Hansford County

The namesake's career ended in the Regulator-Moderator War of East Texas. John M. Hansford, a Kentuckian who settled near Jonesville in Harrison County, had been speaker of the Republic's House and from 1840 judge of the Seventh District. On January 19, 1842, he left the bench to escape impeachment for failing to bring a leading Regulator to trial. In January 1844, returning from church, he met a mob of Regulators at his house who demanded enslaved people he was holding under a writ of sequestration. He refused and was shot and killed.

What the plaque says

Formed form Young and Bexar territories. Created August 21, 1876. Organized March 11, 1889. Named in honor of John M. Hansford. Came to Texas in 1837. Member of the Texas Congress, Judge of the Seventh Judicial District, 1840-1842. Died in 1844. Hansford, the county seat.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Museum of the Plains — 26 mi
  Perryton's four-acre museum of the wheat country at the top of Texas, with an 1899 depot, five historic buildings and a life-size Hank the Cowdog, whose author grew up here.

More markers nearby

• Hansford County Sheriff Robert E. (Bob) Martin — steps away
• Spearman — steps away
• Lindberghs Land at Spearman — 1.8 mi
• Old Farwell — 11 mi