A.C. Purvis House

Duane's take

The way I tell it, this comes straight from the official marker for the A.C. Purvis House in Cameron County. Now, picture a town that exists mostly on paper.

No Anglo-American residents. Just a name, a grid, and a whole lot of South Texas possibility. That was San Benito when Albanus Clemens Purvis arrived from Ohio, sometime around the turn of the century, looking not for fortune first, but for his health.

He found more than that. Purvis, born in 1850, was a former mill owner and a skilled craftsman. A man who knew how things were built, and apparently knew how towns were built too.

He became the first Justice of the Peace in San Benito. He sold real estate. He farmed.

The man had his hands in just about everything a place needs to become a real place. And his family was right there alongside him, doing the same kind of foundational work. His daughter Kate, who would later become Mrs.

J. Scott Brown, taught the first school in 1907. Think about that.

The very first school. His daughter Emma, who would later become Mrs. Asa Agar, served as an early Postmaster, in 1911.

Also in 1911, Purvis himself picked up his craftsman's tools and built this house. He built it for himself, for his wife Margaret Ann, who is listed on the record as the householder, and for the two youngest of their nine children. Nine children.

This man came to Texas seeking health, and he built a family, a homestead, a town's first institutions, and then, with his own hands, built the house that still stands. Albanus Clemens Purvis passed in 1919. But that house he raised in 1911 never left the family.

To this day, the property remains in the ownership of a descendant. Some roots, once set down in Texas soil, just refuse to let go.

What the marker says

San Benito was a "paper" town with no Anglo-American residents when Albanus Clemens Purvis (1850-1919) came here from Ohio to seek health. He became first Justice of the Peace, sold real estate, and farmed. His daughter Kate (later Mrs. J. Scott Brown) taught first school in 1907; daughter Emma (later Mrs. Asa Agar) was an early Postmaster, in 1911. A former mill owner and a skilled craftsman, Purvis in 1911 built this house for himself, his wife Margaret Ann (householder), and the two youngest of their nine children. The property still remains in the ownership of a descendant. (1974)