 |
| Mayor Dr. Paul Meriwether signs the proclamation on Tuesday at City Hall Council Chambers with County Veterans Services Officer Steve Austin. Photo by Martha Austin. |
Following the passing of Mrs. Opal Keesee at the end of 2009, I started serving as the unofficial Titus County Veterans Service Officer. Mrs. Keesee had been the CVSO for 22 years prior to that. I am the fifth CVSO in the history of Titus County.
I was asked by Judy (Broach) Hammonds to join the Titus County Historical Commission. The Historical Commission only had a few interested people and most of them were not native to Titus County. Several were not even native to Texas. It seemed a good idea to join since there are several military statues and monuments on the courthouse grounds having historical significance.
At the next Commission election, Judy became the Chairman of the Historical Commission. Several commission members retired, some moved away, and by attrition, I wound up serving as Vice-Chair of the Historical Commission. Very shortly thereafter, Judy became suddenly ill and died unexpectedly in 2010. I was then thrust into the Chairman position and have served in that capacity ever since then.
What I knew about Titus County History was what I had heard from my family and listening to their stories, and growing up in Titus County. I have done a lot of research since becoming the TCHC Chair. Most of it was done in pursuit of answers to questions for the public and the events or activities of the CVSO and the TCHC.
It was during one of these projects that I discovered there was no record of Titus County ever having its own flag. Once I located a resource that did have information and images of county flags of Texas, I found that only about half of Texas counties had an official flag and several of those were nearly identical. Some were really bizarre, so I set out to design a flag that would be unique and reflect the history of Titus County.
THE FLAG: The blue field and white lone star in the center is symbolic of the early history of the struggle for Texas Independence from Mexico. It also has a mixture of “BONNIE BLUE” AND THE “INDEPENDENCE FLAG” that embraced the Texas Rangers badge with the letters “T-E-X-A-S” AROUND THE STAR. Blue for loyalty and white for integrity.
In 1846 Titus County was organized and carved out of what was then Red River County. Mount Pleasant was officially named as the county seat.
The borders of Titus County around the center star identifies the area known as “TWIX THE CREEKS” which is between Sulphur River and Cypress Creek. Fort Sherman is identified and denotes the area’s first organized settlement in 1838, which was organized for the protection of the local population from Indians and outlaws. The fort was built by Col. William Stout along with a detachment of about 40 Texians. It was named for the Texian general who coined the phrase “REMEMBER THE ALAMO”.
The central faceted star identifies Mount Pleasant and the point where all the facets converge locates the Titus County Courthouse. The five points of the star identifies the early roads for which the first pioneers were responsible. Andrew Jackson Titus established the original road to the river Port of Jefferson.
The Titus County Flag was submitted to the Texas Legislature through the Governor’s office and Sgt. at Arms of the Texas Senate and House of Representatives following the Titus County Commissioner’s approval for adoption on March 14, 2017. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Titus County Judge Brian Lee, and Mount Pleasant Mayor Dr. Paul Meriwether were each presented with one of the smaller versions of the flag.
In March 2017, Titus County Commissioner and Mount Pleasant City Council approved March 14th as Titus County Flag Day, and issued city proclamation and County Commissioner’s Court agenda item approval
No comments:
Post a Comment