Tucked away in a quiet
corner of Round Rock is an old home which has stood
virtually unchanged for decades. The Barker-Porter
house is a fine example of a vanished time in local
history and architecture. The house is significant
not only for its architectural features, but for the
people who lived there. It is an important cultural
resource worthy of historic designation.
The settlement that
became Round Rock began to take shape in the 1840s.
Individual settlers along Brushy Creek began to
duster around a unique limestone formation in the
creek. This landmark served a useful purpose because
it marked a fordable pass along the waterway; if the
rock could not be seen, the water was too deep and
swift to cross safely.
In time, the settlement
could boast mills, limestone quarries, stagecoach
stops and churches, plus houses and stores. A post
office was secured in 1851, first named Brushy Creek
and changed to Round Rock three years later. Named
for the limestone outcrop, the town was now
officially on the map. [1]
Soon, Round Rock became
known for its fine schools. The first school in the
county was a log cabin built in 1848 about a mile
above the Rock. An 1863 state law prohibited the
sale or transport of liquor within a four-mile
radius of the school at Round Rock. In 1867 the
Greenwood Masonic Institute was established,
securing the town's place in the educational history
of Texas. In its day, it became known as the finest
school of higher education between the colleges at
Salado and San Antonio. [2]
The town grew steadily as
the years passed, increasing from a handful of
families to a few hundred people over 20 years. By
this time, besides the underlying ranching and
farming economy, this section of Williamson County
became known for its schools and limestone quarries.
It is from this era that we find an extant house,
virtually frozen in time.
The home was built at
least by 1873, if not a few years before. It is a
center passage style stone house with one story. It
is three rooms across and one room deep, and faces
north along an old road in Old Round Rock which,
like the house, has remained quiet and virtually
unchanged over the years.
Tile center room measures
11 by 16 feet, while the two side rooms are 16 feet
square in a hall-and-parlor arrangement. There are
exterior chimneys at both ends, approximately 16
feet high. The construction material throughout is
locally quarried limestone, with blocks typically 12
by 15 inches on a face, about 16 inches deep. Cream
colored limestone is used throughout the house,
including the exterior, interior and foundation
material. The ashlar limestone faces are chiseled.
The mortar extends out from the rock, which is a
feature sometimes attributed to comparatively
affluent families. [3]
The doors and windows are
capped with segmental relieving arches of smaller
limestone pieces. The door jams appear to be
original, as do the floors which include square
nails (these are also found in the ceilings, which
feature cedar timbers). The wood sash windows are
six over six panes. [4]
The home has a
single-door primary entry with transom and
sidelights. A gable style roof tops gable end
treatments that are the same limestone type as the
wall surface. The corrugated tin roof with box eaves
covers parts of the original cedar shingles. The
stone fence in front was added in 1982, Made of
stones from the grounds. The home is a good example
of
nineteenth-century stone
vernacular architecture in Texas. It also ties in
with the very history of the town. [5]
The land on which the
house was built is a part of the Jacob Harrell
survey, originally part of two tracts totaling 8
acres passed from father Jacob (1804-1853) to son
Anderson J. Harrell (1823-1874). (Anderson served as
county clerk and chief justice of Travis County in
the 1840s, and drowned in the Colorado River in
1874) On March 30, 1858, Anderson deeded a 4.65-acre
tract to his sister Emma (born 1843), wife of John
B. Napier whom she married February 24, 1858. J. B.
was a merchant and the first secretary of Round
Rock's Masonic Lodge, founded that same year. Emma
in turn deeded the lot to John W. Ledbetter in Apr
1863. Ledbetter (1829-1890) was a Methodist circuit
rider, and left an indelible mark on Round Rock. He
and much of his family stayed here the rest of their
lives. Ledbetter is the man for whom the street that
passes the house is named (1113 Ledbetter). He was
also the first of five generations to live in Round
Rock, and he, his wife Fannie E. (1835-1918) and
their son John W. Jr. (1864-1906) are buried in the
historic Round Rock Cemetery, which itself is a few
hundred yards from the house. The Reverend's
grandson, J. W. (Wallace) Ledbetter III (1896-1968)
owned the Alcove a popular business, was president
of the Old Settlers Association, and served for many
years as postmaster and as a school board member.
[6]
The land changed hands
from Reverend Ledbetter to G. Dallas Mason in Jul
1870, then from Mason to Henry H. Tisdale (born
1846) and on to J. R. Simonton in 1871. A promissory
note from Simonton to Nathan Harris (born 1849) in
Jan 1873 is the first transaction to mention
specifically the house on the lot, being a note for
$369 in gold dollars, 2 1/2 % interest due in one
year. Therefore the house was most probably built
while the property was owned by J. R. Simonton. [7]
In May 1873 Simonton sold
the property to E. B. Barker. E. B. (1835-1910) and
his wife, Mary Elizabeth Harvey (1838-1897), were
married on February 2, 1857. The Barkers lived in
the home during the winter, so that their children
could attend school in Round Rock. E. B. and his
brother Calvin (born 1824) were sons of Jesse Barker
(1805-1846), a member of Stephen F. Austin's fourth
colony. Jesse received a Mexican land grant of 1,200
acres along Brushy Creek in 1832. His sons claimed
the land in 1858, settling around Rice's Crossing
about 20 miles below Round Rock (in 1978 the farm of
Mahon Garry, Sr. (1903-1995), E. B.'s grandson, was
added to the Texas Family Land Heritage Registry).
