Edward D. and Mary S. Miller

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, the story of Edward D. and Mary S. Miller isn't the loudest story in Texas history.

But sometimes the quiet ones are the ones that actually built something. And I mean that literally. Edward D.

Miller was born in Tennessee in 1829. Mary S. Miller came into the world in Arkansas in 1838.

By the time their lives crossed, they had become wealthy plantation owners. People of means. People with roots planted deep.

Then the Civil War came, and Reconstruction followed right behind it, and by the time all that was done, the economic hardships had a way of reshuffling just about every hand that had been dealt across the South. The Millers were no exception. So they did what a certain kind of stubborn, resourceful Texan does.

They moved. In 1878, Edward and Mary arrived in what would become Baylor County, and they were not alone. They came as part of a group, four couples in all, and together those four couples would become the cofounders of the town of Seymour.

Now think about that for a moment. You are standing on open land, and you are deciding, right here, this is where a town goes. The Millers had 160 acres of land, and from those 160 acres, they donated the streets of what was called the Miller Addition, and they gave part of what would become Courthouse Square.

They were active in real estate promotion, both of them, Edward and Mary alike. And Edward also served as Justice of the Peace. He died in 1880.

Mary carried on until 1890. Two people from Tennessee and Arkansas, shaken loose by history, who traveled to a stretch of Texas and helped draw the map of a town that is still there today. That is not a small thing.

That is the kind of thing a town is made of.

What the marker says

Edward D. Miller (1829-1880) Mary S. Miller (1838-1890) One of four couples who were cofounders of town of Seymour; he was born in Tennessee, she in Arkansas. Wealthy plantation owners, they came to this area in 1878 after economic hardships of Civil War and Reconstruction. From 160 acres of land here, they donated streets in "Miller Addition" and part of Courthouse Square. Both were active in real estate promotion. E. D. Miller was also Justice of the Peace. Recorded, 1971.