The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 55, July 1951 - April, 1952 Page: 252
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
The remainder of his property in the United States was willed
to the school at Stephenville, according to the following pro-
visions:
... I desire and direct that with such funds my said Trustees shall
erect, endow and maintain in the city of Stephenville in Erath
County, Texas, an Institution of learning to be known as "The John
Tarleton College" and to be maintained for the education of such
children, resident citizens of said Erath County, over six and under
eighteen years of age, of good moral character and unable to educate
themselves as my said Trustees may select. And I desire and direct
that said funds shall be so divided that the interest upon the portion
not used in construction of the buildings, shall alone or in connection
with any funds derived from tuition or any other source maintain
such institution of learning without having to draw upon the prin-
cipal, which I desire to be held as a perpetual fund for the main-
tenance of the said institution.48
The Stephenville school opened its doors on September 3,
1899, with W. H. Bruce as president. In 1917 the college became
a part of the state system, $175,000 was raised to pay off debts
of the school, and its original endowment of $85,ooo was trans-
ferred to the state; the school was named John Tarleton Agricul-
tural College and was operated as a branch of the Agricultural
and Mechanical College of Texas. In 1949 when its name was
changed to Tarleton State College, the school had seventy-five
members on the faculty and 1,152 students.44
Even in death John Tarleton did not find the peace he had
searched for all his life. His expressed desire to be buried on
his own land was disregarded, and his body was placed in the
Patillo cemetery.45 In April, 1926, Ben Compton, Joe Lockhart,
J. C. George, and a negro man went to Patillo to remove the
remains to the college campus. Compton built a sheet iron case
around the casket, and the body was hauled to the campus on a
wagon and re-interred at night without ceremony." When the
college began to expand, it became necessary to move Tarleton's
Reformatory, Knox County Industrial School, The John Tarleton Institute, 1895-
z939 (Knoxville, 1939).
4aErath County Records, Vol. 78, p. 68.
44Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide (Dallas, 1949), 420.
"SMrs. Sallie Mothershead, personal interview.
46Ben Compton, personal interview.252
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 55, July 1951 - April, 1952, periodical, 1952; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101139/m1/300/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.