O. H. Methvin

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Born on March 10, 1815, and gone by February 9, 1882, O. H.

Methvin was a Georgia man who made his way to Texas around 1848. He didn't come alone. He brought his wife Margaret and his father, Richard R.

Methvin, and together they put down roots on land in Upshur County. Now, that land had a certain future in it, because it would later become part of what we now call Gregg County. But the story that really sticks, the one that echoes across this whole stretch of East Texas, is what Methvin did in 1870.

He gave one hundred acres of his land to the Southern Pacific Railroad. One hundred acres. And from that gift, the city of Longview was founded.

Three years later, in 1873, when Gregg County was organized, Longview became the county seat. O. H. and Margaret Methvin were the parents of three sons.

A Georgia man, a piece of Texas land, one hundred acres handed over to a railroad, and a city rose up out of it. That's the kind of arithmetic this country runs on.

What the marker says

(March 10, 1815 - February 9, 1882) Georgia native O. H. Methvin came to Texas about 1848 with his wife Margaret and his father, Richard R. Methvin. They settled on land in Upshur County which would later become a part of Gregg County. In 1870 Methvin gave 100 acres of land to the Southern Pacific Railroad to found the city of Longview. The town became the county seat when Gregg County was organized in 1873. O. H. and Margaret Methvin were the parents of three sons.