DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Hamshire House, out in Jefferson County. Now, every good story has a foundation, and this one starts in the dirt itself — land patented to a man named William H. Smith.
Smith never got to see what would become of that land. He died at the Alamo. Let that sit with you a moment before we move on.
The years rolled forward, and by 1859 a man named A. Mobray raised a house on that ground. Built it of Louisiana cypress, in the style typical of ranches of the time.
He built it for Emil Broussard, and it stood solid and sure the way cypress tends to do. Emil didn't hold onto it forever. He sold the place to Eloi and Azema Broussard.
And within those cypress walls, a family took root. Azema raised a son here — J. E.
Broussard. Now, young J. E. grew up in that house, and he went on to build the first rice mill in Texas.
The first one. Not a small thing to come out of a ranch house in Jefferson County. Life moved on, as life does.
Azema was widowed, and she married a man named Lovan Hamshire. Together, the two of them did something that left a mark on the whole surrounding area — they donated the land for the first Catholic church those parts had ever seen. And that house?
That Louisiana cypress house that A. Mobray put up in 1859? It's still standing.
Few changes have been made since it was first built. Some houses outlast everything — the people who built them, the people who loved them, the people who left them. This one just keeps standing, quiet as cypress, holding every one of those stories inside its walls.
What the marker says
On land patented to William H. Smith, who died at the Alamo. Of Louisiana cypress, style is typical of ranches of the time. Built 1859 by A. Mobray for Emil Broussard. He sold to Eloi and Azema Broussard. Here grew up a son, J. E. Broussard, who built first rice mill in Texas. Widowed, Azema married Lovan Hamshire. They donated land for area's first Catholic church. Few changes have been made in house since it was first built. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966