DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in the rolling breaks of West Texas, there's a place called Motley County — and the story of how it came to be is the kind that deserves a slow telling around a good fire. This land was carved from Young and Bexar territories, created on August 21, 1876.
But here's the thing about Texas — creating a county and organizing one are two very different animals. Motley County sat there, vast and patient, for nearly a decade and a half before it got itself organized on February 5, 1891. The land was ready long before the paperwork caught up.
Now, a county needs a name, and this one carries the name of a man who gave about everything a man can give. Dr. Junius William Motley, born in 1812, was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence — and if that alone doesn't earn you a county, I don't know what does.
But Junius William Motley wasn't finished. He rode as an aide to General Rusk at the Battle of San Jacinto, the fight that would decide the fate of Texas itself. And there, on that field where Texas won its future, Dr.
Motley was mortally wounded. He died in 1836 — the same year he'd signed his name to independence, the same year San Jacinto thundered. He signed for Texas, he fought for Texas, and he fell for Texas, all in one year.
Some men leave a long trail. Junius William Motley left a deep one. Today the county seat is Matador, sitting out there on the plains as the heart of the county that bears his name — a name paid for in full.
What the marker says
Formed from Young and Bexar territories; created August 21, 1876, organized February 5, 1891. Named in honor of Dr. Junius William Motley, 1812-1836, signer of the Texas declaration of Independence, aide to General Rusk at the Battle of San Jacinto where he was mortally wounded. Matador, the county seat.