Ochiltree County

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Ochiltree County, way up in the Texas Panhandle, has a name worth knowing, and a story that stretches from the days of the Republic all the way to a county that took its sweet time getting organized. The county was formed from Young and Bexar territories, created on August 21, 1876.

Now, that creation date is straightforward enough. The organization date, though, that's where the county made folks wait. It wasn't organized until February 21, 1889.

Thirteen years is a long time to sit on a piece of ground without a proper county government, but the Panhandle has always moved on its own terms. The county was named in honor of William Beck Ochiltree, born in 1811, died in 1867. And this man had a resume that could fill a courthouse wall.

He served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas in 1842. By 1844, he was Secretary of the Treasury. And then came the title the marker saves almost like a punchline, almost like a closing argument: he was the last Attorney General of the Republic of Texas.

The last one. Because after that, there was no more Republic to have an Attorney General of. He went on to serve as a member of the Texas Legislature in 1855, then as a delegate to the Secession Convention of 1861, and he carried the rank of colonel in the Confederate army.

A man who walked through nearly every chapter of Texas history that mattered. When the county finally got itself organized in 1889, the county seat was named Ochiltree, a fitting tribute. But even that wasn't the final word.

Since 1920, the county seat has been Perryton. The name moved, the county stayed, and William Beck Ochiltree's story just keeps riding along with it.

What the marker says

Formed from Young & Bexar territories: Created, August 21, 1876 Organized, February 21, 1889 Named in honor of William Beck Ochiltree, 1811-1867, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of Texas, 1842, Secretary of the Treasury, 1844, the last Attorney General of the Republic of Texas, member of the Texas Legislature, 1855; delegate to the Secession Convention of 1861, colonel in the Confederate army. County Seat Ochiltree, 1889 Perryton, since 1920. (1936)