Site of Galloway Farmstead

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Site of the Galloway Farmstead in Dallas County. Pull up a chair, because this one starts in Tennessee and ends up somewhere you might not expect. Benjamin Franklin Galloway was a Confederate veteran, born in 1833, and he brought his wife Eliza Fletcher Galloway, born in 1852, all the way from Tennessee to Texas in 1872.

Now, the very next year, their son Bedford Forest is said to have been born in a covered wagon, right there at Duck Creek, the place we now call Garland. Born on the move. That detail alone tells you something about the kind of family this was.

In 1874, Benjamin purchased one hundred and one acres, and he erected a cabin where the family lived while a proper two-room house was being built. He was a farmer. He raised horses, mules, and cattle.

He was building something out here on the Blackland Prairie, one season at a time. A second son, Nathan Lemmon, came along in 1876. Then 1883 arrived, and it did not arrive kindly.

Twin sons were born that year, but they lived only a day. And Eliza Galloway died soon after. That is a year that would break most people.

To steady the household, Eliza's niece Clara Gentry came to live with the family that same year. Now, around that same time, Benjamin was running a Blackland Prairie hay company. His Dallas clients included Tennessee Dairy, Caruth Farm, and, yes, Ringling Brothers Circus.

There is a story in that last one that the marker does not tell, and so neither will I, but you can let your imagination graze on it for a moment. Benjamin Galloway married again in 1887, to Amanda Jane Miller of Tennessee, born in 1848. He built a one-and-a-half story addition onto the home place.

By the time the house was finished growing, it had an entrance hall, a bedroom, a parlor, and a kitchen on the first level, with children's rooms tucked upstairs. A son was born in 1888, but died at birth. Grief had a way of finding this family, and they kept going anyway.

Bedford, that son born in the covered wagon, went off to college in Waco and then New Orleans, and came back home to make his living farming, baling hay, and ginning cotton. He and his first wife, Nannie Lawrence, had four children. After her death in 1915, he married Bertha Dakan in 1917, and they had two daughters.

Bedford became a city alderman, sat on the school board, and served as mayor of Mesquite from 1927 to 1940. The boy born in a wagon on the road to Duck Creek ended up running a town. A Galloway descendant restored the house between 1949 and 1950, then built another addition in 1955.

And here is where the story takes its final turn. The Galloway Home Place, rather than be swallowed by the city creeping in around it, was picked up and moved from this very site to a more rural location in Sunnyvale, just to protect it from encroaching urban development. Benjamin Galloway built that place to last.

Turns out he built it well enough to move.

What the marker says

Confederate veteran Benjamin Franklin Galloway (1833-1912) And his wife Eliza (Fletcher) (1852-1883) came to Texas from Tennessee in 1872. Their son Bedford Forest is said to have been born in a covered wagon at Duck Creek (Garland) in 1873. They purchased 101 acres in 1874 and Benjamin Galloway erected a cabin where they lived while a two-room house was built. A farmer, he also raised horses, mules and cattle. A second son, Nathan Lemmon, was born in 1876. Twin sons were born in 1883, but they lived only a day, and Eliza Galloway died soon after. Her niece, Clara Gentry, came to live with the family that year. At that time Benjamin had a Blackland Prairie hay company. Dallas clients included Tennessee Dairy, Caruth Farm and Ringling Brothers Circus. Benjamin Galloway married Amanda Jane Miller (1848-1938) of Tennessee in 1887 and built a 1½ story addition onto the home place. The structure eventually featured an entrance hall, bedroom, parlor, and a kitchen on the first level, with children's rooms upstairs. A son was born in 1888, but died at birth. Bedford returned home after attending college in Waco and New Orleans and made his living farming, baling hay and ginning cotton. He and his first wife, Nannie Lawrence, had four children. After her death in 1915, he married Bertha Dakan in 1917 and they had two daughters. Bedford was a city alderman, a member of the school board, and served as mayor of Mesquite from 1927 to 1940. A Galloway descendant restored the house between 1949 and 1950 and built another addition in 1955. Designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1973, the Galloway Home Place was moved from this site to a more rural location in Sunnyvale in an effort to protect it from encroaching urban development. (2000)