Captain Henry W. Wade

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, as best as Duane can carry it to you. Now, some names you come across on the Texas roadside just carry a little extra weight, and Captain Henry W. Wade is one of them.

Born in 1832, he started out a Kentuckian, but Hunt County called to him when he was still a young man, and he answered. By 1859 he had married Elizabeth J. Kuykendall and set down roots on a 640-acre tract, the very land where this cemetery sits today.

A man with a farm, a wife, and six hundred and forty acres of Texas ground. That sounds like a settled life. Then 1861 arrived, and nothing stayed settled for long.

Wade rode off to war as a captain in the Confederate army, Company B, Sixth Texas Cavalry, Ross' Brigade. He served with distinction through all of it, 1861 to 1865, four long years of hard riding and harder consequences. But he came home.

He came back to Hunt County, back to that 640-acre tract, and he got to work. He raised livestock and sold it throughout the state, building a private life the same way he'd fought, with seriousness and purpose. Then in 1875, his neighbors turned to him again, this time not for cavalry service but for something that would outlast any battle: the Texas Constitutional Convention.

He went and he represented his county, helping to shape the governing document of this state. Captain Henry W. Wade died in 1912, eighty years of living laid down right here in Hunt County soil.

And the story doesn't end there. The marker makes a point of telling you that among his descendants is Henry Wade, born in 1914, who became a noted Dallas District Attorney. That's the kind of footnote that makes you sit with it a moment.

A captain who helped write the rules of Texas, and a grandson who spent his career enforcing them.

What the marker says

(1832-1912) Served with distinction in Civil War (1861-65) as captain in Confederate army, Co. B., 6th Texas Cavalry, Ross' Brigade. A native of Kentucky, he came to Hunt County as a young man. In 1859 married Elizabeth J. Kuykendall and made home on 640-acre tract of which this cemetery is a part. Represented county in Texas Constitutional Convention of 1875. In private life raised and sold livestock throughout state. Descendants include noted Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade (b. 1914)