Elisha Everett Lott

Elisha Everett Lott is best remembered for opposing the Cherokee Land Bill of 1844 in the Congress of the Republic, where he had been elected in 1842 to replace Isaac Van Zandt. The Handbook of Texas adds that he served on the 1846 commission that set Smith County's boundary and chose Tyler as county seat, and that he was Tyler's first postmaster, from 1847 to 1850. His constituents asked him to run for governor in 1857, and he declined. He resigned his legislative seat to serve as a Confederate lieutenant colonel and died at his Starrville home in 1864.

What the plaque says

Elisha Everett Lott (February 24, 1820 - January 17, 1864) Moved to Harrison County, Texas in 1840. Elected to the Republic of Texas Congress in 1842, he helped open this area of Texas for settlement. He moved here in 1845, and in 1846 was instrumental in the organization of Smith County and the selection of Tyler as the county seat. He helped promote steamboat navigation of the Sabine River and in 1853 was elected to the State Senate. A Confederate veteran of the Civil War, Lott died at his Starrville home in 1864 and is buried near this site in the Lott Family Cemetery. (1991)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tyler State Park — 6.3 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 — 7.5 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 — 11 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.
• Tyler Rose Garden and Rose Museum — 12 mi
  More than 38,000 rose bushes of about 600 cultivars in a free city garden, beside a museum of the Texas Rose Festival, which began in 1933, and of the rose industry.

More markers nearby

• First Baptist Church of Winona — 1.4 mi
• In the vicinity of Harris' place — 2.4 mi
• Nicholas Wren — 2.4 mi
• Starrville Community — 3.5 mi