Thomas C. Snailum

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the voice passin' it along. Now, the name on this marker is Thomas C. Snailum, and that right there is a name that deserves to be said slowly.

Snailum. A man who crossed an ocean, crossed a revolution, crossed half of Texas, and still ended up right here in Parker County. Let's walk through it.

Snailum was a native of England. How he wound up in Texas in 1834; well, the marker doesn't say, and I won't guess. But there he was, settling in Bastrop, two years before everything in Texas was about to change.

Because 1836 came calling. Snailum enlisted in the Texas Army and served during the Texas Revolution. That's not a small thing to drop into a biography.

The man put his name on the line when Texas was still very much an idea being argued out at gunpoint. After the war, he settled in Nacogdoches. And then in 1840, Thomas Snailum married Mary Ann Rogers of Robertson County.

Mary Ann lived from 1825 to 1875, and together, this family did not stay put. Robertson County, Grimes County, Leon County, Freestone County; they moved through the interior of Texas like they were tryin' every room in the house before pickin' one to keep. Around 1866, they landed in Weatherford.

And here's where Thomas Snailum planted his flag for good. He worked as a cattle rancher until 1871, and then, he and Mary Ann made a turn. They opened the St.

Charles Hotel. A man who'd soldiered in a revolution, trailed cattle across Texas range, and now he's setting a proper table for travelers in Parker County. Thomas C.

Snailum remained a Weatherford citizen until his death in 1884. England to Bastrop. Bastrop to revolution.

Revolution to Weatherford. One life, and not a quiet one. This marker was placed in 1986, part of the Texas Sesquicentennial: one hundred and fifty years after that revolution Thomas Snailum showed up to fight in.

What the marker says

A native of England, Thomas C. Snailum came to Texas in 1834, settling in Bastrop. He enlisted in the Texas Army in 1836, served during the Texas Revolution, and settled in Nacogdoches. After the war in 1840 Snailum married Mary Ann Rogers (1825-1875) of Robertson County, and the family lived in Robertson, Grimes, Leon, and Freestone counties before coming to Weatherford about 1866. Snailum was a cattle rancher until 1871, when he and his wife began operating the St. Charles Hotel. He remained a Weatherford citizen until his death in 1884. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.