DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's the source here, and I'm just the one putting breath to it — this is the story of Isaac Best, as recorded in Waller County, Texas. Now, if you want to talk about a man who came to Texas ready for just about anything, Isaac Best is your man. Born in 1774, he'd already lived enough life for two or three ordinary fellows before he ever set foot on Texas soil.
Pennsylvania, Kentucky — that's where he cut his teeth. And in Kentucky, he didn't just settle in quietly. He built a mill.
He built Best's Fort, a pioneer refuge during the War of 1812. The man was not what you'd call cautious. Sometime around 1824, Isaac loaded up his wife Mary Margaret — she was born in 1776, a Wilkins before she was a Best — and some of their nine children, and he pointed the whole operation toward Texas.
Nine children. Let that settle a moment. Some of them made the journey.
The marker doesn't say which ones stayed behind, but you can imagine it was a negotiation. Isaac was one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred — that famous original company of colonists who planted the first roots of Austin's colony in Texas soil.
He received a land grant east of the Brazos River, about thirty miles north of San Felipe. Fine country. But Isaac Best was not a man who looked at what he had and thought, well, that'll do.
He sold that tract. Bought more land. Then more.
By the time he was done, he'd grown his holdings to somewhere around eight thousand acres. Isaac Best died in 1837. Mary Margaret lived on until 1852.
And right about half a mile west of where this marker stands, Best Creek still carries his name through the Texas landscape — quiet, steady, and not going anywhere. Some legacies announce themselves. Others just keep running.
What the marker says
(1774-1837> One of the "Old 300" settlers of Stephen F. Austin's colony, Isaac Best spent his early life in Pennsylvania and Kentucky, where he built a mill and Best's Fort, a pioneer refuge during the War of 1812. He brought his wife Mary Margaret (Wilkins) (1776-1852) and some of their nine children to Texas about 1824. He received a land grant east of the Brazos River about 30 miles north of San Felipe. He later sold that tract of land and purchased additional land, eventually increasing his holdings to about 8,000 acres. Best Creek (one-half mile west) is named for him. (1973, 1995)