Daniel Larrison

Duane's take

The marker's the word on this one, and here's how I tell it. Daniel Larrison. Born 1784, in Washington County, Pennsylvania.

Gone by 1845. And in between those two years, he managed to put his name on a piece of Texas that folks are still talking about. Well, the marker's still talking about it, anyway, and I'm just passing it along.

A fur trapper by trade, Larrison was one of those early Anglo settlers who came to Texas when Texas wasn't exactly handing out welcome baskets. In 1833, he received a Mexican land grant, and not just any patch of dirt. That grant included the area that would later be organized as Madison County.

Before this county had a name, before it had lines on a map, Larrison was already living in it. Now, before all that, this man had served under Zachary Taylor in the War of 1812. That's worth a pause.

The same Zachary Taylor. He came out of that war, and in 1815, he married Sarah Emmaus Greenwood. Together, the two of them would have twelve children.

Twelve. You want to talk about settling a land, that right there is a commitment. The family arrived in the area around 1828, and they didn't just drop down anywhere.

They set themselves near the junction of the La Bahia Trail and El Camino Real. Two of the great old roads of Texas, crossing right there. And the Larrisons, shrewd as they were hardworking, made their place a convenient stop for travelers coming through.

They hunted. They trapped. They fished.

They raised livestock. They farmed corn and cotton. Whatever the land asked of them, they answered.

And the land, in its own way, answered back. Larrison Creek carries the family name to this day. Not a monument, not a courthouse, just a creek, moving along quiet and steady, the way a good name tends to do.

What the marker says

(1784-1845) A fur trapper by trade, Daniel Larrison was an early Anglo Texas settler who received a Mexican land grant in 1833, which included the area later organized as Madison County. Born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, Larrison served under Zachary Taylor in the War of 1812. He married Sarah Emmaus Greenwood in 1815. In total, they would have twelve children. The couple settled in the area around 1828 near the junction of the La Bahia Trail and El Camino Real, which made a convenient stop for travelers. The Larrison family engaged in hunting, trapping, fishing, livestock raising and corn and cotton farming. Larrison Creek is named for the family. (2022)