George Home
Beeville, Bee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built in 1890 by Will H. and Julia George of materials from early house on land inherited from her father, Maj. J.H. Wood (Texas Cattle Empire Builder) who came from New York to join Texas War for Independence. Remodeled in 1900, house is raised cottage architecture andhas elegantly detailed interior woodwork. Many social and cultural functions were held here at turn of century. Present owner is Mrs. Mary M. Welder, a wood descendant.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1890, Will H. and Julia George raised this elegant cottage on land Julia inherited from her father, Maj. J.H. Wood, a New Yorker who had come south to fight in the Texas War for Independence before building a cattle empire. Reusing materials from an earlier house on the property, the couple created a home whose finely detailed woodwork made it a center of Beeville's social and cultural life around the turn of the century. Remodeled in 1900, it has passed down through Wood's descendants.
Why it matters
The house ties one South Texas family directly to the founding struggle and the great cattle era that shaped the state, showing how the frontier fortunes of the 1830s echoed into Gilded Age gentility.
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Related people
- · Will H. George
- · Julia George
- · Maj. J.H. Wood
- · Mary M. Welder
Themes & tags
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