Jefferson Dunaway Home

Duane's take

The marker here in Ellis County tells it this way, and I'm just passin' it along. Back in 1855, a man named Jefferson Madison Dunaway built a house. Not just any house; he built it for his bride, Sarah Ann Brack.

Now when a man builds a home with his own hands for the woman he's about to marry, you can bet he's not cuttin' corners. He went down to the nearby creek banks and pulled up stone for the chimneys. And the wood framing the whole structure?

Cypress. Which, if you know your timber, you know cypress doesn't give up without a fight. That house was built to last.

And here's the thing: it did. Two more generations of Dunaways would come to call those same walls home. First, the household of Jefferson Richard Dunaway (Jeff, they called him) and then after that, the household of Richard Waldo Dunaway.

Three generations. Same family. Same house Jefferson Madison built for his bride on a patch of Ellis County ground.

Some houses are just structures. This one was a statement.

What the marker says

Built 1855 by Jefferson Madison Dunaway for his bride, Sarah Ann Brack. Stone for chimneys came from the nearby creek banks. Cypress wood was used in structure. Two later generations of the family have lived here: The households of Jefferson Richard ("Jeff") Dunaway and of Richard Waldo Dunaway.