Gregg Family Home
Rusk, Cherokee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
One of the oldest houses in Rusk; Built 1847-48; Dog-trot styling, pine construction. Modernized in 1919 and 1935. Three former owners were Confederate captains; Daniel Egbert, E. C. Williams, Elbert L. Gregg. Owned by Gregg family since 1876; Community leaders. RTHL 1967
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1847-48 from local pine in the classic dog-trot style—two rooms flanking an open central passage that caught the East Texas breeze—this is among the oldest houses in Rusk. Three of its early owners served as Confederate captains during the Civil War, and the Gregg family, community leaders, have held it since 1876. Modernizations in 1919 and 1935 kept the old home in use across the generations.
Why it matters
The dog-trot house is one of the signature vernacular forms of the antebellum South, and this survivor ties a single frontier dwelling to the region's settlement, the Confederacy, and a family's long stewardship.
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Related people
- · Daniel Egbert
- · E. C. Williams
- · Elbert L. Gregg
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Dr. I. K. Frazier Home
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This typical Texas house was built in the 1850s and deeded in 1873 to Dr. I. K. Frazier, who had served in the 3rd Texas Cavalry and the brigade of Gen. Joseph Hogg during the Civil War. For more than forty years, until his death in 1908, Frazier was a leading physician of Rusk. The modest home links the town's medical care to a veteran of the Confederate cavalry.
Cherokee County C.S.A.
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During the Civil War, Cherokee County became a busy Confederate manufacturing and supply hub, with shops making wagons and harnesses, a gun factory turning out rifles and pistols, iron works casting tools, and salt and commissary works feeding the war effort. It also held Union prisoners and drilled raw recruits at a camp of instruction. Some two thousand county men served the Confederacy, among them Brigadier General Joseph L. Hogg, who died in Mississippi in 1862.
Confederate Gun Factory
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Built in 1862 by John L. Whitescarver and William H. and Benjamin F. Campbell, this East Texas works was meant to manufacture rifles for the Confederacy. Unable to obtain the materials and tooling for rifles, the operators instead produced Colt-model pistols. The inscription notes that a number of enslaved or free Black workers were employed at the factory.
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