DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. The name on this marker is Captain F. Marion Hastings, and if you ever pass through Franklin County, Texas, it's worth a moment to think about the long road that brought him here.
Born November 17, 1823, he lived all the way to April 25, 1905, and the country he lived through in between would've worn out three ordinary men. When 1861 came around, Hastings enlisted, signing up in Dade County, Missouri. He didn't just join any outfit, either.
He served under Generals Sterling Price, Joseph O. Shelby, and J. S.
Marmaduke, names that meant something in the Confederate Trans-Mississippi theater. He rode through raids across Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana, which is a lot of ground to cover, and none of it easy. Then came the end.
On June 13, 1865, Hastings surrendered at Shreveport. The war was over, and he had to figure out what came next. He didn't wait long.
In October of 1865 he moved to Texas, which in those years was where a man went to start something new. Franklin County took him in, and he made himself useful. He served as a county commissioner from 1877 to 1881, then came back as county judge from 1886 to 1890.
Public life suited him. He had married Harriet J. Irby, who came from Yalobusha County, Mississippi, and together they raised six children.
Six kids, two stints in county government, raids across three states, one surrender, and one long move to Texas. Captain F. Marion Hastings packed a whole lot of living into one life.
What the marker says
(Nov. 17, 1823 - April 25, 1905) Confederate veteran. Enlisting in 1861, Dade County, Mo., served under Generals Sterling Price, Joseph O. Shelby, J. S. Marmaduke, in raids in Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana. Surrendered June 13, 1865, at Shreveport. Moved to Texas in October 1865. Was a Franklin County commissioner, 1877-1881; county judge, 1886-1890. He married Harriet J. Irby of Yalobusha County, Mississippi. They had six children. (1970)