Burton B. Tarkington

Tarkington Prairie grew into a trading center around the family farm. The Handbook of Texas says that by the 1860s it had a store, a blacksmith shop, a steam mill and gin, a combined Baptist church and Masonic lodge, and a post office. After the Civil War, veterans settled there, and trail drivers and shippers of goods made it a stop on the route to the coast. A short piece of the old cattle trail lies under State Highway 321, paved across it in the 1930s. The post office closed because the larger one at Cleveland was nearby.

What the plaque says

Burton B. Tarkington Burton B. Tarkington (1790-1861) and his wife Sarah Berry Tarkington migrated with their family from Indiana in the mid-1820s to the Mexican state of Coahuila. They settled west of the Trinity River in present northwest Liberty County, and began ranching and raising crops. The area around their farm became known as Tarkington's Prairie, and a creek in the area is called Tarkington Bayou. According to family legend, the Tarkingtons and other early settlers had to vacate their property in 1836 when Santa Anna's forces advanced prior to the Battle of San Jacinto. Apparently Tarkington did not have a land grant from the Mexican government for the land he claimed, but when Texas gained independence from Mexico in 1836 he received a headright land grant of one league and one labor (4,605 acres). The grant was patented in 1847 by the new state of Texas and became known as the Tarkington Survey. Tarkington became a leader in the community. He served in the Texas Militia in 1842, and was elected Liberty County commissioner for three terms beginning in 1854. He received recognition for his service from Governor H. R. Runnels. Tarkington died Feb. 2, 1861, and is buried in the McGinnis Cemetery (.25 mi. W). (1996)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center — 19 mi
  A state archives and museum north of Liberty with an exhibit on Southeast Texas history and a campus of historic buildings, including an 1848 house and an 1898 church.

More markers nearby

• The Schools of Tarkington Prairie — 1.5 mi
• City of Cleveland — 6.3 mi
• Town of Shepherd — 13 mi
• Hugh B. Johnston — 15 mi