Madison "Matt" "Kilpatrick"
Hempstead, Waller County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1892 - Dec. 1, 1910) Came to Waller County as a runaway slave from Alabama before Civil War. Married Betty Bradford, of Woodard Plantation, Hempstead; had 8 children. A talented blacksmith, he specialized in improving farm implements; became a landowner, freedmen's leader; served as first treasurer, Waller County, 1873-76.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Escaping slavery in Alabama, Madison "Matt" Kilpatrick reached Waller County before the Civil War and built a remarkable life in freedom. A gifted blacksmith who improved farm implements, he became a landowner and a leader among freedmen, serving as Waller County's first treasurer from 1873 to 1876. His public office during Reconstruction placed him among the first generation of Black Texans to hold local power.
Why it matters
His rise from runaway to elected official embodies the brief, hard-won promise of Reconstruction, when formerly enslaved Americans first claimed a place in public life.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Madison "Matt" Kilpatrick
- · Betty Bradford
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Waller County
Hempstead, TX
Carved from Austin and Grimes counties in 1873, Waller County was named for Edwin Waller, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and first mayor of Austin. Its soil holds a dense history: the rich Groce plantations of 1831–1874, the later home of celebrated sculptor Elisabet Ney, and the railroad town of Hempstead that became the county seat. Since 1876 it has been home to Prairie View A&M, one of Texas's foundational institutions for Black higher education.
Liendo
Hempstead, TX
Leonard W. Groce built Liendo in 1853 as a cotton plantation home famed for its lavish antebellum hospitality — a way of life sustained by enslaved labor. In 1873 it passed to the philosopher Dr. Edmund Duncan Montgomery and his wife, the pioneering Texas sculptor Elisabet Ney, who made it their lifelong homestead and are buried on the grounds.
Jacob E. Freeman
Prairie View, TX
Born into slavery in Alabama around 1841 and brought to Texas as a boy, Jacob Freeman rose during Reconstruction to join a determined group of African American legislators. Representing Waller and neighboring counties, he served in the Texas House in the 1870s and remained active in Republican, Greenback, and third-party politics for decades. He worked amid violence and hostility to defend the civil and economic rights of Black Texans.
Prairie View A&M University
Prairie View, TX
Authorized by the Texas legislature in 1876 as the "Agricultural and Mechanical College for Colored Youth," this land-grant school opened in 1878 on a 1,434-acre former slave plantation, making it Texas's second state college. After an early closure it reorganized as a normal institute to train Black teachers, then grew steadily into a full college by the 1930s. Integrated in the 1960s, it took its present name, Prairie View A&M University, in 1973.