DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some folks arrive in Texas with a little fanfare, and some arrive quiet — but either way, Texas has a way of putting you to work. John McQueen Taylor arrived in 1829, a Tennessee man who came with his family as a settler in the empresario grant of Lorenzo de Zavala.
He was seventeen years into his life on this earth, and Texas was just getting started with him. Fast forward to 1834, and Taylor finds himself in the middle of the Anahuac disturbances — not exactly the welcoming committee most settlers hoped for, but Taylor was apparently the kind of man who didn't look for the back door. Then came the Texas Army, and with it, two of the roughest chapters in the fight for Texas independence.
The Grass Fight — now there's a name that sounds almost comical until you understand what men were willing to do for survival out on that scrubby land. And then the Siege of Bexar, which was no laughing matter at all. Taylor was there for both.
After the smoke settled and Texas started pulling itself into something resembling a civilization, John McQueen Taylor turned to the business of law and order. He served as an early justice of the peace in Tyler County and again in Orange County — two different counties, mind you, which tells you something about a man who kept showing up wherever he was needed. Eventually he settled in Williamson County, right here, where he and his wife Nancy Ann raised four children and, I expect, finally let the dust settle a little.
He was born April 24, 1812, and he died March 14, 1887. Tennessee sent him, Lorenzo de Zavala's grant received him, and Texas kept him busy every step of the way.
What the marker says
(April 24, 1812 - March 14, 1887) Tennessee native John McQueen Taylor came to Texas with his family in 1829 as a settler in the empresario grant of Lorenzo de Zavala. Taylor fought in the Anahuac disturbances of 1834 and later, as a soldier in the Texas Army, he participated in the Grass Fight and the Siege of Bexar. An early justice of the peace in both Tyler and Orange counties, he later settled in Williamson County. He and his wife Nancy Ann had four children. Recorded - 1982.