DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker at Whitehall in Wilson County tells it. Now listen close, because this one's got layers. Joseph Polley — born 1795, died 1869 — was not a man who arrived late to anything.
He was one of the original three hundred settlers who came to Texas under Stephen F. Austin himself. The Old Three Hundred.
The ones who were there at the very beginning of the Austin colony. And if that weren't enough, Polley held the distinction of being the first sheriff of that Austin colony. First.
The whole operation was brand new, and somebody had to keep the peace, and that somebody was Joseph Polley. Now, a man like that doesn't just plant himself in one spot and call it done. Polley made his way through Fort Bend County, through Austin County, movin' and settlin' and movin' again, as men of that era were known to do.
But eventually he found his ground here — Wilson County — and when he did, he put down roots in a serious way. His cattle herds were called the largest in Texas. Not the largest around.
Not the largest in the region. The largest in Texas. That's the claim the record carries, and we'll let it stand.
And then, between 1847 and 1851, Joseph Polley built something worthy of that reputation. A stone mansion. Stone — not timber, not rough-hewn plank, but stone — with framing of Bandera Cypress.
And the cabinet work? Shipped by sea. From New York.
Think about that for a moment. The year is somewhere in that stretch between 1847 and 1851, you are deep in South Texas, and a man is having his finish carpentry sent by ship from New York City because that is simply what the house requires. Whitehall was not built to be modest.
It became the social center of the whole area. People gathered here. People stayed here.
And among those who passed through as a house guest was one Robert E. Lee, who — while staying at Whitehall — wrote his last Texas letter. His last letter from Texas soil, written right here in this stone mansion that Joseph Polley built.
That's what Whitehall is. The home of the first colony sheriff, the man with the biggest cattle herds in the state, built with cypress framing and New York cabinetry, and the place where a guest sat down and wrote his final words from Texas. Some houses hold history.
This one collected it.
What the marker says
Built by Joseph Polley (1795-1869), one of "Old 300" settlers of Stephen F. Austin, and the first Austin colony sheriff. From Fort Bend and Austin counties, he at last settled here, where he had cattle herds called largest in Texas. In 1847-51 he built this stone mansion, with framing of Bandera Cypress, and cabinet work shipped by sea from New York. This was area social center. From here house guest Robert E. Lee wrote his last Texas letter. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1962