Judge Abner Lipscomb

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm honored to pass it along. Now, some men make a mark on one place in their lifetime. Abner Lipscomb made a mark on three.

Born in South Carolina on February 10, 1789, this man was going to leave footprints wherever the law had ground to stand on. And he didn't waste any time about it. By 1818, he was already sitting in the Alabama Legislature.

Two years later, in 1820, he was on the Supreme Court of Alabama as an Associate Justice, and he stayed there, steady as a courthouse oak, all the way through 1835. Fifteen years on the highest bench in that state. That alone would be enough for most men to hang their hat on and call it a life.

But Abner Lipscomb was not most men. He came to Texas. The Republic of Texas, mind you, still a young and restless thing finding its own shape.

And in 1841, the Republic named him Secretary of State. Secretary of State. He was tending to the business of a brand-new nation.

Then came the District Attorney years, 1844 to 1845, because apparently the man could not stop being useful if he tried. And when Texas joined the union and stood up its own Supreme Court, well, Abner Lipscomb was right there. Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, from 1846 all the way to 1856.

He held that seat until December 8, 1856, the day he died. The State of Texas thought enough of this man to erect a marker in his honor in 1936. And the people of Texas thought enough of him to name a whole county after him.

Lipscomb County, Texas, carrying his name across the Panhandle plains to this very day. One man, South Carolina to Alabama to the Republic of Texas to the State of Texas. The law followed him, or maybe he followed it.

Either way, the name stuck.

What the marker says

--- front side --- Born in South Carolina February 10, 1789 Died Dec. 8, 1856 Erected by the State of Texas 1936 --- back side --- Member of Legislature, Ala., 1818 Associate Justice, Supreme Court, Ala. 1820 - 1835 Secretary of State, Republic of Texas, 1841 District Attorney, 1844 - 1845 Associate Justice, Supreme Court of Texas, 1846 - 1856 Lipscomb County, Texas was named in his honor