John Tarleton (American settler)
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John Tarleton | |
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| Born | White Mountain, Vermont, US |
| Died | Texas, US |
| Known for | John Tarleton Agricultural College |
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John Tarleton (1808 or 1811 – 1895) was an American settler and rancher. He is best known for endowing John Tarleton Agricultural College, which eventually became Tarleton State University.
He was born in either White Mountain, Vermont,[2][3] or in New Hampshire,[4] in November 1808,[3] or 1811.[2][5] He was orphaned when he was seven, and went to live with his widowed aunt in Vermont. His brother was sent to another relative in Virginia.[6]
When he was 14, he decided to run away and tried to enlist in the Army.[1] He had told a friend of his plan, who then betrayed his secret by telling his aunt. She "nipped the plan in the bud at the recruiting station".[1] He was successful in his next attempt at running away and caught a boat to North Carolina, where he worked as a farm hand, and cut wood for 50 cents a cord.[1] He then made his way to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he attended school, earning a teacher's certificate. He taught school for a short time, earning $30 a month. After leaving the school, he took a job at Cowan and Dickerson mercantile as a clerk, where he worked for 40 years, before finally becoming owner of the business.[1] It was during this period, he bought up bounty certificates issued to veterans of the War of 1812, which authorized them "to settle on any unsurveyed or unappropriated public land."[4] He also purchased 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) of land in Erath and Palo Pinto counties in Texas at 12.5 cents an acre.[3]
In 1860 or 1861, he set out to look over his property. He found Native Americans living on the land, so he set up a mercantile store in Waco, where he spent his time until he was 70, when he moved to his property in 1881.[1][3][6]
In September 1876, he married wealthy widow Mary Louisa Johnson. They agreed to a contract keeping their estates separate,[3][6] but when the wife learned that her husband owned a considerable amount of land, she asked for a different division of their property.[6] He refused, and a year and a day after their wedding, she filed for divorce in a St. Louis court.[3] John Tarleton got to the hearings just in time to present his copy of their marriage contract, and the divorce was granted with no division of property.[6] The couple did, however, remain friends.[6]
In 1880, he revisited his land in Erath and Palo Pinto counties. The Native Americans had been supplanted by settlers, whom he paid for the improvements they had made.[6] He had his land surveyed and tried to sell plots, with no success, so he became a rancher, with middling success.
Various sources have given different dates for his death, but they all agree Tarleton died of typhoid fever. The dates given for his death are September 11,[4][6] November 16,[3] and November 26, 1895.[2][7][8] He was initially buried at Pattillo, and was later moved to the college campus where he remained until April 1928, when he was again moved to a triangular park at the southwest edge of the campus.[2]
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