General John Slater Besser
Huntsville
Walker County, Texas
30 43.595' N 95 32.800' W
Directions: Start at the intersection of 9th Street and Avenue I. The Oakwood Cemetery is on the northeast corner of the intersection. The marker is in the cemetery.
Text: A native of Pennsylvania, John Slater Besser was a brigadier general, legislator, and judge in Missouri before moving his family to Texas in 1842. While living in Montgomery and Walker counties, Besser held a number of public offices before and after the Civil War. He served as director and financial agent of the state penitentiary under Governors Bell, Henderson, Pease, Runnels, Houston, Clark, and Lubbock, and was Walker County Judge from 1878 to 1880. Married four times, Besser was the father of nine children born to his first wife, Julia Hampton.