The G. W. Riley House

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of the G. W. Riley House.

Built in 1872, right there in Georgetown, Williamson County. The man who put it up was the Reverend S. J.

Lane, a chaplain at Southwestern University and the founder of the First Methodist Church in Georgetown. Whatever he built, he built to last, because that house is still standing. Still in the family, in fact.

But the story of who came after Lane is the part worth slowing down for. In 1903, a man named the Reverend George W. Riley bought the place.

George W. Riley, born 1853, died 1925. Now, the marker takes a moment right there to tell you something about where this man came from.

His grandfather was the Reverend Jonas Dancer, and Jonas Dancer was killed by Llano County Indians in 1859. That's the line in the stone. A grandson of an 1859 victim.

You carry a history like that through your whole life, whether you intend to or not. What George W. Riley did with his life was preach.

He founded or served Methodist churches in Abilene, Beaumont, Douglassville, Mineral Wells, Tyler, and other towns besides, doing that work for forty-eight years. Forty-eight years of Methodist ministry scattered across Texas like seeds in a hard wind. And when he and his wife Beulah, Beulah G.

Matthews Riley, when they came to that house on the corner of Georgetown, they came with a purpose the marker is careful to name: to educate their children. That was the reason they moved there. The house served them.

And then it kept on serving. Passed down, held onto, still in the family when the marker was recorded. Three generations of story pressed into one set of walls, from the Reverend Lane's founding hand in 1872 to the Riley family holding on well past a century.

Some houses are just buildings. This one was a choice, made twice, by two different preachers, for two different reasons. And it lasted.

What the marker says

Built 1872 by the Rev. S. J. Lane, chaplain, Southwestern University; founder, First Methodist church, Georgetown. Bought 1903 by the Rev. George W. Riley (1853-1925), a grandson of Llano County Indians' 1859 victim, the Rev. Jonas Dancer. G. W. Riley founded or served Methodist churches in Abilene, Beaumont, Douglassville, Mineral Wells, Tyler, and other towns for 48 years. He and wife, Beulah G. (Matthews) moved here to educate children; house remains in family. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1972