The Perner House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out here in Crockett County, a house has a way of accumulating stories the way a front porch accumulates years. This one started moving before it ever stopped.

In 1893, a man named T.L. Hammonds took a three-room frame house from the nearby town of Emerald and moved the whole thing, all of it, to this very site. Now, moving a house is not a casual undertaking.

But there it sat, waiting for the next chapter. It didn't wait long. In 1894, a local merchant by the name of Phillip Perner came along, purchased the structure, and enlarged it.

Phillip Perner was born in 1860, and you get the sense he was a man who saw potential where others saw just three rooms. He built something here, in more ways than one. Then, in 1905, Phillip Perner was gone.

And what happened next is really the heart of this story. His wife, Mary Ross Perner, born in 1864, did not leave. She stayed.

And with her stayed their eleven children. Eleven. That enlarged house suddenly makes a whole lot of sense.

Mary Ross Perner held that place together, and she kept holding it together all the way until 1942. For decades, that house was hers, and she was that house's. When it was finally sold in 1944, it passed to Ralph Jones, born in 1905.

Ralph Jones turned out to be a man the county wanted around. He was elected Crockett County Commissioner, and later County Judge. As of 1975, when this landmark was recorded, Mrs.

Ralph Jones was the owner. Three rooms from Emerald, one merchant's vision, eleven children, and a woman who simply refused to go. Some houses just know how to hold people.

What the marker says

In 1893, T.L. Hammonds moved a 3-room frame house from the nearby town of Emerald to this site. In 1894, Phillip Perner (1860-1905), a local merchant, purchased and enlarged the structure. Following Perner's death, his wife, Mary Ross Perner (1864-1942), and their 11 children continued to live here. The house was sold in 1944 to Ralph Jones (1905-72), who was later elected a Crockett County Commissioner and County Judge. Mrs. Ralph Jones is current (1975) owner. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark--1975