History
Abshier Cemetery
The families of Benjamin and Hannah (Weed) Abshier and Benjamin and Sarah (Hanks) Weed came to this area of Texas from Louisiana in 1843. The extended families purchased land and established farms in this vicinity. In June 1852 the Abshiers' 27-year-old daughter, Lucinda Abshier Higginbotham, died, leaving a husband and six children.
History
Andrew Jackson Isaacks
(December 3, 1817 - January 18, 1864) Born in Jackson, Mississippi. Fought in the Texas Revolution in 1835. Served as sheriff of Jasper County, 1841-1842. Married Miss Sicily Beatty in 1842. they had eight children. A farmer and rancher, Isaacks was the first postmaster at Tarkington Prairie, 1853-1854, at that time in Liberty County. He belonged to Baptist church.
History
Atascosito
A Spanish settlement on the Atascosito Road was established here in 1757 to prevent French trade with the Indians - Four and one-half miles west of here the road crossed the Trinity - There Alonso de Leon, Spanish explorer, crossed in 1690 - The road from Goliad to Opelousas, Louisiana, known as the Lower Road, extensively traveled from 1750 to 1850, also crossed there.
History
Augustine B. Hardin
A signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Born in Georgia in 1798; died July 27, 1871.
History
Bryan-Neyland Cemetery
Also known as the Bryan-Williams Cemetery or the Kersting Cemetery, this family burial ground is the resting place for some of Liberty County's most prominent citizens. One of the oldest graves is that of Luke Bryan (1807-69), veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto and later Liberty County sheriff. His brother Pryor Bryan (1810-73), who fought in the Texas Revolution and Civil War, married Mary A.
History
Burton B. Tarkington
Burton B. Tarkington (1790-1861) and his wife Sarah Berry Tarkington migrated with their family from Indiana in the mid-1820s to the Mexican state of Coahuila. They settled west of the Trinity River in present northwest Liberty County, and began ranching and raising crops. The area around their farm became known as Tarkington's Prairie, and a creek in the area is called Tarkington Bayou.
History
Captain William M. Logan
Born in North Carolina September 17, 1802. Moved to Liberty 1832. Died in Houston, Nov. 22, 1839. Organized and commanded 3rd Co., 2nd Regiment Texas Volunteers, Battle of San Jacinto. First sheriff of Liberty County. Erected by the State of Texas 1943
History
Casa Consistatorial (Courthouse Square)
Originally one of the five squares platted for public use in 1831 by J. Francisco Madero, General Land Commissioner appointed by the Mexican government to survey and grant long-awaited land titles to Texan colonists of the Atascosito area in accordance with the 1825 Law of Colonization.
History
Catholic Cemetery
In 1853, twenty-two years after Francisco Madero founded the Villa de la Santissima Trinidad de la Libertad, now the town of Liberty, the Rev. Petrus Marie LaCour came to this area. A native of France, he served as the first pastor of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Acting on behalf of the Galveston Diocese, he purchased this site in 1853 from Pickney L. and Therese A.
History
City Cemetery
In 1848, eleven years after Liberty was incorporated, the town's trustees appointed a committee to select a suitable location for a community burial ground. Subsequently, this four-acre tract of land was chosen as the City Cemetery.
History
City of Cleveland
The town of Cleveland traces its beginnings to 1878, when local attorney and politician Charles Lander Cleveland (1824-1892) deeded land to the Houston East and West Texas Railroad, stipulating the building of a railway depot and the establishment of a town to be named Cleveland. By 1879 the settlement boasted a sawmill, two boarding houses, railroad interests, and a number of homes.
Architecture
Cleveland-Partlow House
One of the oldest existing structures in Liberty, this home was built about 1860 by Judge Charles L. Cleveland. It was sold to Frederich F. Foscue in 1870, and William Samuel Partlow bought the property in 1886. Noted as an uncommon example of late Greek revival architecture in Texas, the house also exhibits some elements of the Italianate style.
History
Dayton's Old School
Dayton began as part of the City of Liberty. The children who lived here were either educated at home, across the river in the main part of Liberty, or not at all. In 1849, a board of trustees formed a committee to establish a school for these children. A new school site was purchased from the Lowery estate for $90.00 and was bounded by Main, Houston, and Cleveland streets.
