Todd-Terhune Residence
Jefferson, Marion County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1856 or 1857 C. S. Sabine built this Greek revival house with its large central hallway. In 1858 the residence was sold to District Judge William S. Todd (1808-1864), who attended the Secession convention of 1861. The dwelling was occupied from 1869 to 1912 by the family of Dr. Archibald A. Terhune (1825-1891), popular local physician. He added a small room on the east side of the house for his office. His wife Mary Frances (Ware) (1831-1904) was a noted gardener. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1978
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in the late 1850s in the Greek Revival style with a broad central hallway, this house was soon sold to District Judge William S. Todd, who took part in the 1861 Secession Convention. From 1869 to 1912 it was home to the family of Dr. Archibald A. Terhune, a popular local physician who added a small room for his office, while his wife Mary Frances earned a reputation as a noted gardener. The dwelling reflects the prosperity and social standing of Jefferson's leading families in the Civil War era.
Why it matters
The home ties the elegant domestic life of a thriving antebellum river town to the momentous decision for secession, embodied in the judge who helped take Texas out of the Union.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the 1850s, Jefferson was one of the busiest towns in Texas. Steamboats worked their way up from the Red River through Caddo Lake and Big Cypress Bayou to its landings, carrying cotton out and bringing manufactured goods in. For a time, this small East Texas town was a major gateway between Texas and the wider world.
That trade brought wealth, and wealth brought fine houses. Greek Revival was the fashionable style of the day across the South, with its symmetry, classical details and dignified proportions borrowed from the architecture of ancient Greece. Homes like this one announced that their owners had arrived.
The prosperity rested heavily on cotton, and cotton in East Texas rested on slavery. When the national crisis over slavery reached its breaking point after Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860, Texas called a convention in early 1861 that voted to leave the Union, a decision then approved by the state's voters.
After the war, Jefferson kept its importance for a while. Later in the 1800s, however, changes to the waterways reduced river traffic, railroads took over the trade, and the town's boom came to an end. That decline helped preserve many of its old homes, including this one.
People & events
The house began with C. S. Sabine, who built it in 1856 or 1857. The marker's uncertainty about the year is honest, and worth keeping. He gave it a large central hallway, a common feature in Southern homes that let air flow through the house during the long East Texas summers.
In 1858 the house passed to District Judge William S. Todd (1808-1864). Judge Todd attended the Secession Convention of 1861, the gathering that took Texas out of the United States and toward the Confederacy. So decisions that shaped the country passed through the life of a man who came home to this hallway. He died in 1864, before the war ended.
After the war a new family made the house their own. From 1869 to 1912 it was home to Dr. Archibald A. Terhune (1825-1891), a popular local physician. He added a small room on the east side for his office, so patients came to the house itself. That small addition tells a lot about a time when the town doctor's office was often part of his home.
His wife, Mary Frances (Ware) Terhune (1831-1904), was known as a noted gardener. In a town of fine homes, her garden was what people remembered. Altogether the Terhune family lived here for more than 40 years, long enough for the house to see Jefferson through boom and decline and into the 20th century.
Its place in the American story
This house holds two American stories under one roof. The first is the road to the Civil War. Judge Todd's presence at the Secession Convention connects this quiet home to one of the most consequential decisions any state has ever made. Texas's departure from the Union, rooted in the defense of slavery, helped shape the course of the war and of the nation afterward.
The second is the story of everyday life before and after the war. Through the Terhunes we see a doctor serving his neighbors from a room in his house, and a woman whose garden earned her a reputation. These are the ordinary details of community life that grand histories often leave out.
Jefferson as a whole shows how American towns could rise and fall with transportation. River towns flourished in the steamboat era and many faded when the railroads came. That pattern repeated across the country, and Jefferson is one of its best-preserved examples.
The house's survival reflects a later chapter too: a growing national interest in preserving old buildings, which brought it recognition as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1978.
If you visit
Look for the classic Greek Revival lines, the balanced front and the central hall that runs through the house, the feature its first builder chose for comfort as well as style. Then look to the east side, where Dr. Terhune's small office room tells you that patients once came to this door.
As you walk around, think about Mary Frances Terhune's garden. Her plantings are long gone, but East Texas still grows lush around old homes, and it is easy to imagine what made her garden stand out.
Unless you know the house is open to the public, treat it as a private residence and enjoy it from the street.
Jefferson is made for slow wandering. Its historic district is full of 19th-century homes and old commercial buildings, and the bayou that once carried steamboats is close by. Plan to spend an afternoon. This house is a good starting point for exploring a river town whose rise and fall can still be read in its streets.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · William S. Todd
- · Archibald A. Terhune
- · Mary Frances Ware Terhune
Related events
- · Texas Secession Convention of 1861
Themes & tags
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