Biography
of Ephraim M. Daggett
The Handbook of Texas Online.
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/DD/fda3.html
by Carolyn Hyman
DAGGETT, EPHRAIM M.
(1810-1883). Ephraim M. Daggett, merchant, legislator, and early promoter of
Fort Worth, was born in Upper Canada on June 3, 1810. The family moved to
Indiana in 1820 and in 1830 settled in Chicago, where in 1833 Daggett became an
Indian trader.
In April 1840 the Daggetts
moved to Shelby County, Texas, where they participated as Regulators in the
Regulator-Moderator War. At the
beginning of the Mexican War Daggett joined Col. George T. Wood's regiment as a
second lieutenant, but he was
At the close of the war
Daggett returned to Shelby County, which he represented in the state
legislatures of 1851 and 1853. He became interested in West Texas, however,
after a trip there in 1849, and in 1854 he settled in Tarrant County. He opened
a store in Fort Worth and worked for Fort Worth to replace Birdville as county
seat.
When the Texas and Pacific
Railway planned its line through Fort Worth, Daggett donated ninety-six acres
for a depot and tracks. After the arrival of the railroad Daggett devoted most
of his time to the promotion of Fort Worth. In 1878 he ran unsuccessfully for
Congress on the Greenback ticket.
He was twice married. He and
his first wife, the former Pheniba Strauss, had one son. His second wife was the
former Caroline Norris Adams. Daggett died in Fort Worth on April 19, 1883.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Stanley Farrington, "A Texas Giant," Junior Historian, March 1945.
William S. Speer and John H. Brown, eds., Encyclopedia of the New West (Marshall, Texas: United States Biographical Publishing, 1881; rpt., Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1978).
John Henry Brown, Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas (Austin: Daniell, 1880; reprod., Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1978).