Bailey Hardeman

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Now, there are names that echo through the founding of Texas, names carved into the bedrock of the Republic before the Republic had even caught its breath. Bailey Hardeman is one of those names.

Born in Tennessee in 1795, Hardeman made his way to the wild and uncertain territory that would become Texas. And when the moment of decision came — when men gathered to put their names to something that could get them killed — Bailey Hardeman was there. He signed the Texas Declaration of Independence.

Let that settle for a second. He looked at that document, he picked up that pen, and he signed it. And then, as if the Republic needed him in another way entirely, he took on the role of Secretary of the Treasury.

The brand-new Republic of Texas had bills to pay and a treasury to build, and Hardeman was the man holding that particular burden. But here's the part that makes you go quiet. The Republic that Bailey Hardeman helped breathe into existence — he didn't live to see much of it.

On October 12, 1836, he died. Out on Caney Creek, in Matagorda County. Signed the Declaration.

Served the Republic. Gone before the year was out. This marker was erected by the State of Texas in 1936 — one hundred years after his death.

Took Texas a century to put it in stone, but some stories wait as long as they need to.

What the marker says

A signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence Secretary of the Treasury of the Republic Born in Tennessee, 1795 Died on Caney Creek, Matagorda County October 12, 1836 Erected by the State of Texas 1936