Aldridge-Fitzwilliam Home

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Aldridge-Fitzwilliam Home in Bastrop County. Pull up a chair, because this one goes back a ways. Way back.

To a land grant, a colony, and a piece of ground that has held more than a century and a half of living. The land itself starts its story in 1831, when the Mexican government granted a league of it to Mozea Rousseau, a member of Austin's second colony. That's frontier Texas, early days, when the whole arrangement of who owned what was still being worked out between governments and settlers and the wide open country itself.

From that original grant, a portion eventually passed along to a farmer named John Aldridge. And in 1852, Aldridge built the first portion of what would become this house. His family lived here, worked here, made a life here, until about 1865.

Then the house, and the story, changed hands. Around 1872, a man named J. W.

Fitzwilliam built the two-story part. Now, Fitzwilliam was no ordinary newcomer. He had served as a captain in the Confederate army, and he was a plantation owner, a man of standing and consequence in the world he inhabited.

But here is the detail that sticks with you, the one that tells you something about what home really means to a person. Fitzwilliam called the place Wexford. After the town in Ireland where he was born.

He had crossed an ocean and carved a life out of Texas soil, and still he named his house after the place he came from first. That name has held. The house has held.

And when the marker was recorded, the home was still owned by the Fitzwilliam family. Wexford, Texas. Built in 1852, still standing, still in the family.

Some things, it turns out, are built to last.

What the marker says

Built 1852 on part of league granted in 1831 by the Mexican government to Mozea Rousseau, a member of Austin's 2nd colony. First portion was erected by John Aldridge, farmer, whose family lived here until about 1865. The 2-story part was built about 1872 by J. W. Fitzwilliam, captain in Confederate army and plantation owner. House is called "Wexford" after town in Ireland where he was born. Home is still owned by the Fitzwilliam family. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1968