David Sterling Hughes Darst 1821-1906

David Sterling Hughes Darst (1821-1906), the son of Jacob Calloway Darst (1793-1836); the son of David Darst (1757-1826); the son of Abraham Derst (1725-1772), our Pfeddersheim immigrant. The following appeared in the Gonzales County History, 1986 ...

DARST, DAVID

STERLING HUGHES

David Sterling Hughes Darst was born in Montgomery County, Missouri August 3, 1821, the son of Jacob C. Darst ( December 22, 1793 Tennessee). He arrived in Gonzales with his parents January 8, 1831 from Missouri.

Darst's father Jacob who married Margaret C. Hughes October 3, 1820 was the son of David Darst. Two of David's nine children, Jacob and Abraham, went to Texas with their parents. Abraham married Tabiatha Calloway, granddaughter of Daniel Boone, and settled in Brazoria County. Jacob settled in Gonzales in DeWitt's colony. He was granted in 1831 twenty-four labors of land located on the north side of the Guadalupe River in what was later Guadalupe County and known in 1984 as the Darst Creek oil field.

When the Gonzales cannon was demanded by the Mexicans in September, 1835 Jacob Darst was one of the company of eighteen men who defended it. D.S.H. Darst was fifteen years of age when he accompanied his father to Goliad previous to the surrender of Colonel Fannin. It was that same spring when Jacob answered the call of the Alamo and was killed March 6, 1836. The young Darst along with his mother witnessed the burning of Gonzales by General Sam Houston and with other families joined the Runaway Scrape and stopped at the Trinity River.

Young Darst and his mother returned to Gonzales in 1839 to begin life again. Mrs. Darst died in 1846. In 1840 he participated in the Battle of Plum Creek and was also with the Texas army at San Antonio when that city was captured by the Mexican army in 1842. In 1845 he married Emeline Zumwalt. They had three children: Imogene who married G. W. Betts; John who was killed, in 1888; and James D. Darst. A granddaughter Ornie married George N. Lamkin and lived in the Harwood community. A great-granddaughter Josephine Lamkin Caperton lived in Luling. His only other known descendents were Josephine Caperton's great neice Shirley Ann Hendricks Springs and her two children, Steven Christopher and Jamie Lee Springs, all of Luling.

Darst was a member of the Old School Presbyterian Church, serving for years as ruling elder. In June, 1853 he was one of the co-founders of the Gonzales Inquirer. He served as mayor of Gonzales from 1850-1853, as county treasurer for twelve years and as a trustee of the Gonzales College. His name was listed as a trustee in the first catalogue of the college published for the year 1856-1857. He was the first petitioner to be initiated into the Masonic Lodge after it was organized in Gonzales in 1846. The ceremony was held in the "Little Union Church", the only public meeting place in town. He was also a charter member of the Gonzales Royal Arch Chapter Number 51. In 1847 he joined the Commandery in Austin, later becoming a charter member of the Gonzales Commandery.

Darst was one of the first merchants in Gonzales and in 1860 be built a brick home in the town. The grounds covered eighteen acres and were said to be some of the finest in the area. During the Cival War he was appointed District Confederate States deputy marshal until the end of the war when the office was dissolved. He suffered financial losses as many of his friends did as an aftermath of the Cival War and the Reconstruction period. In 1874 he built a mill and gin on East Avenue. It was later known as the Vrasel Gin and was located where the Boysen Food Market stood in 1984. Darst was one of the men instrumental in bringing the railroad branch line to Gonzales August 9, 1882, contributing $500 toward that venture.

In later years Darst was the person who verified the location where the first shot for Texas Independence was fired on the banks of the Guadalupe River October 2, 1835. The site was marked by a granite monument commemorating the battle and the men who fought there.

He died in Gonzales June 14, 1906 and was buried in the Masonic Cemetery with full Masonic ceremonies.

by Josephine Lamkin Caperton