J. D. Windham

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about J. D. Windham, out of Callahan County.

Now, there are people who pass through a place, and there are people who become the place. J. D.

Windham was the second kind. He came into this world on February 13, 1816, born in Alabama. But Alabama couldn't hold him.

By 1839, he had moved to Texas, which, if you know anything about Texas, tells you something about a man's appetite for wide-open country and hard work. He married Frances Monteith, and together they built something. Nine children.

Nine. That alone would be a full life's story for most folks. But Windham was just getting started.

In 1865, he became the first doctor in Brown County. Let that settle for a moment. The first.

When people in Brown County were sick or hurting, there was one man they could call, and that man was J. D. Windham.

Then, in 1874, he carried that same distinction into Callahan County, again the first doctor to serve the people there. And if doctoring two counties wasn't enough to fill a man's days, he also owned a general store. And here in Tecumseh, he planted the county's first orchard.

The first doctor. The first orchard. Seems like J.

D. Windham had a habit of arriving before everyone else. He lived until January 11, 1901.

And the land around Tecumseh, the fruit on its trees, remembers him still.

What the marker says

(Feb. 13, 1816 - Jan. 11, 1901) Born in Alabama, moved to Texas 1839. Married Frances Monteith and had nine children. Was first doctor in Brown County, 1865; and in Callahan County, 1874; owned general store; planted county's first orchard here in Tecumseh. Recorded 1966.