John Durst
Leona, Leon County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Came to Texas in 1821. Owner of the Old Stone Fort in Nacogdoches in 1835. Moved to Leon County in 1844, his wife being the first Anglo-American woman resident of the county. Born in Arkansas Feb. 4, 1797. Died Feb. 9, 1851. His wife, Harriet M. (Jamison) Durst, born in Virginia Feb. 5, 1807. Died Sept. 23, 1885. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John Durst arrived in 1821 among the earliest Anglo-American settlers of Mexican Texas, and by 1835 owned the Old Stone Fort in Nacogdoches, a hub of the tense years before the Texas Revolution. In 1844 he brought his family west to newly forming Leon County, where his wife Harriet is remembered as the county's first Anglo-American woman resident. The State of Texas raised this marker in 1936, the centennial of Texas independence, to honor a founding household of the frontier.
Why it matters
Durst's life tracks the transformation of East Texas from Spanish-Mexican borderland to Anglo-American settlement, the migration story at the heart of Texas's founding generation.
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Related people
- · John Durst
- · Harriet M. (Jamison) Durst
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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