William E. Partlow, First Mayor of Sanger

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the first mayor of Sanger, Denton County, Texas. Now, if you want a story that moves from a Virginia battlefield all the way to a courthouse in New Mexico and back again to a small Texas town, well, pull up close, because William E. Partlow lived exactly that kind of life.

He was a Virginian, born and bred. And at some point in that long, grinding conflict the marker calls the Civil War (1861 to 1865), Partlow was a soldier. Not just any soldier, either.

He was there at the end. He was among the men who surrendered at Appomattox with General Robert E. Lee himself.

Think about what it means to carry that moment in your memory for the rest of your days. After the war, Partlow moved to Texas. And Texas, as it tends to do, offered a man a fresh start.

He married Nancy Jane Sullivan (she'd live from 1860 to 1922), daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Sullivan, Denton County pioneers. So right there, he wasn't just arriving in Texas.

He was planting roots in it, marrying into the very people who'd helped build the place. Partlow became a merchant. And when the town of Sanger was incorporated in 1892, the people there looked around and decided this former Confederate soldier, this Virginia-born shopkeeper, was exactly the man they wanted leading them.

He was elected the first mayor of Sanger. The very first. Then in 1904, he built a house for his family.

The house the marker stands beside. He put it up with, you'd imagine, some intention of staying put. But Partlow wasn't quite done ranging yet.

From 1907 to 1913, he and his family pulled up and headed to New Mexico, where he served as commissioner of U.S. Circuit and district courts. That's a long way, in every sense, from Appomattox.

And then, as the story always seems to go with men like this, he came back to Sanger. Back to that house he'd built in 1904. He served as Justice of the Peace, and when his time came, he died right there.

A man who surrendered at the end of one American story, and spent the rest of his life quietly building another one; right here in Denton County. That's William E. Partlow, first mayor of Sanger.

What the marker says

A Virginian and a soldier who surrendered at Appomattox with Gen. Robert E. Lee, W. E. Partlow moved to Texas after the Civil War (1861-65). He married Nancy Jane Sullivan (1860-1922), daughter of Denton County pioneers, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Sullivan. Partlow, a merchant, was elected first mayor when Sanger was incorporated in 1892. He built this house for his family in 1904. From 1907 to 1913, they lived in New Mexico, where Partlow was commissioner of U.S. Circuit and district courts. After returning to Sanger, he served as Justice of the Peace and died here. (1976)