Moses Fisk Roberts
Shelbyville, Shelby County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1803-1889) Highly regarded public servant and farmer of Shelby County. His ever-present pack of fox hounds earned him nickname "Dog" Roberts. Born in Tennessee, he moved to Texas in 1836. Lost right eye as soldier in Texas revolution. Was later officer in Texas militia. Served in Congress of Republic (1839-42) and State Legislature (1853-54; 1857-58). Was also justice of the peace and county judge. First wife was Amanda Grant; second, Nancy Murray.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born in Tennessee, Moses Fisk Roberts came to Texas in 1836 and lost his right eye fighting in the Texas Revolution. A farmer whose beloved fox hounds earned him the nickname "Dog" Roberts, he became a respected public servant in Shelby County — serving in the Congress of the Republic, the State Legislature, and as justice of the peace and county judge.
Why it matters
His life traces the passage of East Texas from revolutionary frontier to organized statehood, embodied in one long career of local and republic-era service.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Moses Fisk Roberts
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The First Battle
Center, TX
This marks the vicinity of the first clash in the Regulator-Moderator War, a bitter feud that convulsed Shelby County from 1841 to 1844 in the days of the Republic of Texas. What began as a quarrel between rival factions escalated into an unorganized war of ambush and reprisal, ending only when General James Smith led Texas forces in to restore order in August 1844—reportedly without firing a gun.
Shelby County
Center, TX
This corner of East Texas lay within the lawless 'neutral ground' between 1803 and 1819 before Anglo-American settlement began in the 1820s, first organized as the district and then municipality of Tenehaw. Renamed in 1836 to honor Revolutionary War officer Isaac Shelby, the county sent delegates to Texas's early conventions and soldiers to San Jacinto, and its seat moved from Shelbyville to Center in 1866. From 1841 to 1844 it was torn by the Regulator-Moderator Feud, a bloody vigilante conflict finally ended when Republic of Texas troops under Gen. James Smith restored order.
Patroon Cemetery
Center, TX
Settlers reached the Patroon area of Shelby County by the 1830s, among them the Nethery family, who came from Alabama in the early 1840s. Their son A.M. began this cemetery on his own land when he buried his infant son John in 1861; while he served in the Civil War, his wife and baby daughter died of fever and were buried here in 1862. Around the growing burial ground rose a community with a post office, churches, and businesses, and generations of residents — leaders, farmers, and veterans reaching back to the Civil War — now rest here.
Ramah Cemetery
Tenaha, TX
The Ramah community grew from the 1870s homestead of William Tell and Mollie Pou, who helped found Ramah Baptist Church in 1874 and gave its name — a biblical 'high place' — to the settlement's log church, school, store, and cotton gin. The cemetery formally deeded in 1909 holds more than a thousand graves, including over a hundred veterans spanning the U.S.-Mexican War through the Korean Conflict. Among them lies George E.B. Peddy, elected to the legislature while still a University of Texas student and a two-time U.S. Senate candidate decorated in both World Wars.