Texas Business Pioneer Pleasant C. Sams
Benjamin, Knox County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1845 - 1921) In 1850's came to Texas from Arkansas. At 16, on outbreak of Civil War, was left in charge of family mills, instructed by his father to give entire flour output to widows of Confederates. In 1862, captured in Missouri, as he went through enemy lines to get his bride; "escaped" from Federal who also admired bride. Wedding trip was horseback ride to Texas. He served 1864-65 in Confederate frontier regiment. Pioneer cattlemen; business and financial leader. Founder and president, Benjamin Commercial Company. President and director, First National Bank, Benjamin. (1965)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Pleasant C. Sams came to Texas from Arkansas as a boy in the 1850s and was left in charge of the family mills at sixteen when the Civil War broke out, ordered by his father to give the flour to Confederate widows. After serving in a Confederate frontier regiment and famously slipping through enemy lines to reach his bride, he settled in West Texas and became a founding cattleman, merchant, and banker at Benjamin. He led the Benjamin Commercial Company and the town's First National Bank.
Why it matters
Sams typifies the Confederate veterans who rebuilt their fortunes on the postwar West Texas frontier, turning ranching into banking and commerce.
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Related people
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Themes & tags
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