John Byler Mallard, Judge
Palestine, Anderson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Born 1820 in Alabama. An honor graduate, University of Tennessee Law School. Married in 1844 Miss Susan Scott, Tippah County, Mississippi. In 1845 settled in Republic of Texas. Built one of first homes in Palestine, 1848. First lawyer in Palestine, formed partnership with Judges Wm. Alexander and John H. Reagan, later state and national leader. Was a member of the Fifth Texas Legislature. Died in 1854. Recorded, 1965 Incise in base: Erected by Miss Ruth R. Eppner
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John Byler Mallard, born in Alabama in 1820 and an honors graduate of the University of Tennessee's law school, settled in the Republic of Texas in 1845 and built one of Palestine's first homes in 1848. He was the town's first lawyer, forming a partnership with Judges William Alexander and John H. Reagan, and served in the Fifth Texas Legislature before his early death in 1854. A granddaughter later erected a monument in his memory.
Why it matters
Mallard was among the lawyers and legislators who laid the civic foundations of a Texas newly joined to the Union out of an independent republic.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · John Byler Mallard
- · William Alexander
- · John H. Reagan
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Captain William Kimbro
Palestine, TX
This marker honors Captain William Kimbro, who came to Texas in 1831 during the Anglo-American colonization of the Mexican province and cast his lot with the revolution that followed. In April 1836 he commanded a company at the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive eighteen-minute clash on the coastal prairie where Sam Houston's army routed Santa Anna and won Texas its independence. Kimbro settled in Anderson County, where he lived out his days until his death in 1856.
Micham Main
Palestine, TX
Little is documented of Micham Main before his 1820 marriage to Elizabeth Van Winkle in Illinois, but in 1833 the lure of favorable Mexican colonization laws drew the family to the Nacogdoches District of what became Texas. He received a land grant in David G. Burnet's colony in 1835, farmed as required, and briefly served in the Republic of Texas army in 1836. When Anderson County was created in 1846, Main was one of three Illinois-Palestine men appointed to choose and name the county seat—Palestine—though later accounts credit fellow settler John Parker with the naming.
Anderson County Courthouse
Palestine, TX
Anderson County was carved out by the Texas Legislature in 1846 and named for Kenneth L. Anderson, the last vice president of the Republic of Texas. Justice was first dispensed in a log house at Fort Houston, and the county worked through four courthouses — a frame building, two brick ones, and finally the grand Beaux-Arts structure completed in 1913-14 after fire claimed its predecessor. With giant Ionic columns and a dome crowned by a statue of Justice, the present courthouse still anchors the Palestine square.
Anderson County
Palestine, TX
Anderson County was created from Houston County on March 24, 1846, and organized that July with Palestine as its seat, just months after Texas joined the Union. It was named to honor Kenneth Lewis Anderson, who had served as vice-president of the Republic of Texas in its final years.