[8]
In 1873 E. B. brought his
seven children and pregnant wife Mary to the house
in Round Rock for the winter school term. School
lasted five or six months, during the off-season for
planting or harvesting crops. In September of that
year their son Dudley was born in the house. He grew
up to become a noted Texas lawman.
Dudley Barker (1873-1952)
joined the Texas Rangers in 1896, serving three
years in Company B under Captain Bill McDonald.
Barker helped end the San Saba Mob War in 1897-92,
dispersing the secret vigilante society that cost
the lives of 43 men in that county over two years.
In San Saba Dudley met and married Lilly Campbell
(1880-1964), and the two moved to West Texas. Dudley
was sheriff of Pecos County for 24 years, and has
been called "the Real Law West of the Pecos." He
amassed a legend as a no-nonsense lawman who shot
first (with deadly accuracy) and asked questions
later. The best chronicling of Dud Barker's career
comes from Olan George's book, Roundup of Memories.
After his term as sheriff, Barker became a rancher
in Sanderson and Alpine. In 1928, at the age of 55,
he enlisted as a Special Ranger serving the local
cattlemen, serving without compensation until 1933.
His 32 years in law enforcement helped to civilize
the state. On his 67th birthday, Dudley returned to
his birthplace and childhood home, leaving a note to
that effect on an interior wall. The autograph is
still visible: [9]
Dud Barker
was horned in this room Sept. 3, 1873.
Today is "
"
", 1940.
The Barker children were:
Robert Edgar (1858-1938), James Euphrates
(1860-1952), John Thomas (1862-1938), Ruffus L.
(1862-1930), Sallie Appleton (1864-1953, married Ben
Darlington), Jackson L. (1868-1893), Emery Taylor "Emzy"
(1870-1930), Dudley Snyder (1873-1952), Eddie
(1877-1877), and Ada (1882-1974, married Bernard
Garry).
In 1880, E. B. Barker
sold the house to Dr. Redding Vandergriff, a
practicing physician whose family included his wife
Evaline and children Ella and Redding J. A. Jr.
Further transactions through the years included:
Evaline and son J. A.
Vandergriff to John W. Thompson [Jan 1906], who died
the following year; Sam and Mattie [widow Thompson]
Wagner to Will J. Stewart [Jan 1917];
In Aug 1924, Will J.
Stewart to James E. Meeks (1871-1963) and his wife
Amanda (18704951), who are both buried in RR
Cemetery; J. E. Meeks to Estaban Ramirez [10 Nov
19281; and Ramirez to Arnold C. Davis [1939], who
left to serve in World War II. [10]
By 1942, the property was
vacant, and remained so until 1970, when Dr. Jim and
Betty Porter bought the house from the heirs of
Davis, and proceeded to stabilize and restore the
structure.
Betty Porter has been
presented the Local Legend award by the Round Rock
city council and Historic Preservation Commission.
She directed the Sesquicentennial musical drama
"We're All Texans Now" and the Sam Bass Shootout for
Frontier Days for 20 years. When she came to Texas
in 1952, Mrs. Porter discovered she had three
branches of her family tree from early Texas: the
Breedings, who came in 1832, the O'Bars from 1837,
and the Sharps from 1844.
Upon moving to Round Rock
in December 1967, Betty and Dr. Porter lived at the
St. Charles Hotel on Chisholm Trail. After
inspecting several properties for possible
restoration, the couple chose the structure now
referred to as the Barker-Porter home. Though the
house is close to the old road to Bagdad and Burnet,
at that time it was barely visible because of
unbelievably thick brush, weeds, and vines.
The native limestone of
the house reflects the natural beauty of the
environment and the skill of the early artisans.
Restoration work continued for many months. The
nearly collapsed wood-framed kitchen and porch area
attached to the basic structure was enclosed for
living space. It was built with 1" x 14" lumber from
an old house in downtown Round Rock. The cistern by
the house is in remarkably good shape. Few examples
of these old rock cisterns remain in the area, and
this one is in excellent condition.
On the southwest corner
of the grounds can be found the remnants of an old
outhouse, covered with wooden shingles. Also, near
the house and partly covered with vines of ivy is an
old millstone from a long-forgotten mill on Brushy
Creek. To this day, bits and pieces of pottery,
arrowheads, cups and utensils dot the surface after
hard rains saturate the property. [11]
This home, a fine and
uncompromised example of local historic
architecture, is one of the best-preserved
structures in Round Rock. And beyond its
architectural value, the home reflects the citizens
who have lived there over the decades. The history
of the house is interwoven with the very fabric of
the Round Rock.
Researched and written
by:
Bob Brinkman
Dr. Jim Porter
Betty Porter
Round Rock, Texas
Williamson County 
