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    SUBMITTED PHOTO Scott Johnson,Jic Clubb and Alan Marburger manuver the headstone into the museum.
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    SUBMITTED PHOTO The de Cordova Headstone.
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    SUBMITTED PHOTO The image of de Cordova is of a painting based on the only photograph and made into .a lithograph

Wimberley’s original visionary

Texas legend Jacob de Cordova’s headstone finds Wimberley home

Sometimes, pieces of history fall through the cracks.

After decades of sitting on a back porch broken and busted, the headstone of one of the pioneers of Texas has been restored and made its way to the Wimberley Valley Museum.

Jacob de Cordova achieved incredible feats for the early part of Texas history, prior to the Civil War, but in the end it was his loyalty to Texas and financial support of the Confederacy that brought him down. Still, the man left his mark on the state both figuratively and literally. He produced the first map of the state of Texas, founded the city of Waco and as a cartographer named many of the state’s natural features – potentially even Jacob’s Well.

De Cordova’s Texas roots began in Galveston before he became one of the first elected officials for the newly formed state of Texas in Houston. All the way, he speculated in Texas land –lots of it – and at one time owned the most land in the state with more than a million of acres of Texas in 1858.

Less than a decade later, he lost almost everything because he refused payment from mortgages on land he had sold until after the Civil War instead of foreclosing on properties. Being loyal to Texas, he had heavily invested in Confederate bonds also, according to local volunteer and de Cordova historian, Jic Clubb.

Jic Clubb, a retired Exhibits Director at UT’s Blanton Museum, got involved with the Wimberley Institute of Cultures and the Winters-Wimberley House in which he helped design new exhibits in the Wimberley Valley Museum. Saving a part of history, Jic, and local volunteers Alan Marburger and Scott Johnson help set the headstone for future generations, to be seen on exhibit at the museum.

The headstone was the original head stone of de Cordova; a flood of Lake Whitney in Kimball, north of Waco (which he also helped found) washed it downstream. De Cordova and his wife Rebecca were re-interred in the Texas State Cemetery.

But the man’s vision set the tone for Texas’ development before the Civil War and a lot after. “He was known as the Pied Piper of Texas…responsible for more settlers than Stephen F. Austin,” Clubb said. He drew the first maps of Texas; he was an excellent cartographer and he travelled all around the state, alone in his carriage at times, to map its features.

Born in Jamaica the son of a Sephardic rabbi, he could read or write five different languages, including Hebrew, was the translator for the Texas Land Office where grants were written in archaic Spanish, taught himself to print and was the founder of a few newspapers and an author. All this and yet, he was plagued by poor breathing his entire life, probably tuberculosis, the reason he moved to the drier climate of Texas.

He went on the lecture circuit, trying to encourage people to settle and buy land in Texas, lecturing on the East Coast and even in England. He not only was a cartographer with great maps but also recorded the flora and fauna of Texas and he gave observations on how to be a settler in the new land. He travelled far and wide the throughout the state.

He called himself the Wanderer and built one of his homes, Wanderer’s Retreat in Seguin. His landholdings and his business dealings were extensive, so extensive in fact, according to Clubb, “it took sixteen years to clear his estate.”

Although a wheeler and dealer, he had a good heart and was charitable towards his fellow man and those in need. The philanthropic de Cordova was a member of the Oddfellows fraternal organization in Texas, and formed a few chapters of the organization.

The Oddfellows organization was formed to help man in acts of charity and friendship. He established chapters of the Oddfellows in Texas and each chapter would receive the lithograph of de Cordova.

The de Cordova lithograph was not a photograph, as many might think, it looks like an early photograph, but in reality it is an artist’s interpretation of the earlier photograph (only one in existence) taken when de Cordova was a young man. The de Cordova painting was then made into a lithograph, making it look like an early photograph.

There’s also a tale about Jacob’s Well being named by Suzie Brooks Danforth. She named the well because of the Bible story, but with de Cordova in attendance. De Cordova did undoubtedly visit Jacob’s Well, being interested in topographical features and was situated only 30 miles away in Seguin.

Dr. James M Day, Professor Emeritus at University of Texas at El Paso and one time director of the Texas State Archives advocated a different theory. Day authored a book and a thesis on de Cordova, and believed that De Cordova was the one who had named Jacob’s Well, after himself.

Day’s theory simply stated is that De Cordova was the land speculator for all of Texas and especially around Seguin. He had named a lot of topographical places in Texas and there are a lot of features named Rebecca, after de Cordova’s wife. There is Rebecca Springs in Comal County and Rebecca Creek is in Blanco County.

The memory of de Cordova’s name might not be remembered very well, but his names for the land’s features in Texas will be.

How the headstone

arrived in Wimberley

Dr. Day found out, after a flood on Lake Whitney, that de Cordova and his wife would be re-interred at the Texas State Cemetery. That cemetery would not need the original headstone of de Cordova. Workers had already dug up the grave and discarded the original headstone in the process. They just stacked the stones of the headstone on top of each other. When Day drove up to the original gravesite, he had found the headstone in rubble.

The re-internment workers damaged the headstone and it was now in seven pieces. Day took the headstone home, as it was now useless to the state. He kept the headstone and pieces on his back porch for years. This was in the early 1960s.

His son, Joe Day would tell him, “That’s weird to have headstone on your porch.” When Joe moved to Wimberley, off of Mt. Sharp, his father gave him the headstone, saying it was more at home in Wimberley than a back porch. After reading about de Cordova and historical significance to this area, he told his dad, “It is not as weird as it used to be,” according to Joe Day.

Wanting to keep the stone in the area, it was Joe Day’s choice to give it to Bill Johnson and the Wimberley community. Bill and son Scott put the headstone in concrete so the seven pieces of it would not get lost or separated. Finally it was moved to an area in front of the Community Center and honored with a surrounding cemetery fence donated by Lisa Keifer of Star Antiques.

Recently Boy Scout Edward Timmerman as his Eagle Scout project organized and helped with the marble stone’s transformation. It was cleaned with baking soda, which made the features stand out. The concrete that was added to stabilize the artifact was cut down to size, in order to fit inside the museum.

It then moved inside at the Winter-Wimberley House, home of the Wimberley Valley Museum. And now, like its namesake, has a permanent home and like the original de Cordova, although it has travelled around the state, it was finally laid to permanent rest.

Wimberley View

P.O. Box 49
Wimberley, TX 78676
Phone: 512-847-2202
Fax: 512-847-9054