First Officials of Foard County
Crowell, Foard County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Committee appointed by the Legislature to organize county met in (Old) Margaret April 4, 1891. County divided into four precincts. Election held April 27. Following officials elected: judge, J. C. Roberts attorney, G. T. Brown clerk, G. W. Thompson sheriff, S. J. Moore tax assessor, J. A. Wright treasurer, J. W. Magee surveyor, Harry Sappington animal & hide inspector, T. H. Benson commissioners: John Wesley John B. Stegar J. W. Moore W. T. McDaniel (1967)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In April 1891 a legislative committee gathered in old Margaret to organize Foard County, dividing it into four precincts and holding an election that filled every office from judge and sheriff to the animal-and-hide inspector. The roll of first officials preserved here is a snapshot of self-government arriving on the West Texas plains. Such organizing meetings were the moment a stretch of open country became a functioning county.
Why it matters
The list captures the exact instant local democracy took hold on the frontier, naming the ordinary citizens who first ran it.
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Related people
- ¡ J. C. Roberts
- ¡ G. T. Brown
- ¡ G. W. Thompson
- ¡ S. J. Moore
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Foard County Courthouse
Crowell, TX
By 1909 Foard County, created in 1891, had outgrown its first courthouse, and voters approved bonds for a grander one. Completed in 1910, the Classical Revival building rose with paired Corinthian porticoes and a statue of Lady Justice atop a domed cupola. A 1942 tornado tore away the statue and cupola, but the repaired courthouse still holds its original form.
Pease River Battlefield
Crowell, TX
At the Battle of Pease River in 1860, Texas Rangers under Captain L. S. Ross attacked a Comanche encampment and took a woman they recognized as Cynthia Ann Parker, seized as a nine-year-old in the 1836 raid on Fort Parker. By then she had lived a quarter-century among the Comanche as Naduah, wife of Chief Peta Nocona and mother of the future leader Quanah Parker. Returned to her Anglo relatives with her infant daughter, she never adjusted, tried repeatedly to escape, and died in 1864.
First Christian Church
Crowell, TX
Organized in 1906, the First Christian Church was among the earliest congregations in the young Foard County town of Crowell, its first officers a roster of the community's founding families. The building site was donated by a local settler and chosen by three members of the fledgling congregation. The original church building served continuously for 61 years, anchoring the town's religious life.
Foard County
Crowell, TX
Foard County was assembled in 1891 from pieces of four neighboring counties as settlement thickened across northwest Texas. It honors Robert L. Foard (1831â1898), a Confederate officer and prominent Columbus lawyer. The county seat of Crowell grew after a railroad reached it in 1908, tying this ranching country into the wider Texas economy.