Andrew Edwards Gossett

Gossett's family reached Texas in 1833 and settled on Hurricane Bayou, five miles north of the site of Crockett. In 1837 he built a home east of town that the Handbook of Texas says is said to have been the first weatherboarded house in the Republic of Texas. He also served as a trustee of Trinity College. A marker was placed at his home in Crockett in 1964, and he is buried in Glenwood Cemetery. The Handbook says that he and his father, Elijah, chose the names for the county and the seat, after Sam Houston and David Crockett.

What the plaque says

Andrew Edwards Gossett (July 19, 1812 -- March 24, 1890) Donor of land for city of Crockett. After Houston County was created on June 8, 1837, from territory of Nacogdoches, a centrally-located county seat was provided by donation of this townsite by Gossett from his colonist's grant. (1972)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 26 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.

More markers nearby

• Site of the Crockett Hotel — steps away
• Miller-Spinks-Mayes Property — steps away
• Crockett — steps away
• Five Courthouses of Houston County — steps away