Petersburg

Duane's take

The official marker for Petersburg in Lavaca County tells it this way, and I'm just the one passing it along. Now, Lavaca County needed a county seat, and in 1846 they got one. The town was called Petersburg, and it sat on land donated by a man named Arthur Sherill.

That kind of civic generosity, giving away the very ground a courthouse would stand on, tends to get a person remembered. The Commissioners Court made it official on August 31, 1846. By order.

In writing. The way things get done when a place means to stick around. And they staffed it up quick.

The first officers, serving from 1846 to 1848, read like a roll call from the founding of something serious. Andrew Ponton, chief justice. B.

Stribling, probate judge. M. H.

Hinch, sheriff. Josiah Dowling, county clerk. D.

Laughlin, district clerk. Gabriel Zumwalt, tax assessor and collector. And Phillip Howard, treasurer.

Seven men holding down the business of a brand new county seat. Petersburg carried that title from 1846 all the way to 1852. Six years as the heart of Lavaca County.

The State of Texas erected this marker in 1936, making sure the record stayed put even after the seat had moved on. Some towns rise, serve their purpose, and pass the torch. Petersburg did exactly that, and did it with a full slate of officers and a donated piece of Texas ground to stand on.

What the marker says

County seat Lavaca County, 1846-1852. Founded upon the town site donated by Arthur Sherill. Named by order of the Commissioners Court August 31, 1846. First officers, 1846-1848, Andrew Ponton, chief justice; B. Stribling, probate judge; M. H. Hinch, sheriff; Josiah Dowling, county clerk; D. Laughlin, district clerk; Gabriel Zumwalt, tax assessor and collector; Phillip Howard, treasurer. Erected by the State of Texas 1936