Ephraim Merrill Daggett
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QuesterMark
N 32° 45.059 W 097° 19.768
14S E 656500 N 3624915
This marker, next to the Convention Center, recounts the biography of the man who came to be known as "The Father of Fort Worth".
Waymark Code: WM12M6
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 12/26/2006
Views: 28
Index Entry: Daggett, Ephraim Merrill
Address: 9th and Houston St.
City: Fort Worth
County: Tarrant
Subject Codes: BU; CV; ML; OS; PI;
Year Marker Erected: 1993
Designations: na
Marker Location: Corner of 9th & Houston, Ft. Worth
Marker Size: 27" x 42"
Repairs Completed: none
Marker Number: 1490
Marker Text:
(June 3, 1810 - April 19, 1883)
Canadian born Ephraim Merrill Daggett was reared on a farm in Indiana. He traded with the Indians at Fort Dearborn (Chicago) in the early 1830s then moved to Shelby County, Republic of Texas, in 1838. There he and his family became involved in the East Texas Regulator-Moderator feud (1839-1844). He later served as a captain in the Mexican War of 1846.
While serving as state legislator from Shelby County (1851-53), he established a mercantile business and a hotel in the frontier town of Fort Worth. In 1854 he moved his family here and soon thereafter began purchasing large tracts of Tarrant County real estate.
Daggett used his influence as a former legislator to help secure Fort Worth's selection as county seat in 1860. After serving as brigadier general during the Civil War, he engaged in the mercantile and cattle business in Fort Worth.
In 1873 Daggett's likeness was chosen to adorn the city's first seal. His role in bringing the Texas & Pacific Railroad here in 1876, developing a downtown district, and in helping transform Fort Worth from an abandoned military post to a center of commerce earned Daggett renown as "The Father of Fort Worth". He is buried in the city's Pioneer's Rest Cemetery. (1993)
Supplemental plate:
Sponsors: Ephraim M. Daggett Chapter, Sons of the Republic of Texas; Frances Cooke Van Zandt Chapter, Daughters of the Republic of Texas
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