DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the fella along for the ride. Now settle in, because this one goes all the way back to the fall of 1853, and it starts, as so many good Texas stories do, somewhere that is most definitely not Texas. William Perrin and his wife Charlotte packed up everything they had in Rock Castle, Kentucky, rounded up two other families willing to bet their futures on the same gamble, and pointed themselves southwest.
Forty days later — forty days, like something out of scripture — they rolled into the Peters Colony near Dallas. You'd think that would be far enough. You'd be wrong.
The Perrins kept moving west, because that is what a certain kind of person does, and on Christmas Eve of 1854, they arrived in Wise County and put down roots on 160 acres southeast of Decatur. Christmas Eve. That cabin wasn't built yet, the wind off the plains doesn't take holidays, and somehow that detail just sits with you.
They sold that first piece of ground in 1860 to a blacksmith named Joseph Dannelley for a thousand dollars, and they relocated south of town, down on the banks of Martin's Branch and Center Creek, right along the eastern boundary of the Samuel Isaacs survey. That is where they built the cabin. A two-room dogtrot log cabin, sometime between 1855 and 1861 — those v-notch walls fitted together with a pioneer's unforgiving precision, the rafters and floor supports cut from the same timber, a fireplace set in stone that would outlast everyone who ever warmed their hands at it.
And in 1861, William Perrin went and made it official. He paid a man named Samuel Smith of Walker County nine hundred and sixty dollars for three hundred and twenty acres, obtained clear title, and the warranty deed itself said it plain as daylight — the land was conveyed, quote, so as to include the residence and farm of said Perrin. The man put his home in writing.
Now here is the part that sneaks up on you. William Perrin died in 1875, and the house passed to his son Temoleon — T. Perrin, as folks knew him.
Then it went to grandson Earl Perrin. And that family never left. The Perrins lived in that cabin continuously from the day it was built until 1990.
Over a hundred years of the same family under those same logs. Around 1940, Earl did something that sounds like he was hiding the old place but turns out he was saving it — he covered the whole cabin in siding, and that layer of ordinary modern material held the historic structure together underneath like a secret kept in plain sight, protecting it from the elements for decades. When restorers finally got to work in 2007, they had historic photographs and architectural evidence to guide them back to what William and Charlotte had built.
They used the original stones for the fireplace. Original chinking. Clay from nearby for the daubing.
The original logs for the walls, the rafters, the floor supports. They brought it back true. Today that cabin is the most intact structure of its kind in all of Wise County — the only double log cabin restored and still standing at its original location.
One hundred and thirty-seven years of one family's life soaked into those logs. It is, as the marker says, a testament to pioneer craftsmanship and the memory of a pioneering family. And I'd say forty days on the road from Kentucky, a Christmas Eve arrival on the Texas frontier, and a house that outlived everyone who tried to outlast it — that's a family that earned every word of it.
What the marker says
William Perrin and his wife, Charlotte, along with two other families, left Rock Castle, Kentucky in the fall of 1853, arriving forty days later in the Peters Colony near Dallas. They moved west again, arriving in Wise County on Christmas Eve 1854 and settling on 160 acres southeast of Decatur. They sold that land in 1860 to blacksmith Joseph Dannelley for $1,000. The Perrins located this homestead south of town on the banks of Martin’s Branch and Center Creek, along the eastern boundary of the Samuel Isaacs survey. Here they built this two-room dogtrot log cabin sometime between 1855 and 1861. In 1861, Perrin obtained clear title to the land by paying Samuel Smith of Walker County $960 for 320 acres. The warranty deed cites “so as to include the residence and farm of said Perrin.” The Perrin family lived in the house continuously from its construction until 1990. Upon the death of William Perrin in 1875, his son, Temoleon (T. Perrin), became the owner, and later grandson Earl Perrin acquired the house and land. Around 1940, Earl covered the house with siding, effectively preserving the log cabin and protecting it from the elements for decades. The historic cabin was restored in 2007 based on historic photographs and architectural evidence. Original materials utilized in the restoration included the original stones for the fireplace, original chinking and nearby clay for daubing, and original logs for the v-notch walls, rafters, and floor supports. The cabin is the most intact structure of its kind in Wise County, being the only double log cabin restored and still at its original location. It is a testament to pioneer craftsmanship and the memory of a pioneering family. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2013