DUANE
Duane's take
The marker's got the story, and I'm just the one bringin' it down the road to you. This is my tellin' of the official marker for Emma Daugherty Banister, out of Coleman County. Now, it starts the way a lot of good Texas stories start — with a family heading west.
In the late 1870s, the Daugherty family picked up and moved from present-day Forney, over in Kaufman County, out to Coleman County. Emma had been born in Forney, on October 20, 1871, and she made that westward journey as a little girl. But here's where you start to get a sense of who Emma Daugherty was.
At fourteen years old — fourteen — she left home on her own to finish her schooling and earn a teaching certificate, all the way over in Goldthwaite. Fourteen. Most kids that age are trying to get out of chores.
Emma was charting her own course. She did what she set out to do, and then life kept movin'. In 1894, Emma married a man named John R.
Banister — a lawman, and a widower. Together they raised nine children. Nine.
That is not a small operation under any roof. John Banister rose to become Coleman County sheriff, and by all accounts he was holding that office right up until mid-1918, when he died. Now, a lesser story might end right there.
But this one doesn't. With the sheriff gone and his term not yet finished, Coleman County needed someone to complete it through to the end of 1918. The someone they chose was Emma.
The woman who at fourteen had walked herself to Goldthwaite to earn a certificate, who'd built a family of nine, who'd stood beside a lawman her whole married life — she was chosen to step into that office and see the term through. Emma Daugherty Banister went on to live until June 4, 1956. The marker remembers her.
And now you know why it should.
What the marker says
(Oct. 20, 1871-June 4, 1956) The Daugherty family moved west in the late 1870s to Coleman County from present Forney in Kaufman County, where Emma was born. At age 14 she left home to finish school and obtain a teaching certificate in Goldthwaite. She married lawman and widower John R. Banister in 1894, and they raised nine children. Banister was Coleman County sheriff when he died in mid-1918, and Emma was chosen to complete his term of office to the end of 1918. Recorded - 1986