DUANE
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Duane's take
The official marker is my guide here, and here's how I tell it. Picture Van Zandt County, 1911. A man named B.J.
Carter pulls into Edgewood with his wife, Sallie Abigail, and their three daughters in tow. Now, B.J. Carter had already worn one hat in his life, schoolteacher, before he studied up and became a certified pharmacist.
And Edgewood, well, Edgewood was about to find out what that meant for the community. B.J. and Sallie Abigail didn't waste any time. Together, the two of them jointly opened and operated a drugstore right there at 103 North Houston Street.
Not him alone. Not her in the background. Together.
That detail matters, and the record makes sure you know it. The Carters would spend the rest of their lives in Edgewood, serving as community leaders, the both of them. Now here's where the story gets a little grander.
In 1912, builders completed a home for the Carter family, and they didn't put up anything ordinary. What rose on that lot was a Queen Anne-style house, shiplap siding running clean along the walls, a wraparound porch held up by Doric columns, a hipped roof with a projecting gable, and dormers looking out over the world like the house itself had opinions. Sallie Abigail would live to see 1966.
B.J. passed in 1934. But that house, with its columns and its porch and its gable reaching skyward, it kept standing, holding the shape of two lives well and fully lived in Edgewood, Texas.
What the marker says
In 1911, B.J. Carter (1875-1934) moved to Edgewood with his wife, Sallie Abigail (Smyre) (1880-1966), and their three daughters. B.J. Carter was a schoolteacher before becoming a certified pharmacist. After arriving in Edgewood, the couple jointly opened and operated a drugstore at 103 N. Houston St.; the Carters would spend the rest of their lives in Edgewood, where they served as community leaders. In 1912, builders completed this home for the Carter family. The Queen Anne-style house features shiplap siding and a wraparound porch supported by Doric columns. The home has a hipped roof with a projecting gable and dormers.