Parker-Davis House, 1890
Glen Rose, Somervell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built by James T. Parker, a Confederate veteran who in a 42-day wagon trip moved from Tennessee to Texas in 1871. Taught, farmed, served as county commissioner. Native limestone, quarried nearby. 18" walls. Modernized 1964 by Wm. C. Davis, Jr. family. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
James T. Parker, a Confederate veteran, made a 42-day wagon journey from Tennessee to Texas in 1871 and settled into a life of teaching, farming, and public service as county commissioner. In 1890 he built this sturdy house of native limestone quarried nearby, its walls a full eighteen inches thick. The Davis family modernized the home in 1964, and it stands as a recorded historic landmark.
Why it matters
The house reflects the postwar southern migration to Texas and the durable stone homesteads that resettled veterans built as they rebuilt their lives.
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Related people
- · James T. Parker
- · Wm. C. Davis, Jr.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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After coming to Texas from Tennessee around 1870, William and Mary Lanham settled where the Paluxy River meets White Bluff Creek and helped petition the state to carve out Somervell County. By 1877 Lanham ran a grist mill on the Paluxy, adding a cotton gin a few years later, and a rural community of farms, churches, a school, and a cemetery grew up around the works until fire destroyed the operation in 1898. The settlement slowly faded, and today only the Lanham Mill Cemetery marks where it stood.
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