Old Storey Home

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, the way I understand the story to go. Way out in Hays County, there stands a house with a history attached to the man who built it, and that man was James Gray Storey. Born in 1830, died in 1911, and in between those two years he packed in enough public service to fill several lesser lifetimes.

The marker calls him a noted citizen of Hays County, and once you hear the list, you start to understand why. He served as district clerk from 1856 to 1861. Then the Civil War came, and Storey stepped into it as captain of Company A, 32nd Texas Cavalry.

When the war was done, he came home and took up the work of rebuilding, serving as county judge from 1865 to 1867. And if you thought that was the end of it, well, he went on to serve as a member of the State Legislature from 1880 to 1883. Now here's the detail I love about this story.

After all of that, after the cavalry and the courthouse and the legislature, James Gray Storey was still showin up for work as county clerk. And it was right in that season of life, in 1890, while holding that office, that he and his wife Sarah built the house. Not before the war.

Not in some flush moment of early ambition. After all of it. The Old Storey Home is the punctuation at the end of a very long, very full sentence.

What the marker says

Erected by James Gray Storey (1830-1911), noted citizen of Hays County. He served as district clerk 1856-61; captain Co. A, 32nd Texas Cavalry, Civil War; county judge 1865-67; member of State Legislature 1880-83; was county clerk when he and wife Sarah built house, 1890. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970