emory, was also named for him.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Emory Rains was a Texas pioneer whose public life spanned three governments: he served as an alcalde under Mexican rule, helped mediate the violent Regulator–Moderator feud of the 1840s, and sat as a senator in the Congress of the Republic of Texas, where he helped pass an early Homestead Act. He was a delegate to the 1845 convention that brought Texas into the Union and later worked in the legislature to create the county that bears his name. Its seat, Emory, honors him as well.
Why it matters
Rains embodies the generation that carried Texas from Mexican province to republic to state, writing the homestead protections and county lines that still organize Texas life.
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Related people
- · Emory Rains
Related events
- · Regulator-Moderator War
- · 1845 Texas Constitutional Convention
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Rains County
Emory, TX
Carved from four neighboring counties, Rains County was created in June 1870 and organized that December, part of the rapid subdivision of Texas as settlement spread across the state. It was named for Emory Rains (1800–1878), a veteran legislator who served in both the Congress of the Republic of Texas and the later state legislature. The county seat, Emory, also bears his name.
Ambrose Fitzgerald
Emory, TX
A Missourian by birth, Ambrose Fitzgerald settled in 1846 on land then part of Nacogdoches County, and as new counties were carved from it he became the first clerk for both Van Zandt and Wood counties. After serving in the Civil War he returned to hold nearly every clerical office in newly formed Rains County. A Baptist preacher as well as a public servant, he baptized James S. Hogg, who would go on to become governor of Texas.
Rains County Courthouse
Emory, TX
When the Texas Legislature carved Rains County from four neighbors in 1870, the little community of Springville was renamed Emory and chosen as county seat. Fire destroyed the first log courthouse, then gutted its brick successor in 1908 — though the steel records vault survived and became the literal core of the 1909 Classical Revival building that stands today. Built of distinctive "ginger" brick, the courthouse square has hosted speakers including Sam Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson.
Rains County
Emory, TX
Among the earlier-settled parts of Texas, this area saw J. H. Hooker, its first known settler, build a grist mill on the Sabine River in the 1840s, with emigrants from the Old South arriving after 1840. The county itself was not organized until 1870, taking its name from pioneer legislator Emory Rains, who had represented the surrounding district in the 8th Legislature. Rains County is also celebrated as the birthplace of the Farmers Cooperative and Educational Union of America.