DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — the story of Samuel H. Levingston, as recorded in Orange County. Now, if you're going to build a life, really build one, you could do worse than start with wood and water.
Samuel H. Levingston seemed to understand that early. He was born in 1832 in northern Ireland, the son of George and Margaret Levingston.
And when he was just fourteen years old, he left that island behind — not alone, mind you, but with his brothers David and John and his sister Margaret at his side. That's a family moving together, crossing an ocean, betting on a new world. They landed in Apalachicola, Florida, and Samuel found his calling right there at the water's edge: ship carpentry.
He learned to read a hull the way some men read a book. And in 1852, he married Asenatha Moore, putting down roots in that Florida port town. But Samuel Levingston was not a man who stayed put for long.
Shortly before the Civil War began, he and his family packed up and moved to the area near what is now the city of Orange, Texas, and established a shipyard on the Sabine River. He'd traded one coastline for a river, and he made that river work. When the war came, he served the Confederate forces — as a ship carpenter and a blockade runner.
That second role alone could fill a campfire story on its own. Slipping past Union vessels in the dark, cargo and consequence riding together on the water. After the war, he came back to Orange and started again.
Another shipyard, another fleet taking shape under his hands. This time he was building paddle wheel boats — hauling cotton and farm products up and down the Sabine River between Orange and Logansport, Louisiana. Commerce moving on a current he knew better than most.
He was more than a builder of boats, though. He helped found the first Presbyterian church in Orange. He was active in the Madison Masonic Lodge.
The man was woven into the fabric of that community the way good timber is woven into a hull. From 1871 until 1891, Samuel and his family lived on an eleven-acre tract of land — the very ground that later became a city park. Think on that the next time you walk through a park and wonder who stood there before the benches and the shade trees.
When Samuel Levingston retired, his son George took over the business. And George didn't just keep it running — he developed it into the Levingston Shipbuilding Company. The name carried forward, the river carried on.
Samuel H. Levingston died in 1911, and he's buried in Orange's Evergreen Cemetery. A man from northern Ireland who crossed an ocean at fourteen, built ships on two different waters, ran blockades in wartime, raised a family, helped build a church, and left behind a park where a city now rests.
Not bad for a ship carpenter from County Somewhere who just kept building.
What the marker says
A native of northern Ireland, Samuel H. Levingston was born in 1832, the son of George and Margaret Levingston. At the age of fourteen he left Ireland with his brothers, David and John, and his sister, Margaret. They settled in Apalachicola, Florida, where Samuel Levingston worked as a ship carpenter. There in 1852 he married Asenatha Moore. Shortly before the Civil War began, the Levingstons moved to the area near what is now the city of Orange and established a shipyard on the Sabine River. Samuel Levingston served the Confederate forces during the Civil War as a ship carpenter and a blockade runner. After the war, he returned to Orange and began another shipyard, building paddle wheel boats for hauling cotton and farm products on the Sabine River between Orange and Logansport, LA. Upon his retirement his son George took over the business and developed it into the Levingston Shipbuilding Company. An active civic leader in Orange, Samuel Levingston was involved in the Madison Masonic Lodge and helped found the first Presbyterian church. From 1871 until 1891 he and his family lived on an 11-acre tract of land that later became this city park. Levingston died in 1911 and is buried in Orange's Evergreen Cemetery.