John T. Mills

John T. Mills was born in Ireland in 1817. The Handbook of Texas says his family settled in Beaufort County, South Carolina, where he studied law, and in 1837 he moved to Texas and began practicing. He held judgeships in the Third, Seventh and Eighth Judicial Districts between 1839 and 1846. After Mary Jane Vining died in 1854, he married Mrs. Adair and moved to Marshall. Mills County was named for him. The Handbook dates his death in Marshall to November 20, 1871.

What the plaque says

John T. Mills Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Republic of Texas, 1839-40, 1842-45; district judge, state of Texas, 1846-50. Mills County, Texas was named in his honor. Born in County Antrim, Ireland, Nov. 12, 1817; died Nov. 30, 1871. Octavia (Jones) Adair-Mills, widow of William A. Adair, and of John T. Mills. Died Nov. 20, 1890.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas and Pacific Railway Depot and Museum — 0.2 mi
  The only surviving building of the Texas and Pacific shops at Marshall, a 1912 Mission Revival depot saved from demolition in the 1990s, still an Amtrak stop, with a railway museum and a Mikado locomotive.
• Harrison County Historical Museum — 0.4 mi
  Galleries in Marshall's 1901 courthouse that run from the Caddo to the present, with Wiley College, Lady Bird Johnson's inaugural gown and a military gallery across the square in Memorial City Hall.
• Starr Family Home State Historic Site — 0.6 mi
  Maplecroft, the 1871 Greek Revival house Frank Starr built in Marshall, with Ruth Starr Blake's glass and china, an 1880s kitchen restored in 2019 and a retirement home built for a formerly enslaved person.
• Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge — 14 mi
  Wetlands and woods on part of a former ammunition plant, now a refuge for wood ducks, prothonotary warblers and alligator snapping turtles, with four easy trails and a free visitor center on a Ramsar lake.

More markers nearby

• Governor Edward Clark — steps away
• Marshall, C.S.A. — steps away
• Walter Paye Lane — steps away
• Marshall Cemetery — steps away