HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Home of William Thomas Scott

Scottsville, Harrison County, Texas

Marker Inscription

(1811-1887), an 1834 Texas settler, and founder of Scottsville. Through father of his wife, Mary Rose, he was embroiled in local 1840s Regulator-Moderator Feud. Congressman and Senator in the Republic of Texas, he joined in chartering Vicksburg & El Paso Railroad (1852), a forerunner of Texas & Pacific Railway, to build a major transcontinental line through this state. He served eight terms in State Legislature. Home, built 1838-1840, has hand-hewn timbers, handmade brick. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1963

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

William Thomas Scott came to Texas in 1834 and founded the town of Scottsville, building this home of hand-hewn timbers and handmade brick between 1838 and 1840. He served as a congressman and senator in the Republic of Texas and eight terms in the state legislature, and in 1852 helped charter the Vicksburg & El Paso Railroad, a forerunner of the transcontinental-minded Texas & Pacific. Through his wife's family he was drawn into the bloody Regulator-Moderator feud that convulsed the region in the 1840s.

Why it matters

Scott's career links the founding of Anglo Texas to the great railroad ambitions of the nineteenth century, showing how frontier settlers became the statesmen and boosters who tried to bind the West to the rest of the nation by rail.

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Related people

  • · William Thomas Scott
  • · Mary Rose

Related events

  • · Regulator-Moderator Feud

Themes & tags

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