Claiborne Walker Merchant

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, and some men leave a name. Claiborne Walker Merchant managed to do both.

Born on August 31, 1836, in Nacogdoches, he came into the world with company. His twin brother John arrived right alongside him, and if that's not a foreshadowing of a man who liked things done in pairs, I don't know what is. Friends called him Clabe, which already sounds like a man you'd want on your side.

In 1856, Clabe married Frances Bell, and not long after, the country called him another direction. He served in the Confederate army, and when that chapter closed, he turned his eyes west. West Texas was raw country then, and Clabe was the kind of man who saw possibility where others saw hardship.

In 1874, he established his first ranch out in Callahan County. But he wasn't finished. Before the railroad even arrived in 1881, Merchant was already acquiring land in neighboring Taylor County.

He saw what was coming before it got there. And when Abilene was established, Clabe Merchant was a city founder, and he's the one who named that new town after Abilene, Kansas. Think about that.

The city you're driving through, or driving toward, carries a name Clabe Merchant gave it. For many years after that, he kept pouring his time and his money into its development, a respected benefactor, a beloved citizen, right up until March 9, 1926. The marker doesn't oversell it.

Some men build a ranch. Clabe Merchant built a town.

What the marker says

(August 31, 1836 - March 9, 1926) Claiborne W. Merchant and his twin, John, were born in Nacogdoches. "Clabe" married Frances Bell in 1856. He served in the Confederate army and later became a cattle rancher. Merchant established his first ranch in 1874 in Callahan County and began acquiring land in neighboring Taylor County prior to the arrival of the railroad in 1881. When Abilene was established, Merchant, a city founder, named the new town after Abilene, Kansas. For many years he contributed his time and money to the development of Abilene. He is lauded as a respected benefactor and beloved citizen. Recorded - 1999