DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just gonna do my best to honor every word. Now settle in, because Burleson County has got some stories worth telling, and this one starts back before there was a Texas to speak of. We're talkin' about Horatio Chriesman — colonial statesman, Methodist lay leader, pioneer — and if that résumé doesn't get your attention on a long stretch of Texas highway, I don't know what will.
The man came to Texas in 1822, all the way from Kentucky, at a time when what he was steppin' into wasn't even a state yet. It was a colony. Austin's Colony.
And Burleson County hadn't even dreamed of itself. Chriesman didn't ease into things, either. By 1823 he had taken on the office of surveyor for Austin's Colony, and he would hold that post all the way through 1836.
Think about that span of years — think about what was happenin' in Texas during that stretch. The land had to be measured, mapped, accounted for, and Chriesman was the man with the chain and compass out front of all of it. But surveyin' wasn't the only thing on his plate.
He served as a military officer in Indian conflicts, and when Gen. Sam Houston needed men for the Texas War for Independence, Chriesman was in that army too. The man wore a lot of hats, and apparently wore them all at once.
Then comes 1837 — the Revolution is over, the Republic of Texas is a real thing now — and Horatio Chriesman is appointed to the commission tasked with choosin' the site of the capital of that new Republic. Somebody had to decide where the heart of Texas would beat, and Chriesman was one of the people in the room when that decision was made. Back home, he had a life just as full.
He married first Mary Kincheloe. After her death, he married Augusta Hope. And between those chapters, Horatio Chriesman raised eleven children.
Eleven. Colonial statesman. Surveyor.
Soldier. Commissioner. Methodist lay leader.
Father of eleven. The marker doesn't say he ever slowed down, and I believe it.
What the marker says
Colonial statesman, Methodist lay leader, pioneer in Burleson County. Came to Texas in 1822 from Kentucky. Had office of surveyor, Austin's Colony, 1823-1836; was a military officer in Indian conflicts and also army of Gen. Sam Houston during Texas War for independence; in 1837 served on commission to choose site of Capital, Texas Republic. Married first Mary Kincheloe; after her death, Augusta Hope. He had eleven children. Recorded 1969.