DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Judge Andrew S. Broaddus, near his homesite in Burleson County. Now, some men leave a mark on a place.
Andrew S. Broaddus left a mark on about half of Texas. Before he ever set foot on Texas soil, Broaddus was already somebody.
He'd served in the Virginia House of Delegates — 1844 and 1845 — which is no small thing. But Virginia, it seems, wasn't quite big enough for a man of his particular ambitions. So in 1854, he did something that would stop you cold if you saw it coming down a road.
He piloted a wagon train to Texas. Not just any wagon train — a mile-long wagon train. Two hundred people, following one man into a new country.
You imagine standing at the back of that procession and not even being able to see the front. That's not a move, that's a migration. And those two hundred souls, once they got here, built Salem Baptist Church — named, the marker tells us, as a reminder of their Virginia home.
They carried their roots with them in the wagon beds. Now, three years later — 1857 — Broaddus did something that takes a particular kind of nerve. He debated the Honorable Sam Houston.
Out at Waugh Campground, eight miles to the west of where that marker stands. Sam Houston. The man who won San Jacinto, who'd been president of the Republic, who was governor.
And Andrew Broaddus stood up and debated him. We don't know from the marker who got the better of it, and maybe that's the most tantalizing part of the whole story. When 1861 came, Broaddus was in the thick of it — serving in the Texas Secession Convention and then in the 9th Texas Legislature, which ran from 1861 to 1863.
He'd return to the legislature again, the 13th, in 1873. And somewhere in between all that, he served on the commission to locate and build the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College — the institution that marker calls, by the time of its writing, a university. He wasn't done yet.
Judge of the 32nd District, 1874 to 1875, and again 1879 to 1880. The man kept cycling back into public life like Texas itself kept asking him to come back and fix something. He married twice.
Had thirteen children. A mile-long wagon train. Two hundred people.
One church. One debate with Sam Houston. Legislatures, a judgeship, a college.
Thirteen children. Andrew S. Broaddus didn't just pass through Texas history.
He helped haul it here.
What the marker says
Noted pioneer leader. Member Virginia House of Delegates (1844-45). Piloted to Texas (1854) a mile-long wagon train of 200 people, who built Salem Baptist Church-- reminder of their Virginia home. Broaddus debated the Hon.Sam Houston at Waugh Campground (8 Mi. W), 1857. He served in 1861 in Texas Secession Convention; 9th (1861-63) Texas Legislature; 13th Texas Legislature (1873); also on commission to locate and build Texas Agricultural & Mechanical College (now university); judge, 32nd District (1874-75; 1879-80). Married twice, had 13 children. (1971)