HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Loving, James and Margaret

Sunnyvale, Dallas County, Texas

Marker Inscription

James and Margaret Loving 1811 - 1869) (1820 - 1877) The sixteenth family in Dallas County. Came by covered wagon and flatboat from Kentucky to Texas in 1843 as members of the Peters Colony. Arrived in Dallas County (then unorganized) in 1844. On a 640-acre grant (2 mi. east) from Mercer's Colony, they built log cabin, raised corn, wove cloth, and boiled soil from salt lick to make own salt. Had 8 children. Loving, a brother of pioneer trail drive Oliver Loving, was killed by a horse thief in 1869.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

James and Margaret Loving came by covered wagon and flatboat from Kentucky to Texas in 1843 as members of the Peters Colony, arriving in still-unorganized Dallas County as its sixteenth family. On a 640-acre grant they built a log cabin, raised corn, wove their own cloth, and even boiled soil from a salt lick to make salt. James was a brother of the famed trail driver Oliver Loving and was killed by a horse thief in 1869.

Why it matters

The Lovings' self-reliant homesteading captures the daily reality of the Peters Colony pioneers who transformed unorganized Texas prairie into settled county.

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Related people

  • · James Loving
  • · Margaret Loving
  • · Oliver Loving

Themes & tags

Westward ExpansionFrontier HistoryMemorial

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