DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, the marker for Hiram Rattan stands in Delta County, and it points you down the road — homesite three-tenths of a mile, grave four-tenths of a mile north. So the man is still right there, in a manner of speaking.
Let's talk about him. Hiram Rattan, born 1805, came to Texas in 1835. That's early, friends.
That is get-here-before-the-dust-settles early. He settled on his brother Larkin's land — a thousand-acre grant, which is the kind of number that sounds like room to breathe and also like a lot of fence to ride. Now here's a thing worth sitting with for a moment: that land where the Rattan brothers put down roots?
It later became the site for the city of Paris. Paris, Texas. The Rattans were there first.
Then, in 1839, both Rattan families picked up and moved to Delta County. Hiram wasn't done accumulating his stake in this place, either. He obtained two third-class land grants of his own — earned them, the marker says, for producing grain and livestock.
Meanwhile, brother Larkin got a different kind of wandering in his blood. He joined the California Gold Rush, then returned to his native Illinois. The brothers took different roads after Texas.
But Texas had already cost this family something profound. Four Rattan relatives were massacred by Texas Indians. That's not a line you read past quickly.
Four people. Gone. And still the family held on.
The Civil War came, and politics divided the family — but the marker is careful to note it never divided their devotion to Texas. There's something stubborn and something almost aching in that detail, the way a family can fracture and still share a loyalty that runs deeper than argument. Hiram Rattan's line didn't fade out either.
His descendants went on to become educators, military leaders, political leaders. The man himself lies four-tenths of a mile north of where you're standin'. He came in 1835, he worked the land, he endured loss, and he held.
That's the Hiram Rattan story, and Delta County still marks the spot.
What the marker says
(homesite 3/10 mi.; grave 4/10 mi. north) Delta County pioneer, born 1805. Settled in Texas, 1835, on brother Larkin Rattan's 1,000-acre land grant; later became site for city of Paris. Both Rattan families moved to Delta County in 1839. Hiram obtained two third-class land grants for producing grain and livestock. Larkin later joined the California Gold Rush, then returned to his native Illinois. Four Rattan relatives were massacred by Texas Indians. Civil War and politics divided family but never their devotion to Texas. Descendants include educators, military and political leaders.