Samuel Wallace Sholars, M.D.
Orange, Orange County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Oct. 15, 1847 - May 13, 1926) A native of Talladega, Alabama, Samuel Sholars moved with his parents to Jasper County in 1858. A Confederate army veteran, Dr. Sholars received his medical degree in 1872. He practiced medicine in Orange, founded Sholars Drugstore, served as alderman, school board member, and president of the Southeast Texas Medical Society. He helped organize the Orange Rifles of the Texas Volunteer Guards. His daughter and three sons were also civic leaders. Recorded - 1979
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born in Alabama in 1847 and raised in the East Texas piney woods, Samuel Sholars served in the Confederate army before earning his medical degree in 1872. He built a full civic life in Orange — practicing medicine, founding a drugstore, sitting on the city council and school board, and helping lead the region's medical society. His helping organize a local volunteer militia company reflects how a country doctor often became a pillar of a small Gulf Coast town.
Why it matters
His career shows the generation of Confederate veterans who returned home to rebuild Southern communities as doctors, merchants, and local officials during Reconstruction and the years that followed.
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