History
Edward Thomas Branch
(December 6, 1811 - September 22, 1861) Virginia native Edward Thomas Branch came to Texas in 1835 and settled in Liberty. As a first sergeant in the Texas Volunteers, he participated in the Battle of San Jacinto, and remained in the army as a second lieutenant until October 1836. He later served as a lieutenant colonel in the Texas militia.
History
French Cemetery
According to local tradition, this cemetery derives its name from a group of French settlers who were killed and buried near the site sometime during the 18th century. Although no physical evidence of the French burials has been found, the name has been in common use for more than 100 years.
Architecture
Gillard - Duncan House
Dr. E. J. Gillard (1808-75) brought his family to Texas from Louisiana in 1845. About 1848 he built this home on his plantation east of Liberty. Constructed of native woods, it features Greek revival styling with Creole influences. Unique features of the home include a traveler's room and an upstairs schoolroom. The residence remained in the family through the descendants of Capt. William B.
History
Griffin-Methodist Cemetery
Jackson Hawkins Griffin (1818-1864) came to Liberty in 1835. A member of the Liberty Volunteers during the Texas Revolution, he participated in the Siege of Bexar. His home near this site was often used as a boarding house for families new to the area. Jesse Daniel Lum (1775-1846) and his son, Jesse Daniel Lum, Jr.
History
Homesite of George Orr
George Orr first came to Texas in 1813 as a member of the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition. He returned in 1821 with his family and established a home at this site on the Old Atascosito Road. The Orr home was an important stopping place for travelers. Orr served several terms as alcalde of the Atascosito District and participated in the dedication of Fort Anahuac in 1831.
History
James B. Woods
A signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Born in Kentucky, January 21, 1802. Died, 1851. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
History
James B. Woods
James B. Woods, the third representative of the Municipality of Liberty to sign the Texas Declaration of Independence, was born on January 21, 1802 in Kentucky. He arrived in Texas in 1830 and settled in the Atascosito Libertad area of Mexico (now Liberty, Texas). Woods was among the earliest lawyers to practice in the Liberty District and was known as a brilliant lawyer and speaker.
History
John Cherry
(November 23, 1808 - April 12, 1891) Soldier in Capt. William Logan's company, 2nd Regiment, Volunteers, Texas War for Independence, 1836. Born in Highland County, Ohio, came to Texas with his father, Aaron Cherry, 1818. Settled near a Coushatta Indian village. In 1838 by commission of President Sam Houston, he was interpreter for Indians in a treaty parley. He received 2 Texas land grants.
Architecture
Judge Walter S. Neel House
Built in 1917 by Dayton newspaper owner, editor, publisher and Justice of the Peace Walter S. Neel on a 1.66 acre lot he purchased in 1914, this house is a typical American foursquare style home. Constructed in two months, the four-bedroom house cost $2,500. In 1926, after helping the city of Dayton incorporate, Judge Neel served as the city's first mayor and the local rotary club president.
History
Liberty County
A trail across this region traveled and described by Alonso de Leon in 1690 became the "La Bahia" or "Lower Road" in the 18th century. First settlement, Atascocita, established in 1757. The town established May 5, 1831 as the "Villa de la Santisima Trinity de la Libertad" (City of the Blessed Trinity of Liberty) became the county seat and gave the county its name when created and organized in…
History
Liberty Masonic Lodge No. 48, A. F. & A. M.
Organized in 1848 and chartered the following year, the Liberty Masonic Lodge had an initial membership of eleven. Charter members included William J. Mills, W. C. Abbott, E. T. Branch, B. W. Hardin, William Beazley, Jesse Devore, Reason Green, William H. Mills, and C. J. O'Connor.
History
Linney Cemetery
Founded in the 1850s, this graveyard was established to serve the citizens of West Liberty (now Dayton). Although there was no early organization of the cemetery, sections of the burial ground were known by the names of families interred there, such as Smith and Alford. A section reserved for blacks in the early years is now known as Acie Cemetery.
Elsewhere in Texas
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