DUANE
Duane's take
The way I hear it, the official marker tells the story like this — so let me pass it along to you. There are men who seem to have been built for the hardest edges of a place, and Captain J. J.
Cureton was one of them. Born in 1826, died in 1881, and in between those two years he packed in enough living to fill a dozen lesser lives. Indian fighter.
Lawman. Rancher. The marker doesn't rank those titles, and maybe that's right, because the man wore all three without ever setting one of them down.
He settled on the Palo Pinto County frontier in 1854 — and frontier is not a polite word here. That was the raw edge of Texas, where your neighbors were few and the danger was real and close. Cureton led those neighbors in defending their homes during Indian raids.
Not some distant commander giving orders from a safe distance — he was out there, with them, in it. Then comes the moment the history books remember. In 1860, Cureton was part of the effort that helped rescue Cynthia Ann Parker, a woman who had been taken by Comanches twenty-four years before.
Twenty-four years. Let that settle. And when the Civil War came, Cureton didn't ride east toward the famous battles.
He took a captain's commission in the frontier troops and stayed right there, defending northwest Texas — from Indians on one side and the threat of northern invasion on the other. The work was so significant that Camp Cureton, a Confederate States of America outpost out in Archer County, was named for him. After the war, the people of Bosque County put a badge on him.
He served as sheriff from 1876 to 1880. And when it was all done, when the fighting and the ranging and the lawkeeping were over, the land kept him. His grave sits on the Flat Top Ranch, not far from where you're standing right now.
Some men leave their names on courthouses. J. J.
Cureton left his on a frontier outpost, a sheriff's office, and a patch of Texas ground that remembers him still.
What the marker says
(1826-1881) Indian fighter, lawman and rancher. Settled on the Palo Pinto County frontier, 1854. Led neighbors in defending homes during Indian raids. In 1860 helped rescue Cynthia Ann Parker, who had been taken 24 years before by Comanches. Captain in frontier troops during Civil War, defending northwest Texas from Indians and northern invasion. Camp Cureton, Archer County C.S.A. outpost, was named for him. Sheriff of Bosque County, 1876-80. Grave is on Flat Top Ranch, near here. (1964)