DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some stones just stand there. And then some stones carry the weight of a whole life — two lives, even — and you'd better slow down and listen.
Thomas Jones Hardeman was born in Tennessee on January 31, 1788. He came into this world before Texas was even a dream in anybody's eye, and by the time he was done with it, he'd left fingerprints on just about every institution this republic and state had to offer. He served as a member of the Second Congress of the Republic of Texas.
Think about that for a moment. The Republic. Not the state — the republic.
Texas was its own sovereign nation, and Thomas Jones Hardeman was in the room helping run it. That alone would be enough for most men to hang their hat on and call it a career. But Hardeman wasn't most men.
He went on to serve as Chief Justice of Bastrop County. Then he turned around and served in the State Legislature after Texas joined the union. The man had a gift for public trust, and the people of Bastrop County kept handing it to him, and he kept showing up.
And then — and here's where the story gets its capstone — in 1850, Thomas Jones Hardeman was named Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Grand Masonic Lodge of Texas. The highest Masonic honor in the state. That title, Most Worshipful Grand Master, is not handed out lightly, and it was his.
He died in Bastrop County, Texas, on January 11, 1854. He'd come a long way from Tennessee. But this marker belongs to two people.
Beside him stands Eliza De Witt Hardeman, his wife. Born September 17, 1809. Died February 8, 1863.
The marker names her, claims her, honors her right alongside him — and that matters. The State of Texas erected this marker in 1936, making sure neither of them would be forgotten. Two lives, one stone, and a story that stretches from Tennessee to the halls of a republic.
Not bad for a piece of granite on a Texas roadside.
What the marker says
[Front] Born in Tennessee January 31, 1788 Died in Bastrop County, Texas January 11, 1854 His Wife Eliza De Witt Hardeman Born Sept. 17, 1809 Died Feb. 8, 1863 Erected by the State of Texas 1936 [Back]Member Second Congress Republic of Texas; Chief Justice of Bastrop County Member of the State Legislature Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Grand Masonic Lodge of Texas, 1850