Lowrey-Hurst Homestead

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Lowrey-Hurst Homestead, out in Dallas County. Now, some families pass down a name. Some pass down a trade.

The Lowrey family, they passed down the land itself. It starts with James Barker Lowrey, born in 1823 in Tennessee. He made his way to Texas in 1859, and he didn't come alone, he brought his wife, Elizabeth, she was a Hunter before she married him, and he brought their children along with him.

A man moving a whole family to Texas in 1859 is a man who means business. Twenty-two years after he arrived, James put his money where his roots were. In 1881, he purchased a 124-acre tract of land right there in Dallas County.

A hundred and twenty-four acres. That's not a garden patch, that's a statement. Three years after he bought it, James Lowrey conveyed the title over to his second son, Nicholas.

And Nicholas, Nick Lowrey, he kept the thing going. Farming, cattle raising, same as his father before him. He carried it until his death in 1897.

Now here's where the story gets a little complicated, the way family stories tend to do. For a time, the homestead was divided. Split up.

And a place that gets divided has a way of losing itself. But then came John S. Hurst, a prominent Lancaster businessman, and, crucially, Nick Lowrey's son-in-law.

He's the one who reunited the property. Brought it back together into one piece the way it was meant to be. And when you add it all up, James buying that land in 1881, Nick farming it, John Hurst pulling the pieces back together, the Lowrey-Hurst homestead stayed in the same family for more than a century.

More than a hundred years on the same ground. In Texas, that's not just a homestead. That's a promise somebody kept.

What the marker says

Tennessee native James Barker Lowrey (b. 1823) came to Texas in 1859 with his wife, Elizabeth (Hunter), and their children. In 1881 he purchased this 124-acre tract of land. Three years later Lowrey conveyed title to the property to his second son, Nicholas (d. 1897), who continued his father's farming and cattle raising practices. The homestead was divided for a time, but later was reunited by John S. Hurst (d. 1943), a prominent Lancaster businessman and Nick Lowrey's son-in-law. The Lowrey - Hurst homestead and farm remained in the same family for more than a century.