DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Tyler-Bryan-Weems House in Brazoria County. Now, some houses just sit there. And some houses collect lives the way Texas collects weather — one storm after another, each one remarkable, and somehow the thing still standing at the end.
The Tyler-Bryan-Weems House is that second kind. Let's start at the beginning, and the beginning starts with a girl named Ariadne. Ariadne O.
Gautier, born 1834, came to this part of Texas from Florida in 1841. She was seven years old. Her father, Dr.
Peter Gautier, Jr., wasn't the kind of man to sit still either — the very next year, 1842, he joined other Texans in turning back an invading Mexican army. That's the household Ariadne grew up in. By 1855, she was twenty-one and she married Clinton Lucretius Terry.
They had four children together. Now, Terry rode with Terry's Texas Rangers — and if that name sounds familiar, it should — and he died in the Civil War at Shiloh, in 1862. Four children.
A war. Shiloh. You hold that for a moment.
Six years later, Ariadne married again. William Tyler, this time. And then — again — she was widowed.
Two husbands gone, four children, and Ariadne Gautier did not fold. In 1871, she purchased property at this very site. Within the next two years, records indicate, she built the original part of this house.
With her own name on the deed. She married a third time, in 1875, to Henry H. Swymmer.
The house, meanwhile, kept standing. In 1897, Ariadne sold the property to Frank Bowden Chilton — born 1845, died 1926 — a man who had served as a captain in Hood's Texas Brigade. Three years later, in 1900, Chilton gave the property to his daughter, Mary Louise Chilton, born 1877.
Her mother was Ann Briscoe, Chilton's third wife. And the date of that formal transfer? It landed on the exact day Mary Louise married Austin Y.
Bryan. Now, Austin Bryan — born 1863, died 1930 — was the grandson of Emily Austin Bryan Perry, who was Stephen F. Austin's sister.
So yes, the family tree here reaches all the way back to the very roots of Texas itself. The Bryans made their mark on the house too, adding a two-story, ell-shaped addition to the back — a piece of work that the marker calls a model of nineteenth-century vernacular architecture. The Bryans sold the house in 1919 to Sands Smith Weems, Sr., born 1873, died 1961, a hardware and mercantile store owner right there in West Columbia, and his wife, Nan Pickett Weems, born 1880, died 1964.
The Weems family held onto it from 1919 all the way to the year 2000. Eighty-one years. You can't say they didn't commit.
And through all of it — all those names, all those decades, all that Texas living — the house itself kept its bones. Greek Revival style, frame construction. Square posts with molded caps.
A balustrade on the second level. An inset, two-tiered porch with five bays. Sidelights framing the entries.
The original structure symmetrical, built on a rectangular plan. Ariadne Gautier outlived two husbands, built this house, and died in 1910 at the age of seventy-six. The house she built is still here.
Some houses just sit there. And some houses earn their name.
What the marker says
Tyler-Bryan-Weems House Ariadne O. Gautier (1834-1910) came from Florida to this part of Texas in 1841 with her parents. Her father, Dr. Peter Gautier, Jr., joined other Texans in turning back an invading Mexican army in 1842. In 1855, Ariadne married Clinton Lucretius Terry, with whom she had four children. Terry, serving with Terry's Texas Rangers, died in the Civil War at Shiloh in 1862. Six years later, Ariadne wed William Tyler. Again widowed, she purchased property at this site in 1871. Records indicate she built the original part of this house within the next two years. She married a third time, to Henry H. Swymmer, in 1875. Ariadne sold the property in 1897 to Frank Bowden Chilton (1845-1926), who had been a captain in Hood's Texas Brigade. In 1900, he gave the property to Mary Louise Chilton (1877-1973), his daughter by his third wife, Ann (Briscoe). The property formally transferred on the date of Mary's marriage to Austin Y. Bryan (1863-1930), grandson of Stephen F. Austin's sister, Emily Austin Bryan Perry. The Bryans sold the house in 1919 to West Columbia hardware and mercantile store owner Sands Smith Weems, Sr. (1873-1961) and his wife, Nan (Pickett) (1880-1964). The Weems family retained ownership of the house until 2000. The frame house was built in the Greek Revival style. Details include square posts with molded caps, as well as a balustrade on the second level. The house features an inset, two-tiered porch with five bays. The entries are accented by sidelights. The original structure was symmetrical and built on a rectangular plan. During their ownership, the Bryans built a two-story, ell-shaped addition to the back of the house, which serves as a model of 19th-century vernacular architecture. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2002