DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Matthew Arnold Parker. Born May 17, 1801, in Georgia.
Died March 19, 1862, buried near Nordheim in DeWitt County. And in between those two dates, he packed in a life that Sabine County still sees fit to memorialize. So let's talk about the man.
Parker came west out of Louisiana in 1822 and settled right here — right at this very site. Now, the land he put his boots on would later be folded into his own headright grant from the Republic of Texas, which has a certain poetic tidiness to it. A man settles a place, and the place eventually becomes, in the eyes of the law, his.
In 1836, while Texas was sorting out what it was going to be, Parker served in the Defensive Sabine Volunteers. And that same year — December of 1836 — President Sam Houston looked around for someone to be the first chief justice of Sabine County under the Republic of Texas, and he landed on Matthew Arnold Parker. First chief justice.
The very first. That's not a small thing in a young republic still figuring out what justice even looks like out here. Parker wasn't just holding a gavel, either.
By 1840 he was sitting on a commission to detect fraudulent land claims — because in a place where land was everything, the schemes to steal it were everywhere, and somebody had to root them out. His personal life carried its own weight. His wife Mary, born a Isaacs, died in 1845.
He married Elizabeth Lowe after that. And through it all, Matthew Arnold Parker was father to sixteen children. Sixteen.
In a county carved out of wilderness, with fraudulent land claims to chase down and a republic to help hold together. Sixteen. He died in DeWitt County on March 19, 1862, and was laid to rest near Nordheim.
First. Sixteen. And right here where you're standing, it all began.
What the marker says
(May 17, 1801 - March 19, 1862) First chief justice of Sabine County, Republic of Texas. Parker was born in Georgia. He came here from Louisiana in 1822, settling at this site which was on land later included in his headright grant from the Republic. In 1836 he served in the Defensive Sabine Volunteers. President Sam Houston appointed him chief justice (or county judge) in Dec. 1836, and he was on a commission to detect fraudulent land claims in 1840. After his wife Mary (Isaacs) died (1845), he married Elizabeth Lowe. He was father of 16 children. He died in DeWitt County, and was buried near Nordheim.