DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker for Josephus S. Irvine is what I'm bringin' you now, straight from the historical record of Newton County, Texas. Now, some lives just seem to reach out and grab history by the collar, and Josephus S.
Irvine was that kind of man. Born August 25, 1819, he hadn't even seen his eleventh birthday when he came to Texas — 1830, mind you, back when Texas was still a province of Mexico and the whole frontier was an open question with a dangerous answer. Fast forward to 1836, and young Irvine was standing on a field that would change everything.
He was a soldier in the Battle of San Jacinto. Think on that. Whatever that morning felt like, whatever noise and smoke and fear filled that ground, Josephus S.
Irvine was there for it. That battle is the kind of moment that marks a man for life, and history marks the men right back. But the story doesn't settle there.
By 1860, Irvine was serving as Chaplain of the Grand Lodge AF and AM — a man of the spirit, a man of standing in his community. And then the country cracked open, and he answered yet another call. He rose to the rank of Major in Spaight's Eleventh Texas Regiment of the Confederate States of America.
He had crossed a republic's birth and a nation's fracture, all in one lifetime. Josephus S. Irvine died May 19, 1876.
Soldier. Mason. Major.
A man who arrived in Texas before most of Texas knew what it was going to become.
What the marker says
Star and Wreath Josephus S. Irvine, born August 25, 1819. Came to Texas in 1830. Soldier in the Battle of San Jacinto. Major in Spaight's Eleventh Texas Regiment, C.S.A. Chaplain of the Grand Lodge AF & AM, 1860. Died May 19, 1876. Erected by the State of Texas 1962