Nathan H. Haller

Haller's second seat came from a count that was reversed. He lost a close race to R. C. Duff, but the House Committee on Privileges and Elections found that the Brazoria County judge had not counted Matagorda County votes. Those votes gave Haller a fifty-vote margin, and he was seated in the Twenty-fourth Legislature. He also opposed splitting Brazoria County, a plan that would have diluted Black voters. The county's Taxpayers Union ran white-only primaries from 1895 into the 1950s, and the Handbook of Texas has Haller working as a wagon driver in Houston in 1910.

What the plaque says

Nathan H. Haller Born into slavery in Charleston, South Carolina on July 8, 1840, Nathan H. Haller was a Texas political leader, serving in the 23rd and 24th Texas Legislatures in the House of Representatives. Haller was brought to Walker County by his enslaver. After Emancipation, Haller operated a local farm and became active in Republican politics and served as county commissioner. Haller married Paralee Jordan of Huntsville, and the couple had two children: Jackson and James. After Paralee died, he married Annie Butcher, and they had three children: Joseph, Munroe and Jemmima. By 1892, Haller moved his family to a farm in Brazoria County, remaining active in local politics. Voters elected him to the 23rd Texas Legislature, representing Brazoria and Matagorda Counties in the 40th district. Haller served as Brazoria County's first black legislator. Two years later, he was reelected to the same seat after the House Committee on Privileges and Elections ruled in Haller's favor in a contested election. Haller was appointed to the Roads, Bridges and Ferries; Labor; and Penitentiaries Committees. In 1893, Haller authored House Bill 469, seeking to establish a branch of the University of Texas for black students. After his second term, he moved to Houston's Third Ward. He was working as a wagon driver in 1910. He died on February 27, 1917, and was buried in Houston's College Park Cemetery with surviving family members residing in Angleton and Houston. Haller and colleague R.L. Smith were the last African Americans elected to the Texas Legislature until 1966. (2019)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge — 11 mi
  Coastal prairie, salt marsh and bays between Freeport and Christmas Bay, where an auto tour along Big Slough passes wintering geese, ducks and wading birds in the tens of thousands.
• Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site — 13 mi
  A Brazos sugar plantation built by enslaved people for the Patton family, later leased convict labor and Hogg family oil, now told through Rachel Patton and Sarah Ford.
• Levi Jordan Plantation State Historic Site — 18 mi
  A sugar and cotton plantation on the San Bernard River whose enslaved builders and their descendants left one of the best-preserved African American archeological sites in Texas.
• Brazos Bend State Park — 18 mi
  Oak and pecan bottomland, lakes and alligators on the Brazos River 45 miles from downtown Houston, with the museum's George Observatory in the woods.

More markers nearby

• Angleton Independent School District — steps away
• First Baptist Church of Angleton — steps away
• James Briton "Brit" Bailey — 5.7 mi
• The Brazos Canal — 7.7 mi