William Becknell

The grave site has its own record. Becknell's former ranch ran to about 3,000 acres, and the cemetery sits on part of it at a corner of what is still called Becknell's Prairie, according to the williambecknell.com history site. In 1861 Mary Becknell deeded about six acres to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Only four burials there are documented, though others likely took place. Marion Lowe began restoring the site in 2009, with plans for a roadside parking area, a 450-foot gravel path, a fence and a new bronze sign.

What the plaque says

William Becknell WILLIAM BECKNELL WILLIAM BECKNELL, KNOWN AS THE "FATHER OF THE SANTA FE TRAIL," WAS AN AMERICAN FRONTIER SOLDIER, TRADER, FARMER, RANCHER AND POLITICIAN. BECKNELL WAS BORN IN VIRGINIA IN 1787 OR 1788 TO MICAJAH AND PHEBY (LANDRUM) BECKNELL. HE MARRIED IN 1807 AND MOVED TO THE MISSOURI FRONTIER IN 1811. HE SERVED DURING THE WAR OF 1812. THE FOLLOWING SPRING, HE JOINED DANIEL MORGAN BOONE'S COMPANY OF UNITED STATES MOUNTED RANGERS AS A FIRST SERGEANT AND FOUGHT UNDER THE COMMAND OF MAJOR ZACHARY TAYLOR IN THE BATTLE OF CREDIT ISLAND IN IOWA IN 1814. AFTER THE WAR AND THE DEATH OF HIS WIFE, BECKNELL MARRIED AGAIN AND, IN 1821, ORGANIZED A TRADING PARTY TO CROSS THE GREAT PLAINS TO MEXICO. BECAUSE OF INFORMATION GIVEN TO HIM BY MEXICAN SOLDIERS, BECKNELL WAS THE FIRST U.S. TRADER TO ARRIVE IN SANTA FE AFTER MEXICO WON ITS INDEPENDENCE FROM SPAIN AND, THEREFORE, "OPENED" LEGAL INTERNATIONAL TRADE. FROM 1825-27, BECKNELL PLAYED AN IMPORTANT BUT UNOFFICIAL ROLE IN THE SIBLEY SURVEY ESTABLISHED BY CONGRESS TO MARK THE SANTA FE TRAIL. IN 1827 HE WAS APPOINTED JUSTICE OF THE PEACE IN SALINE COUNTY, MISSOURI AND THEN WAS ELECTED TO THE MISSOURI HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. IT WASN'T UNTIL 1835 THAT HE AND HIS FAMILY MOVED TO RED RIVER COUNTY WHERE HE COMMANDED A MILITIA UNIT KNOWN AS THE RED RIVER BLUES TO PROTECT SETTLERS FROM RAIDING NATIVE AMERICANS. BECKNELL BECAME CAPTAIN AND HIS MEN WERE GUARDIANS OF RED RIVER COUNTY UNTIL 1842. HE WAS APPOINTED TO SUPERVISE THE TEXAS CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS IN 1845 AND THE U.S. CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS IN 1846. WHEN HE PASSED IN 1856, HE HAD A SIZABLE ESTATE IN LAND AND CATTLE NAMED BECKNELL'S PRAIRIE, AND WAS KNOWN AS A TRUE AMERICAN HERO. (2012)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lennox Woods Preserve — 9.2 mi
  A Nature Conservancy preserve of mature East Texas forest north of Clarksville, kept by the Lennox family for four generations, with a 1.5-mile loop under post oaks more than 300 years old.
• Eiffel Tower — 20 mi
  A 65-foot Eiffel Tower with a red cowboy hat, built by the local welders' union in 1993 beside Paris's Love Civic Center.
• Evergreen Cemetery — 22 mi
  Paris's town cemetery since 1866, with a carved-stone gallery that includes the Babcock monument in cowboy boots, and the grave of the three-year-old whose death led to the 1893 lynching of Henry Smith.
• Sam Bell Maxey House State Historic Site — 22 mi
  The Italian-villa-style house in Paris, finished in 1868 with a lawyer's fees, where a Confederate major general turned U.S. senator and two later generations of his family lived.

More markers nearby

• William Becknell — steps away
• A House of the William Becknell Family — 3.3 mi
• Clarksville Cemetery — 6.8 mi
• The Northern Standard — 6.9 mi