DeBerry

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of DeBerry, Panola County, Texas. Now, some towns get their names and you never think twice about it. But DeBerry, out in Panola County, carries the name of a man who kept showing up right when Texas needed somebody to show up.

The place itself got its start early. By 1850, there was already a sawmill and a grist mill on that site, which means folks had decided this was somewhere worth building things. And build they did.

Cotton planters moved in and settled most of the land around it. Markets came. Gins came.

DeBerry grew into a center for all of it, the kind of place that hums with purpose when the season is right. Then, after 1900, oil development arrived, and the town found itself in a whole new chapter. But the name.

Let's talk about the name. Colonel Alfred W. DeBerry was born in 1829 and lived until 1903.

He served in the 28th Texas Cavalry, dismounted, in the Confederate army. And when the war called for more than soldiers in the field, DeBerry answered that call too. In the legislature, from 1863 to 1865, he helped pass laws to give the Confederacy men, revenue, and supplies, to support soldiers' families, and to defend Texas frontiers.

That is a lot of weight for one set of legislative sessions. But here is where the story takes another turn. After the war, Texas spent nine years under federal rule.

Nine years. Then came Governor Richard Coke, and with him, a new Secretary of State: Alfred W. DeBerry, serving from 1874 to 1876.

Governor Coke, the marker says it plain, put Texas government back into the hands of the people. And DeBerry was right there beside him when it happened. A sawmill.

A grist mill. Cotton fields and oil fields and a name that outlasted the man himself. That is DeBerry, Texas, and now you know whose name you are riding through.

What the marker says

Site of 1850 sawmill and grist mill. Settled mostly by cotton planters. Center for markets and gins. Oil development after 1900. Named for Col. Alfred W. DeBerry (1829-1903), 28th Texas cavalry, dismounted, Confederate army. In 1863-65 legislature, helped pass laws to give confederacy men, revenue and supplies, support soldiers' families and defend Texas frontiers. In 1874-76 was Secretary of State under Gov. Richard Coke, who put Texas government into the hands of the people after nine years of federal rule. (1965)