Reuben Vaughan
Graford, Palo Pinto County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Alabama-born Reuben Vaughan (1819-1900) migrated to Texas in 1852. He and his wife Margaret (Truelove) and their three children moved to this area in 1854 and became the first permanent settlers in present Palo Pinto County. They erected a cabin of cedar and stone near this site. A farmer and stock raiser, Vaughan maintained friendly relations with the Indian tribes that roamed this region. During the Civil War, he served in a frontier battalion to protect pioneer settlements. Vaughan is buried in this family cemetery. (1979)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Alabama-born Reuben Vaughan migrated to Texas in 1852 and in 1854 brought his family to this area as the first permanent settlers in present Palo Pinto County, raising a cabin of cedar and stone. A farmer and stock raiser who kept friendly relations with the region's Indian tribes, he served in a frontier battalion protecting settlements during the Civil War and lies buried in this family cemetery.
Why it matters
His homestead marks the leading edge of Anglo settlement on the Texas frontier, where survival depended on both defense and coexistence with Native peoples.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Reuben Vaughan
- · Margaret Truelove Vaughan
Related events
- · Civil War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Alfred Lane
Graford, TX
Tennessee-born Alfred Lane came to Texas with his family in 1836 and settled in Robertson's colony before moving to the Black Springs area of Palo Pinto County in 1856, where he raised horses on the open range after marrying Elizabeth Goodnight. Brother-in-law to the famed cattleman Charles Goodnight, who called him "a splendid brave man," Lane scouted for the Texas Rangers during the Civil War and helped drive Goodnight's cattle west of Fort Belknap. He was killed by Indians while returning home and lies buried in nearby Crawford Cemetery.
Jonathan Hamilton Baker
Palo Pinto, TX
Virginia-born Jonathan Hamilton "Ham" Baker reached Texas in 1858 and settled in Palo Pinto County, where he opened what is believed to be its first organized school and helped found its first Methodist church. On the exposed frontier he led local defenders against Comanche raids, rode with Lawrence Sullivan Ross in the 1860 recovery of Cynthia Ann Parker, and captained the home guard during the Civil War. He was also a trail-driving cattleman and tireless local officeholder whose decades-long diary preserves a vivid record of frontier Texas.
James B. Dosher
Jacksboro, TX
James B. Dosher came to Texas in 1847 and rode with the Texas Rangers on the unsettled northern frontier before farming in Jack County. His life traced the arc of a hard border era, from Ranger companies to service with Confederate and Texas State forces during the Civil War. In 1870 he was scouting for the U.S. Army as a civilian guide when his gallantry at Bluff Creek earned him the Medal of Honor.
Parker County, C.S.A.
Weatherford, TX
Created in 1855 on land once granted to Stephen F. Austin and S.M. Williams, Parker County had barely settled before the Civil War split it, voting 535 to 61 for secession in 1861. Its men supplied Confederate beef, rode against frequent Comanche and Kiowa raids, and sent nine companies to the war, while local rancher John R. Baylor even became Confederate governor of Arizona.