DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll tell it the way only this stretch of Texas road can carry it. Now, some men pass through history quiet as a shadow, and some men leave a mark so deep you can still trace it with your finger. John Cherry was the second kind.
He was born November 23, 1808, in Highland County, Ohio — about as far from the Texas frontier as a man could get. But in 1818, his father Aaron Cherry loaded up and headed south and west, and young John came along. He was comin' to Texas before Texas was Texas, settling in near a Coushatta Indian village at a time when that kind of proximity required either real courage or real curiosity.
Probably both. When 1836 rolled around and the War for Independence ignited, John Cherry was standing in the fire. He served as a soldier in Captain William Logan's company, 2nd Regiment, Volunteers.
That war forged a lot of men, and Cherry was one of them. But here's the part that'll make you sit up a little straighter. By 1838, President Sam Houston himself — by commission, mind you, not by accident — appointed John Cherry as interpreter for Indians in a treaty parley.
Think about what that means. You don't get that assignment unless the people on both sides of that table trust you. Cherry had been livin' near that Coushatta village since boyhood, and whatever he learned there, it was worth something when the hard conversations had to happen.
He received two Texas land grants. Built a life. Then built a family so large it staggers the imagination — fourteen sons and seven daughters.
Twenty-one souls calling him father. He was married three times: first to Matilda Bridges, then to Roxy Line White, then to Frances Holt Smith. John Cherry drew his last breath on April 12, 1891.
He'd come to Texas as a boy in 1818 and stayed until the end. Soldier, interpreter, landholder, patriarch — the marker doesn't rank those things, and maybe that's right. A man like that doesn't need to be ranked.
He just needs to be remembered.
What the marker says
(November 23, 1808 - April 12, 1891) Soldier in Capt. William Logan's company, 2nd Regiment, Volunteers, Texas War for Independence, 1836. Born in Highland County, Ohio, came to Texas with his father, Aaron Cherry, 1818. Settled near a Coushatta Indian village. In 1838 by commission of President Sam Houston, he was interpreter for Indians in a treaty parley. He received 2 Texas land grants. Married (1) Matilda Bridges; (2) Roxy Line White; (3) Frances Holt Smith. Had 14 sons, 7 daughters. Recorded - 1972