Milton Garrett York, Sr.

Milton Garrett York was born in East Texas in San Augustine County on September 5, 1843. After the death of his parents, Aaron and Ruth Lucas York, he went to live with an uncle in Arkansas. He returned to Texas about 1860 and briefly taught school in the Evergreen community in what is now Lee County. After serving in the Confederate army from 1861 to 1865, he returned to the area and married Matilda Heck. They settled on land along the Brenham-Austin Trace and lived there until moving to Giddings about 1880. A member of the J. G. Giddings Masonic Lodge, York strongly supported education for local children. After Lee County was created in 1874 from parts of Bastrop, Burleson, Washington, and Fayette counties, he was appointed with C. Perry, A. P. Gaines, Solomon Fehr, and O. G. Jones to help organize the new county. He later was elected county commissioner of Precinct 1, and his public service continued with his election to the Texas House of Representatives in 1890, where he represented Lee and Burleson counties during a two-year term. When he died in 1911, he was survived by his wife and six children, and his role in early Lee County history remained an important part of the area's heritage.

Giddings, Texas · United States