DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and this one's got layers, friend, so settle in. The town of Bedias, Grimes County. The name goes back further than the town itself — all the way to the Bidai Indians, an agricultural people reputed to be the oldest inhabitants of the area.
The North and South Bedias creeks were named for them, and the town took its name from the creeks. Now, "Bidai" — that word means "brushwood," which may refer to the building material the Bidai used in their dwellings. Ancient people, ancient word, ancient land.
The first white settlement in this vicinity was founded in 1835 by a man named Thomas P. Plaster. For a while, the place was called Plasterville.
That name did not stick. Now, 1835 is also the year a woman named Sarah Dodson did something that would echo across Texas history. She made the first Lone Star flag in Texas — right here in the Bedias area.
She would later live here from 1844 to 1848, and she is buried in Old Bethel Cemetery, seven miles west. You ride past that direction, tip your hat. Fast forward to 1903.
A branch of the International and Great Northern Railroad was built to the northeast, and "Old" Bedias — the original community — surrendered most of its population to "New" Bedias, just like that. Folks from Pankey and Cotton moved here too. The town was growing, reorganizing, becoming something new.
But here's where it gets feisty. Someone — and you can imagine the type — someone wanted to name this new, consolidated town after a railroad official. Determined citizens said no.
Absolutely not. They fought it, and they won. The name Bedias was retained, but only after what the marker calls a heated struggle.
The railroad built the line, but it did not get to name the town. That's a particular kind of Texas satisfaction right there. And then there are the Tektites.
Also called Bediasites. These are beautiful, glassy, meteor-like stones found in large numbers throughout this region — one of its most unique features. They fell to earth thirty-four million years ago.
Thirty-four million. The Bidai Indians, those ancient inhabitants, had a name for them too. They called them jewels of the moon.
Brushy land. Old creeks. A flag sewn in 1835.
A town that refused a railroad man's name. And scattered across the ground, stones that fell from the sky thirty-four million years before any of it — waiting for someone to call them beautiful. Bedias has been here a long time, friend.
Longer than most places dare to count.
What the marker says
Named for North and South Bedias creeks, which in turn were named for the Bidai Indians, an agricultural people reputed to have been the oldest inhabitants of the area. "Bidai" means "brushwood", which may refer to the building material used in their dwellings. The first white settlement in this vicinity was founded 1835 by Thomas P. Plaster, and for a while it was called Plasterville. In 1903, the community of "Old" Bedias surrendered most of its population to "New" Bedias after a branch of the International & Great Northern Railroad was built to the northeast. Townspeople from Pankey and Cotton also moved here. The name "Bedias" was retained, but only after a heated struggle in which determined citizens refused to have the town named for a railroad official. A famous, early resident of the Bedias area was Sarah Dodson, who in 1835 made the first "Lone Star" flag in Texas. She lived here from 1844 to 1848 and is buried in Old Bethel Cemetery, seven miles west. One of the most unique features of this region is the large number of Tektites (also called "Bediasites") found here. These are beautiful, glassy, meteor-like stones which fell to earth 34 million years ago. Amazingly, Indians called them "jewels of the moon." (1968)