DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Bushrod W. J. Wofford — and friend, this one's got roots that run deep.
Now, the name alone ought to stop you. Bushrod William John Wofford — Bush, to the people who knew him — was born in February of 1832, way out in Madison County, Alabama. He grew up an only child, which means no brothers to share the chores and no sisters to commiserate with, over in Tippah County, Mississippi.
And then, while he was still a young man, his parents — William M. and Mariah Frances Johnston Wofford — passed away. So Bush Wofford did what a lot of people did when life handed them an empty hand. He pointed himself toward Texas.
He arrived in the early 1850s, and he didn't waste much time getting settled. By 1852, he'd married Martha A. Miller of Anderson County, Texas.
The following year, he bought 320 acres of the Matthew Goliher Survey, near a little place called Fincastle — about twenty-five miles southeast of where you're standin' right now. And he got to work. Hand-hewn logs.
Handmade bricks. Maybe an existing cabin structure already on the land. He built himself a home.
Then joy and sorrow arrived together, the way they sometimes do. His first son, George M. Wofford, was born in February.
And Martha — his wife, the boy's mother — died just a few months later. Bush was left on that Fincastle land with an infant son and a house he'd built with his own hands. He remarried in 1855, to Frances Eliza Ayres — a woman from Tippah County, Mississippi, of all places, the very county where Bush himself had grown up.
He brought her back to the Fincastle home. And it is believed that Eliza took one look at that cabin and had some ideas. The marker tells us she is thought to have initiated some significant additions: a long front gallery porch, two log rooms, a dog run, and clapboard siding.
That cabin became something more like a proper home. Between 1855 and 1878, Bush and Eliza had nine children together. Many of them lived to become successful residents of Henderson County.
Meanwhile, Bush Wofford was keeping himself plenty busy. He farmed. He ran a mercantile business in Fincastle called Wofford and Son.
And during the Civil War, he served as a lieutenant in a reserve unit out of Fincastle. By 1890, Bush and Eliza made one more move — to Athens. He died in 1891, and he and Eliza are buried together at the Athens City Cemetery.
As for the house out in Fincastle — that hand-hewn, handmade-brick, expanded-and-improved piece of Texas history — it stood right where Bush built it for well over a century. Until 2001, when the family donated it for relocation to this very site. Wofford descendants provided the funds to restore it and see it become a museum.
A man born in Alabama, raised in Mississippi, orphaned young, twice married, nine children, a farm, a store, a military commission, and a house that his family refused to let the years swallow up. Bush Wofford didn't just settle in Texas. He left something standing.
What the marker says
Bushrod William John "Bush" Wofford was born in February 1832 to William M. and Mariah Frances Johnston Wofford in Madison County, Alabama. He grew up an only child in Tippah County, Mississippi. His parents died when he was a young man, and he came to Texas in the early 1850s. In 1852, Wofford married Martha A. Miller of Anderson County, Texas. The following year, he bought 320 acres of the Matthew Goliher Survey near Fincastle (25 mi. SE). He built a house, using hand-hewn logs, handmade bricks and, perhaps, an existing cabin structure. His first son, George M. Wofford, was born in February; Martha died a few months later. Wofford remarried to Frances Eliza Ayres of Tippah County in 1855, bringing her to his Fincastle home. It is believed she initiated additions to the cabin, including a long, front gallery porch, two log rooms and a dog run, and clapboard siding. Between 1855 and 1878, Bush and Eliza had nine children, many of whom lived to become successful residents of Henderson County. During his long life, Wofford worked as a farmer and owned a Fincastle mercantile business, called Wofford & Son. He also served as a lieutenant in a reserve unit from Fincastle during the Civil War. Eliza and Bush moved to Athens in 1890. He died in 1891, and he is buried with Eliza at the Athens City Cemetery. The house remained in Fincastle until 2001, when the family donated it for relocation to this site. Wofford descendants provided funds for the restoration of the house and its use as a museum. (2002)