A native of Illinois, Darius H. Edens moved to Texas in 1831. He served in a Texas Army infantry unit commanded by Thomas J. Rusk in 1836. A surveyor by trade, he worked in present Houston and Anderson counties. He and partner James E. Box platted the town of Palestine, where he later owned a store and was elected Anderson County's first chief justice. After a brief foray to California during the 1849 gold rush, he returned to Texas and settled at Augusta. He and his wife, Nancy Rice, operated the Augusta Stagecoach Station and Inn on the road between Rusk and Crockett.