Pioneer Texas Oil Man: Lyne Taliaferro Barret
Melrose, Nacogdoches County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1832 - 1913) Born in Virginia. Came with parents to Texas 1842. Married Angelina Thomas; had 9 children. Drilled the first oil well in Texas, 1866. If efforts to drill early in 1859 had succeeded, he would have completed first oil well in the United States. Low demand and scarce capital halted his oil operations. He spent rest of his life as a farmer and community leader. Recorded - 1966
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Virginia-born Lyne Taliaferro Barret came to Texas with his parents in 1842 and, in 1866, drilled the first oil well in Texas — a feat that might have been the first in the entire United States had his earlier 1859 attempt succeeded. But weak demand and scarce capital stalled his operations, and Barret spent the rest of his life as a farmer and community leader, his pioneering strike overtaken by others.
Why it matters
He stands at the very beginning of the Texas oil story, a reminder that the industry which would remake the state and the nation started with a lone wildcatter decades before the great booms.
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Related people
- · Lyne Taliaferro Barret
- · Angelina Thomas Barret
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Built by the founder of nearby Melrose and later home to the Hardeman family, this East Texas farmhouse passed in the 1860s to Lyne Taliaferro "Tol" Barret and his wife Angelina. In 1866 Barret drilled the first producing oil well in Texas, near Oil Springs, decades before the great Spindletop gusher. His descendants occupied the house until 1956, and it was moved to its present site in 1975.
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