James Nesbit Stuart House
Strawn, Palo Pinto County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built in 1874 by J. N. Stuart (1837-1910) and wife, Sally Allen Stuart (1835-1918), of materials hauled by ox-wagon from east Texas. A ship builder, Andrew Murdock, joined frame with pegs. House was first in area to have milled lumber and window glass. Four sons, all successful in later business life, were reared here. The youngest, Sally James Stuart (named for his mother and father), became owner in 1910 -- the same year he wed Margaret Gordon. House became a stopping place for circuit riders, public officials, travelers, and friends; still owned by Margaret Stuart. (1971)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
J. N. Stuart and his wife Sally built this house in 1874 from materials hauled by ox-wagon all the way from East Texas, joined with wooden pegs by a shipbuilder named Andrew Murdock. It was the first home in the area to boast milled lumber and glass windows, and the Stuarts raised four sons here who all prospered in business. Long a stopping place for circuit riders, officials, and travelers, the house passed to the youngest son and remained in the family.
Why it matters
The Stuart House marks the reach of settlement into North Texas and the frontier hospitality that made isolated homesteads waystations of community life.
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Related people
- · James Nesbit Stuart
- · Sally Allen Stuart
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Home of Stephen Bethel Strawn
Strawn, TX
Tennessee-born Stephen Bethel Strawn came to Palo Pinto County in 1859 as one of its first settlers, married the next year, and served in the state troops guarding the frontier during the Civil War. He built this house in the mid-1870s and in 1880 founded the town of Strawn to entice the Texas & Pacific Railway through the area. A rancher, landowner, banker, and investor in local coal mining, he embodied the many roles a frontier town-founder played.
Bethel Strawn
Strawn, TX
Bethel Strawn settled in Palo Pinto County in 1858 and, in 1864, enlisted in the Texas State Troops to guard the frontier against raids while settlers supplied the Confederate cause. When the Texas and Pacific Railroad crossed his land in 1880, the stop took his name, and the town of Strawn soon drew people from older settlements. His name later spread underground, too, attached to the oil-bearing "Strawn" rock formations and the coal once mined nearby.
Joseph Peter Davidson
Palo Pinto County, TX
Born in Tennessee in 1823, Joseph Peter Davidson came to Palo Pinto County around 1856 and set up a trading post near this site. In 1865 he started a ranch in what became Eastland County and helped organize that county, serving as its official surveyor and helping found a Methodist church and Masonic lodge. Married three times, he fathered fourteen children and lies buried with many descendants in the family cemetery near his homestead.
Mingus Baptist Church
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This congregation traces its roots to 1891, when area Baptists organized as Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church, named for the rural schoolhouse where they first met. Renamed Mingus Baptist Church in 1900, the fellowship received this land in 1905 and has worshipped here continuously since 1906. In the growing communities of Palo Pinto County, it became a steady center of religious life.