DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, the way I understand the story of The Honorable Samuel Boyd Patton. Born in South Carolina in 1787, Samuel Boyd Patton came into this world before Texas was even a notion in most people's minds. He moved to Tennessee as a youth, and already you get the sense this was a man who didn't stay put for long.
After serving in the War of 1812, he pulled up stakes again and moved to Alabama, where he held public office and served in the state legislature. A man building a career, building a reputation, state by state. But Alabama wasn't the end of the road either.
In 1837, Samuel Boyd Patton moved to Texas. Now, 1837 was still early days for this Republic, and Patton didn't arrive quiet. He was appointed to the Board of Land Commissioners, and he served as a member of the Congress of the Republic of Texas.
The man had a nose for where history was happening, and he kept showing up right in the middle of it. Then comes the work of building something real from the ground up. He helped organize Blanco County, and when that county needed its first chief justice, its first county judge, they looked to Patton.
He served in that role from 1858 to 1860. And if you think that was the end of his public life, well. In 1865, he became the second chief justice of Kendall County.
South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, the Republic of Texas, Blanco County, Kendall County. A life that crossed lines on the map that didn't even exist yet when he was born. He died in 1869, and he was buried right here, on his own homestead.
Some men chase history. Samuel Boyd Patton just kept arriving wherever it was headed next.
What the marker says
Born in South Carolina in 1787, Samuel Boyd Patton moved to Tennessee as a youth. After serving in the war of 1812, he moved to Alabama, where he held public office and served in the state legislature. In 1837 Patton moved to Texas. He was appointed to the Board of Land Commissioners and was a member of the Congress of the Republic of Texas. He helped organize Blanco County and served as the first chief justice (county judge) from 1858-60. He was the second chief justice in Kendall County in 1865. He died in 1869 and was buried here on his homestead. (1996)