James Nesbit Stuart House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the James Nesbit Stuart House in Palo Pinto County. Now settle in, because this one starts with an ox-wagon and ends with a love story, and the house in the middle has been standin' since 1874. J.

N. Stuart was born in 1837, and his wife Sally Allen Stuart in 1835, and together they decided to build something worth building. The materials came from east Texas, hauled all that way by ox-wagon.

You think about what that means, the weight, the distance, the slow grinding miles, just to put up walls and windows in a part of the world that didn't yet have either. And when the lumber and glass finally arrived, a ship builder named Andrew Murdock joined the frame together with pegs. Not nails.

Pegs. The man built ships, and he built this house the same way, fitted and true. That house was the first in the whole area to have milled lumber and window glass.

The first. In a region where everything else was rougher, rawer, and wide open to the weather, the Stuart place was something different. J.

N. and Sally Allen raised four sons under that roof, and the marker tells us all four went on to be successful in later business life. The youngest of those sons carried a name with some weight to it. He was called Sally James Stuart, named for both his mother and his father.

In 1910, the same year that J. N. Stuart passed, Sally James became the owner of the house.

And that same year, he married Margaret Gordon. Same year he inherited the home, he brought home a wife. Margaret Stuart, as she would come to be known, was still the owner of that house when the marker was written in 1971.

Over the years, the Stuart house became a stopping place for circuit riders, public officials, travelers, and friends. People passing through Palo Pinto County found a door that opened. A house built from materials dragged across Texas by ox-wagon, pegged together by a man who knew how to build things meant to last, and it lasted.

It's still there.

What the marker says

Built in 1874 by J. N. Stuart (1837-1910) and wife, Sally Allen Stuart (1835-1918), of materials hauled by ox-wagon from east Texas. A ship builder, Andrew Murdock, joined frame with pegs. House was first in area to have milled lumber and window glass. Four sons, all successful in later business life, were reared here. The youngest, Sally James Stuart (named for his mother and father), became owner in 1910 -- the same year he wed Margaret Gordon. House became a stopping place for circuit riders, public officials, travelers, and friends; still owned by Margaret Stuart. (1971)