Durham Avant

Duane's take

Here's the story as the official marker tells it, straight off the placard and into your ears. Durham Avant. Born 1798, up in North Carolina, a long way from where his story would end.

He came to Texas in 1834, and he didn't come alone. He brought his wife, Susan, born a Winsett, and together they made their way into what would become Henderson County, putting down roots in country that was still finding its shape. Now, Texas in those days had a way of calling on men who were willing to do hard things, and Avant answered that call.

He served as a Texas Ranger. That's not a small thing to say. And then in 1850, he was part of the team that surveyed and determined a central location for the Henderson County seat.

Think about that work, walking and measuring land, arguing and calculating, until the right spot revealed itself. That spot became Athens. And once Athens was on the map, Durham Avant opened a hotel there, right in the heart of the new county seat he'd helped put on the ground.

He was a builder, this man. A settler, a ranger, a surveyor, a hotelier. But 1862 was coming, and with it, something he would not walk away from.

He enlisted in the Confederate army. He went in with his son William beside him. And not long after that enlistment, Durham Avant died.

Born 1798, gone 1862. He helped shape a county, named a town's future, and at the end, he marched toward one last thing with his boy at his side. That's how the marker leaves him, and that's how we will too.

What the marker says

(1798-1862) A native of North Carolina, Durham Avant came to Texas in 1834 with his wife, Susan (Winsett), and after a time they settled in present day Henderson County. Avant served as a Texas Ranger and in 1850 helped survey and determine a central location for the Henderson County Seat. He later opened a hotel in the new county seat of Athens. His death came shortly after he enlisted in the Confederate army with his son William.