DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the voice carryin' it down the road. The name on this stone is George Taylor Jester — born 1846, died 1922 — and if you were going to script a life that covered a whole era of Texas history, you might not do it any better than he did. Now settle in, because this one's got range.
George came to Corsicana as a boy, not by stagecoach or rail — by two-horse wagon, rolling in from Illinois. That right there sets the tone. When he arrived, the biggest building going up in the whole area was the courthouse, and that courthouse was the first brick building anybody around there had ever seen.
Young George worked on it. Fifty cents a day. You remember that number, because it's where the story starts.
At eighteen years old, he joined the Confederate army. And then — well — General Lee surrendered that same year. So that chapter closed about as fast as it opened.
George Jester came home and got to work. He clerked for a dry-goods store. He traded in cotton.
He learned the shape of commerce in a young state that was still figuring itself out. And then in 1881, he helped form Jester Brothers Bank. That's a man who went from fifty cents a day swinging work on a courthouse to his name on a bank — and the marker doesn't editorialize about that, so I won't either.
I'll just let it sit there. He married twice, raised five children. He went to the Texas Legislature, serving as representative from 1890 to 1892, then as senator from 1892 to 1894, both times out of the Ninth District.
And then the office that puts his name on this marker — Lieutenant Governor of Texas, 1894 to 1898. He was also one of the founders of Southern Methodist University. Now here's the line that ties a bow on the whole thing: the marker notes that George Taylor Jester was the father of Beauford Jester, who would himself become a Texas governor.
The son carried the name forward into the governor's mansion. The father got there first in his own way — on a two-horse wagon from Illinois, for fifty cents a day.
What the marker says
(1846-1922) Lieutenant governor of Texas (1894-1898), also father of Beauford Jester, a later Texas governor. As a boy, came from Illinois to Corsicana in a two-horse wagon. Worked on courthouse, first brick building in area, for 50 cents a day. At 18, joined Confederate army but Lee surrendered same year. Married twice, had 5 children. "Clerked" for dry-goods store and traded in cotton before helping form Jester Brothers Bank in 1881. Served as representative (1890-1892) and senator (1892-1894) from Ninth District in Texas Legislature. Was one of the founders of Southern Methodist University. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967