Josiah Martin Daniel

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Josiah Martin Daniel, right out of Navarro County. Now, some men leave a mark on one place, one season of life, maybe one good cause. Joe Daniel, it seems, couldn't stop himself from leaving marks just about everywhere he went.

Josiah Martin Daniel, known to most folks as Joe, came into the world on January 27, 1880, in a place called Wadeville. His father was Theophilus Smith Daniel, and his mother Lelia Wisener Daniel, and they raised young Joe over in Kerens. He was the kind of boy who apparently needed a little more structure than a small Texas town could offer, because they sent him off to military school in North Carolina.

He graduated in 1900, and you'd think that was the beginning of a straight and tidy road forward. He enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin. Could've gone anywhere from there.

But here's where the land itself stepped in and changed the story. A boll weevil infestation hit Navarro County, wiped out the family's cotton crop, and just like that, the Daniel finances were diminished. Joe left the university in 1904.

No hand-wringing about it in the record, just a man adjusting to what was real. He went to work at the First National Bank of Kerens. He married Nellie Mae Hines of Tyler.

Then, in 1907, he was widowed. A quiet devastation, that single word sitting in the record like a stone. He married again in 1911, this time Jessie Mae Johnson of Corsicana, and life moved forward the way life does.

By 1913 he was a partner in an insurance firm, Daniel and Stockton. He joined the Texas National Guard. He became mayor of Kerens, then got reelected, then reelected again.

Three terms. Then, in 1916, he resigned the mayor's office to go on active duty with the National Guard, because the United States Army had business out in west Texas: the pursuit of the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. And if that wasn't enough, World War I followed.

Joe Daniel served in the army's 36th Division and was discharged as a captain. He went to work for the Lone Star Gas Company around 1929. Moved to Abilene in 1931.

Moved to Corsicana in 1937. The man had range, literally and figuratively. Then came another war.

During and after World War II, Daniel served in the Texas State Guard, and when he finally retired from that service in 1954, he held the rank of colonel. But maybe the work that mattered most came in 1947, when he assisted Governor Beauford Jester of Corsicana in creating the Veterans Affairs Commission. Joe Daniel became its first chairman.

Under his leadership, that commission provided valuable services to more than one million Texas veterans. One million. You sit with that number a moment.

His term on the Veterans Commission ended in 1953. He and Jessie had already come back to Kerens in 1952, not long after his retirement from business. And still he kept on, serving Kerens and Navarro County in civic work, economic matters, and historic preservation, right on through the years.

Josiah Martin Daniel was born January 27, 1880, and he died February 20, 1968. A boll weevil once knocked him off one path, and somehow everything that came after was bigger than that first path ever could've been.

What the marker says

(January 27, 1880 - February 20, 1968) Josiah "Joe" Martin Daniel was born in Wadeville to Theophilus Smith Daniel and Lelia Wisener Daniel. He was reared in Kerens and attended military school in North Carolina, graduating in 1900. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, but left in 1904 when a boll weevil infestation in Navarro County destroyed his family's cotton crop and their finances were diminished. Daniel worked at the First National Bank of Kerens and married Nellie Mae Hines of Tyler. Widowed in 1907, he married Jessie Mae Johnson of Corsicana in 1911. By 1913 he was a partner in the insurance firm of Daniel & Stockton. He joined the Texas National Guard and became mayor of Kerens. He was reelected twice and resigned in 1916 to go on active duty for the National Guard. He was called up to the U. S. Army in its operations in west Texas in pursuit of the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. During World War I he served in the army's 36th Division and was discharged as a captain. Joe Daniel went to work for the Lone Star Gas Company about 1929. He moved to Abilene in 1931, and to Corsicana in 1937. During and after World War Ii Daniel served in the Texas State Guard, retiring in 1954 with the rank of colonel. Daniel assisted Gov. Beauford Jester of Corsicana in creating the Veterans Affairs Commission in 1947. As its first chairman, he led the commission in providing valuable services to more than one million Texas veterans. Joe and Jessie Daniel returned to Kerens in 1952, shortly after his retirement from business, and his Veterans Commission term ended in 1953. Daniel served Kerens and Navarro County in a variety of civic, economic and historic preservation activities. (2000)