DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some men leave their mark on a place — and then some men leave their name on an entire county. Edwin Waller managed both, and the story of how he got there is something worth pullin' over for.
Born March 16, 1800, in Virginia, Waller wasn't the type to stay put. He made his way to Missouri, and then in 1831 he migrated to Texas as part of Stephen F. Austin's third colony.
Texas was barely a notion yet, and already Waller was in the thick of it. He participated in the 1832 Battle of Velasco — one of the earliest sparks of the fire that would eventually become a revolution. He served as Alcalde of Brazoria.
He represented the town of Columbia in the Consultation of 1835 at San Felipe. And if that weren't enough to keep a man busy, he became a framer of Texas' Declaration of Independence and Constitution. A framer.
He helped write the words that said Texas would be free. Then he served in the army during the 1836 Texas Revolution, because apparently Waller believed in signing his name to something and then seeing it through. After the war, the Republic of Texas was a new thing in a big world, and it needed building from the ground up.
Waller became postmaster general. Then a land commissioner. The Republic kept calling on him, and he kept answering.
Then came 1839, and here's where the story takes a particular turn. As a government agent, Edwin Waller was tasked with platting the townsite of Austin — the new capital of Texas. He didn't just witness history being made; he drew the lines on the ground where history would stand.
And the very next year, he became the first mayor of that city. First. Mayor.
Of Austin. He resigned during his first term, though, and moved to his plantation home, just north of the very spot this marker stands. Now you might think a man who'd done all that would be content to sit on the porch.
Not Waller. Out on that plantation, he opened a post office and a store. He provided for a school and a church.
The Waller plantation became the center of a large rural area — a community built around one man's sense of responsibility to his neighbors. And for many years, he served as Austin County judge. He kept serving.
Right up until 1873, when a new county was formed from Austin and Grimes Counties — and the people of that county named it Waller County, in his honor. Edwin Waller died January 3, 1881. He was buried on his plantation, but his body was later reinterred in the state cemetery at Austin — the city he had drawn into existence with his own hands.
The capital came to claim him in the end. Seems right.
What the marker says
(March 16, 1800 -- January 3, 1881) Virginia native Edwin Waller migrated to Texas from Missouri in 1831 as part of Stephen F. Austin's third colony. An active participant in the earliest stages of Texas' struggle for independence, Waller participated in the 1832 Battle of Velasco, served as Alcalde of Brazoria, and represented the town of Columbia in the consultation of 1835 at San Felipe. A framer of Texas' Declaration of Independence and Constitution, Waller also served in the army during the 1836 Texas revolution. After the war he became postmaster general and later a land commissioner for the new Republic. In 1839, as a government agent, he platted the townsite of Austin, the new capital of Texas. The next year he became the first mayor of the city. Resigning during his first term, he moved to his plantation home, just north of this site. The Waller plantation was the center of a large rural area. Here Waller opened a post office and store and provided for a school and church. For many years he also served as Austin County judge. In 1873 a new county, which included this area, was formed form Austin and Grimes Counties and named in his honor. Buried on his plantation, his body was later reinterred in the state cemetery at Austin.