Wharton County Abstract Company

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, in 1890, an attorney by the name of William S. Brooks, and folks called him Billie, founded what would become the Wharton County Abstract Company.

Right from the start, Billie had help. A woman named Daisy Speed sat down and made the original hand-written entries in the tract books. Every parcel, every plot, set down by hand.

That takes patience, and it takes care, and Daisy Speed had both. Then 1899 rolls around, and Billie's law partner, a man named Henry A. Cline, joins him at the firm.

Now the Cline family name would stay woven into this place for a good long while, with several members of that family becoming prominent associates over the years. And then there's L. Z.

Moreland, who walked through that door and worked here from 1923 all the way to 1974. Think about that. The world changed considerably in those decades, and Moreland was right there through all of it.

But here's the detail that stops you in your tracks, the one that makes this more than just a story about property records and legal partners. There was a secretary at this firm. Her name was Ruth Brazzil.

Now, a secretary at an abstract company, you might think that's a quiet sort of life, shuffling papers, keepin' the records straight. But Ruth Brazzil went on to serve as a special justice of the Texas Supreme Court, in what the marker calls a celebrated case, one involving the Woodmen of the World. A secretary at a Wharton County abstract firm, all the way to the Texas Supreme Court.

Sometimes the most remarkable roads begin in the quietest offices.

What the marker says

Attorney William S. "Billie" Brooks founded this abstract firm in 1890. He was assisted by Daisy Speed, who made the original hand-written entries in the tract books. Brooks was joined in 1899 by his law partner Henry A. Cline. Other prominent associates of the firm include several member of the Cline family and L. Z. Moreland, who worked here from 1923 to 1974. A secretary, Ruth Brazzil, later served as a special justice of the Texas Supreme Court in a celebrated case involving the Woodmen of The World.