Haynie-Embrey House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to do it justice. Picture Brenham, Texas, end of the nineteenth century. A widow named Nellie Brophy Haynie, born in 1860, had already been raising her son Robert on her own.

Robert came into the world in 1880, and by the time 1887 rolled around, Nellie made a decision that would shape the next several generations. She married a Confederate Army veteran by the name of John T. Embrey.

Now that's a household with some history walking through the door before the first piece of furniture was ever moved in. The family got to work, and by 1899 into 1900, they had built themselves a frame Victorian house right there in Brenham. Five children were raised under that roof, and if you think that sounds like a busy place, well, you are not wrong.

Out of that house came two young men who would both find their way to the University of Texas law school. Robert Haynie, Nellie's son from before the marriage, and his half brother Wilford J. Embrey, born in 1889.

Two boys from the same household, same dinner table, same front porch, both headed for the law. Robert Haynie went on to become a prominent attorney up in Abilene and a leader in the West Texas Chamber of Commerce. Wilford Embrey, born 1889 and with us all the way until 1975, came back home to Brenham and stayed.

He served as Brenham city attorney for fifty years and sat on the school board for over thirty years. John T. Embrey, the Confederate veteran who started it all with Nellie back in 1887, passed away in 1918.

Nellie herself lived until 1937. And that Victorian house they built together, it was moved to its current site in 1975, the same year Wilford Embrey left this world. Some houses just keep movin' forward, carryin' the people who built them right along for the ride.

What the marker says

In 1887 Nellie Brophy Haynie (1860-1937) a widow with one son Robert (1880-1955), married Confederate Army veteran John T. Embrey (d. 1918). They built this frame Victorian house in Brenham in 1899-1900. Here they raised a family of five children. Robert Haynie and his half brother Wilford J. Embrey (1889-1975) attended law school at the University of Texas. Haynie became a prominent attorney in Abilene and a leader in the West Texas Chamber of Commerce. Embrey was Brenham city attorney for 50 years and a school board member for over 30 years. The Embrey home was moved to this site in 1975. (1978)