DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight with a little East Texas air in it. Now, Dr. E.
J. Gillard was born in 1808, and by 1845 he had packed up his family and made the move from Louisiana to Texas. Settled in Liberty County, he did.
And about 1848, he built himself a home on his plantation east of Liberty. Not just any home, mind you — this was a house built of native woods, dressed up in Greek Revival styling with Creole influences woven right into the bones of it. That combination alone tells you something about the man and where he'd come from.
But here's what makes this house worth pulling over for: it had a traveler's room. In those days, out on a plantation east of Liberty, you built a room for strangers passing through, because that was the custom and that was the courtesy. And upstairs?
A schoolroom. This family wasn't just putting down roots — they were putting down a way of life. Dr.
Gillard lived until 1875. But the story of the house doesn't end with him. His daughter Eliza married a man named Captain William B.
Duncan. Eliza passed in 1856, and Captain Duncan then married her cousin Celima. Now that is a family keeping its ties close, in the way that old Texas families sometimes did.
William and Celima had a daughter together — Julia Welder — and it was Julia who later took on the care of the house. The home remained in the family through all of that, through generations of Duncans and Welders, holding on the way a well-built house does when somebody loves it enough to keep it standing. And in 1980, the house was moved — physically relocated to where it sits today.
A traveler's room, an upstairs schoolroom, Greek Revival columns with a Creole soul underneath. Built about 1848, still here to tell the tale. Some houses earn their place in the landscape.
This one did.
What the marker says
Dr. E. J. Gillard (1808-75) brought his family to Texas from Louisiana in 1845. About 1848 he built this home on his plantation east of Liberty. Constructed of native woods, it features Greek revival styling with Creole influences. Unique features of the home include a traveler's room and an upstairs schoolroom. The residence remained in the family through the descendants of Capt. William B. Duncan, who was married to the Gillard's daughter Eliza until her death in 1856 and then to her cousin Celima. William and Celima's daughter, Julia Welder, later cared for the house, which was moved here in 1980. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981