Memorabilia Markers

George Warren of Denison purchased two markers in the shape of Texas at an auction at Eastern Iron and Metal in Sherman in the early 1990s.  One is dated 1849 and says "Site of First Private School.  Public School. 1873; Perfected, 1888.  First High School, 1898 'God Bless America and a teacher who made her great'."  The name on the marker is "Willie Brandt."
The first school in Sherman was established by Benjamin Willis Bradley.  The first school in Sherman was a log cabin in the 100 block of North Crockett with a dirt floor and a hole in the roof to allow the smoke from the fire built on the floor to escape; it was established in 1849, the same date as on the marker.  Also "Public School. 1873" on the marker is the year in which the first public school was established in Sherman.  The first high school waas established in 1898 at the corner of Travis and Mulberry.  The only date for which no information has been found is "Perfected, 1888".

The second marker purchased by Mr. Warren is about three feet high and was made to mount on a post.  It says "First newspaper established 1859 'The Patriot'.  E. Junius Foster, editor, called out unarmed and murdered at this site by anti-cessionist rascals in 1862."  This marker was probably meant to mark the site in Sherman where The Sherman Weekly Patriot was published.  The Star State Patriot, originally published in Marshall was known as the only Whig journal in East Texas.  (Graham Landrum & Allan Smith.  An Illustrated History of Grayson County)  Foster moved The Patriot to Sherman in 1858; not being happy with the reception his newspaper got, Foster packed up and moved to Tishomingo in 1859, but returned to Sherman later.  Foster was a Whig but supported Sam Houston opposition to secession.  By 1859 E. Junius Foster was branded a "radical".  The Patriot was called a Union or Northern newspaper; publication ceased on February 13, 1861, and a competitor announced, "Nipped to the bud.  The Patriot died, and was laid to the mud, and no one cried." (Hope Waller, The History of Sherman and Grayson County)
After The Patriot was revived in 1861 by J.W. Whitteker, Foster bought it and ran it until his death during the Civil War years.  According to Landrum & Smith Foster printed a number of stories stating in 1862 stating that the murder of Col. William Young  by Union men was one of the best things that had happened in North Texas.  After one such story appeared in the paper, Foster was locking up his shop on Travis Street when three horsemen rode up on the night of October 10, 1863.  Two of the men were Jim Young, son of the murdered Colonel, and Newton Chance, the third named Cox; all three men had a gun.  Demanding a retraction from Foster, who refused saying his statements were true, one of the men pulled both triggers of his double-barreled shotgun, which he had placed against Foster's side.  They rode away and Foster died soon afterward.  

The men were indicted on December 1, 1865.  Jim Young was tried and acquitted.  Newton Chance fled to Mississippi, living there for two years; he then moved to Missouri, then to Arkansas, then back to Texas, and finally to the Indian Territory, where ge was living at the time he traveled to Sherman to attend the Olenwood trial unrelated to Foster's murder; while at Sherman he was captured in 1885, having become a minister and led an exemplary life.  The Dallas Daily Herald issue of September 24, 1885 reports that Sheriff Douglas arrested Chance at noon September 23 for the murder of Foster almost 20 years earlier.

Young, during Chance's trial in December 1885 at Sherman, admitted that he was the one who had pulled the trigger 22 years previously and murdered Foster, but because he had already been acquitted of the crime, he was not charged.

In 1870 the Patriot was revived by Alphosoe Lamartine Darnell of Mckinney and renamed the Sherman Patriot with a $2 annual subscription rate and publication size of 24" x 36".  In 1879 the Patriot was sold to P.N. Peters who again renamed it the Sherman Daily Chronicle.

Source:
Donna Hunt.  "Memorabilia Belongs Where Intended."  Denison Herald, June 9, 1991
Donna Hunt.  "Markers Came From Under Our Noses."  Denison Herald, June 16, 1991
Daily Kennebec Journal
The Dallas Times Herald, Thursday, September 24, 1885, pg. 1
"Sherman Patriot".  The Handbook of Texas online, viewed 27 May 2016
"The Murder of Junius E. Foster, Editor of the Sherman Patriot: 22 Years Later; Still No Justice".  YesterYear Once More.  viewed 27 May 2016

Sherman History
Susan Hawkins
© 2024

If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message.