C. W. Raines

The Handbook of Texas follows Raines through the Civil War. After finishing his junior year at Princeton he settled at Paris, and in 1860 the East Texas Conference of the Methodist church admitted him on trial. Though opposed to secession, he enlisted in 1861 under Richard M. Gano and served as a private throughout the war. He was twice captured and escaped, and twice wounded and reported dead. When he was offered a commission he refused, because he did not want the responsibility of leading men into battle. After the war he taught school at New Braunfels.

What the plaque says

C. W. Raines A native of Upson County, Georgia, Cadwell Walton Raines (1839-1906) contributed to Texas history as a Methodist preacher, schoolteacher, attorney, newspaper publisher, county official, historian and state librarian. He first came to this state in 1853 with his parents, Thomas and Aletha (McClendon) Raines, and lived in Rockwall and Paris before enlisting in the Confederate army in 1861 under Richard Montgomery Gano. Following the war, Raines married Mary Bowden in 1871 and, after a period spent as a preacher in Arkansas, he began practicing law in Canton (about 20 mi. SW). There he became acquainted with future governor James Stephen Hogg and entered the newspaper business. Hogg sent him here to Mineola to begin publishing The Mineola Hawkeye in 1880. By 1884, the Raines' lived in Quitman (10 mi. N), where C. W. taught at the Concord Academy. He was elected Wood County Judge in 1886 and served two terms. Upon taking office as Texas' first native governor in 1891, Jim Hogg appointed C. W. Raines as state librarian. Serving in that capacity from 1891 to 1895 and again from 1899 until his death in 1906, Raines led the state library through a substantial period of growth and began its Texana collection. Among his many and varied accomplishments, Raines also was a historian, the author of numerous reference books and journal articles, and a co-founder of the Texas State Historical Association. (2001)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Governor Hogg Shrine — 9.1 mi
  Quitman's 27-acre city park, once a state historical park, where two houses tied to James Stephen Hogg's marriage stand beside an arboretum, a nature walk and the grounds of the Old Settlers Reunion.
• Tyler State Park — 17 mi
  A 985-acre park eight miles north of Tyler, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1935 to 1941 around a 64-acre spring-fed lake, with more than 13 miles of trails.
• Camp Ford Historic Park — 22 mi
  A free county park north of Tyler on the site of the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi, with a kiosk, an interpretive trail and a historical society museum downtown.
• Goodman-LeGrand House and Museum — 24 mi
  A Tyler house begun in 1859 as four rooms, enlarged by the Goodman family over 73 years, and left to the city in 1939 with its furnishings, in a garden that fills a city block.

More markers nearby

• Mineola — steps away
• Jack Rhodes — steps away
• Railroads in Mineola — steps away
• Mineola Opera Houses — steps away