Marion Loyd Homestead

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Marion Loyd Homestead out in Tarrant County. Now, 1859 is the year you want to hold onto. Two brothers from Illinois, Marion Loyd and James Loyd, came to this stretch of Texas and purchased the site right here.

Marion was born in 1835, James in 1837, so neither one of them was exactly old when they made that move. Young men, new land, and all the promise that comes with both. Marion got to work and built a log house.

And that house didn't sit empty long, because before too much time had passed, their father John arrived along with several of the younger Loyd children. One house, one family, one piece of Texas ground. In 1862 Marion married Friendsina Cheshier (she was born in 1841) and together they had four children.

Life was building itself out here on the land. But here's where the story turns a little bittersweet, the way stories on the frontier sometimes do. Friendsina passed in 1870.

And Marion's brother Thomas (born 1848) was gone by 1873. Thomas left behind a widow, Ann Haney Loyd, born in 1853. In 1879, Marion married Ann, and they went on to have three children together.

Now, Marion Loyd lived a long life: born 1835, died 1927. Ninety-two years on this earth. He was a farmer, an area leader, and the organizer of Loyd school.

But the detail that gets me, the one that says everything about what it meant to plant yourself on a piece of Texas in those days, is the well. Marion dug a deep soft water well. Out here, where good water was everything, that well turned his home into a gathering place.

Neighbors came. Travelers came. You went where the water was.

James Loyd, for his part, lived until 1922. The brothers had come a long way from Illinois together. And here's the part that lands hardest, in the best possible way: Loyd descendants remain on that land.

All these generations later, the family is still there. Some stories don't end. They just keep going.

What the marker says

In 1859 brothers Marion (1835-1927) and James Loyd (1837-1922) of Illinois purchased this site. Marion built a log house to which their father John and several younger children came to live. Marion married Friendsina Cheshier (1841-1870) in 1862 and had four children. In 1879 he married his brother Thomas' (1848-1873) widow Ann Haney Loyd (1853-1912) and had three children. Marion was a farmer, area leader, and organizer of Loyd school. His deep soft water well made his home a gathering place for neighbors and travelers. Loyd descendants remain on the land. (1980)