DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Benjamin Johnson. Born in Louisiana in 1815, and by 1832 he'd already made his way to Texas — which tells you something right there about the kind of man he was.
Texas wasn't exactly a comfortable invitation at the time. It was a destination for people who meant it. Benjamin Johnson meant it.
He settled in, put down roots, and then — well, then Texas asked something of him. In December of 1835, he fought with the Texas Army at Bexar. Victorious, the marker says.
That word carries weight. And if Bexar wasn't enough to satisfy fate, April 21, 1836 came around. San Jacinto.
Benjamin Johnson was there, riding with Captain James Gillaspie's company, 2nd Regiment, on the day that changed everything. Two battles. Two victories.
A man who showed up when it counted. Then came the years that follow war — the quieter, harder, longer work of a life. In 1838 he married Rachel Garner.
They built something together for nearly two decades before Rachel died in 1856. Grief has a way of settling into a man like dust on a long road, but Benjamin Johnson kept going. In 1861 he married Matilda Myers.
He farmed. He ran stock. He became, as the marker puts it, a patriarch — esteemed and respected.
He died in 1872. Farmer, stockman, patriarch. Two battles for Texas, two marriages, one life lived all the way through.
That's Benjamin Johnson.
What the marker says
(1815-1872) Born in Louisiana; settled in Texas in 1832. Fought in victorious Texas Army at Bexar, Dec. 1835; in Capt. James Gillaspie's company, 2nd Regiment, Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. Married (1) 1838, Rachel Garner, who died 1856; (2) 1861, Matilda Myers. Esteemed and respected, he was a farmer, stockman, patriarch.