Capt. Jasper N. Daniel

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some men leave a mark on a place. Jasper N.

Daniel left a mark on an entire county; and if you count sixteen children, on just about everything else too. Born on October 16, 1830, in Georgia, Daniel wasn't the kind of man to stay put. By 1853 he'd migrated all the way to Austin County, Texas, and Texas being Texas, it didn't take long for folks to notice him.

Six years after he arrived, he was elected to the State Legislature. Eighteen fifty-nine. The man hadn't even had time to get his boots properly broken in.

Then the Civil War came along, and Daniel went in as a captain in the Confederate army, serving from 1862 to 1865. When it was over, he came home; and kept right on building a life. In 1884 he packed up his family and moved to Cotulla, down in La Salle County.

Now, Cotulla in those days was not exactly a quiet Sunday afternoon. This was frontier country, and frontier country had a way of making its own rules; or ignoring them altogether. That's where Jasper Daniel stepped in.

He served as justice of the peace, and then from 1892 to 1898 as La Salle County Judge, helping bring order during what the marker calls, and I think they chose those words carefully, the area's lawless frontier days. Through all of it (the legislating, the captaining, the judging), he had Edith Elizabeth Manly by his side. She was born in 1845 and lived until 1918, and together they raised sixteen children.

Sixteen. Jasper N. Daniel died on August 4, 1901, but you get the feeling a man with that many children, that many courtrooms, and that many counties behind him was never really going to be easy to forget.

What the marker says

(Oct. 16, 1830 - Aug. 4, 1901) A Georgia native who migrated to Austin County, Texas, in 1853, Jasper N. Daniel was elected to the State Legislature in 1859. During the Civil War (1862-65), he was a captain in the Confederate army. In 1884 Daniel moved with his family to Cotulla. He served as justice of the peace and, from 1892 to 1898, as La Salle County Judge, helping bring order during this area's lawless frontier days. He married Edith Elizabeth Manly (1845-1918) and had 16 children.