Joseph W. Earnest Home

Duane's take

The way I heard it, this is the story the official marker tells about the Joseph W. Earnest Home in Hays County. Now settle in, because this one's got layers.

Joseph W. Earnest was born in Tennessee in 1844, and when he was just a boy, his family packed up and made the long pull to Hays County. That was 1854, and Texas had a way of keeping the people who came to her.

Earnest grew into a man who wore a lot of hats, and not small ones. He rode with the Texas Rangers. He served in the Confederate army.

Then he came back to the business of living and built himself a life as a merchant and a cattleman. The kind of man, you get the sense, who never sat still for long. In 1870, he married Cevilia Cock, born in 1850, and together they set about makin' something permanent.

That something came in 1892, when Earnest hired a local builder by the name of Charles Sinz to put up a Victorian residence right here in Hays County. Sinz, born in 1846, knew his craft, and what went up was the kind of house that says: we are staying. Now here's where the story gets a little tender.

The Earnests' niece, Mary Cock, born in 1890, grew up inside those walls. She knew every creak and corner of that Victorian house. And when she came of age and married a man named Irvin Rylander, born in 1882, the two of them became the owners in their own right.

Joseph W. Earnest passed in 1920. Cevilia lived on until 1931.

Charles Sinz, the builder who raised those walls, had gone on in 1903. Mary Cock Rylander, who had grown up in those rooms, lived until 1976. Irvin until 1968.

That house outlasted them all. A Tennessee boy's family came to Hays County in 1854, and what they built here is still standing to tell the tale.

What the marker says

A native of Tennessee, Joseph W. Earnest (1844-1920) migrated to Hays County with his parents in 1854. He was a veteran of the Texas Rangers and Confederate army. A merchant and cattleman, Earnest married Cevilia Cock (1850-1931) in 1870. He hired local builder Charles Sinz (1846-1903) to construct this Victorian residence in 1892. The Earnests' niece Mary Cock (1890-1976) grew up in this house. Later she and her husband Irvin Rylander (1882-1968) became the owners. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1979