HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Town of Scottsville

Scottsville, Harrison County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Founded in 1834 by William Thomas Scott (1811-1887), pioneer and statesman. This marker is erected jointly by the State of Texas and relatives and friends in the year 1936. Centennial of Texas Independence.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

The town of Scottsville was founded in 1834 by pioneer and statesman William Thomas Scott, two years before Texas won its independence. This marker was placed jointly by the State of Texas and Scott's relatives and friends in 1936, during the centennial celebration of Texas independence.

Why it matters

Scottsville's founding on the eve of the revolution makes it one of the earliest Anglo settlements in the region, and its centennial marker reflects how Texans in the 1930s worked to honor their pioneer origins.

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Related people

  • · William Thomas Scott

Related events

  • · Texas Centennial

Themes & tags

Westward ExpansionFrontier HistoryLandmark

Nearby & related markers

Home of William Thomas Scott

Scottsville, TX

William Thomas Scott came to Texas in 1834 and founded the town of Scottsville, building this home of hand-hewn timbers and handmade brick between 1838 and 1840. He served as a congressman and senator in the Republic of Texas and eight terms in the state legislature, and in 1852 helped charter the Vicksburg & El Paso Railroad, a forerunner of the transcontinental-minded Texas & Pacific. Through his wife's family he was drawn into the bloody Regulator-Moderator feud that convulsed the region in the 1840s.

Harrison County

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Harrison County was carved from Shelby County and created in January 1839, in the days of the Republic of Texas, and organized in 1842. It honors Jonas Harrison, a New Jersey–born statesman who came to Texas in 1820 and served in the 1832 convention at San Felipe before his death in 1836. The county seat, Marshall, was named for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall.

Webster-Mimosa Hall Cemetery

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Virginia-born John Johnston Webster brought his family to the Republic of Texas in 1842 and petitioned for land to build a home. The cemetery at Mimosa Hall Plantation began in 1844 with the burial of Webster's son-in-law, and its graves include five of Webster's slaves or freed people alongside family members and veterans of several wars. The wall surrounding the oldest graves was built by plantation labor.

Solomon Ruffin Perry

Marshall, TX

Solomon Ruffin Perry (1810–1895) came from North Carolina to Texas in 1833 and lived through the violent Regulator-Moderator feud of 1840s East Texas without ever carrying a gun. He risked his own life to help bury Robert Potter, first Secretary of the Navy of the Republic of Texas, after Potter was killed by an enemy. Elected Harrison County sheriff in 1848 following his predecessor's assassination, Perry ultimately served 27 consecutive years, a testament to steady civic order in a turbulent frontier region.