HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Home of Peter Ellis Bean

Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County, Texas

Marker Inscription

(1783-1846) A member of Nolan's Expedition in 1800 Captured and imprisoned in Mexico Soldier in the Mexican struggle for Independence Commandant at Fort Teran, 1831; Nacogdoches, 1832- 1835 Erected in 1829 in the vicinity of a sawmill owned by Bean Erected by the State of Texas 1936

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Peter Ellis Bean arrived in Texas with Nolan's 1800 expedition and went on to a remarkable career—imprisoned in Mexico, then a soldier in Mexico's struggle for independence, and later commandant at Fort Terán and Nacogdoches in the early 1830s. This 1936 state marker notes a home erected in 1829 near a sawmill he owned, a foothold on the Texas frontier for one of its more colorful adventurers.

Why it matters

Bean's Texas homestead marks the frontier world of the 1820s–30s, when former filibusters and soldiers became landholders on the eve of revolution.

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Related people

  • · Peter Ellis Bean

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

Elias E. Hamilton

Nacogdoches, TX

A Georgia native who came west to Texas, Elias E. Hamilton took up arms in the Texas Revolution, fighting in the 1835 storming of Bexar and the decisive Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. He died young, in 1840, in the East Texas community of Douglass. His marker was raised by the State of Texas in 1936 for the centennial of independence.

Haden Edwards

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A Virginia-born empresario, Haden Edwards received a contract to settle American families around Nacogdoches but fell into bitter conflict with Mexican authorities and existing residents. In 1826-27 he led the short-lived Fredonian Rebellion, an early and premature bid for Anglo independence in Texas that collapsed quickly. A decade later, during the Texas Revolution, he was sent to the United States to raise funds for the cause.

General Thomas J. Rusk

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Remembered as a patriot, soldier, statesman, and jurist, Thomas J. Rusk fought for Texas independence at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. The South Carolina native made Nacogdoches his home and gave much of his life to the young Republic and, later, the state. This monument, raised by the State of Texas, bears the simple tribute that "He lived for Texas."

John S. Roberts

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Once a sheriff in Natchitoches, Louisiana, John S. Roberts threw himself into the Texas cause, helping lead the 1832 Battle of Nacogdoches and commanding the Nacogdoches company in the 1835 storming of Bexar. He served in the 1835 Consultation and signed the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836. A Virginia native, he lived out his years in the town he had fought for, dying in 1871.