Austin
Travis County, Texas
30 26.531' N 97 40.762' W

Text: Included as part of a 320-acre land grant awarded to J.P. Whelin in payment for his service to the Republic of Texas Army, this property has had a long and varied history. Soon after he was granted the land, Whelin sold it to Nathaniel C. Raymond, who in turn sold it to John M. Gault two years later. Gault built a log cabin on the Whelin grant in the 1850s, and he and his family established a farm. In 1855 they purchased adjoining land from Captain Nelson Merrill and soon thereafter built a larger home on that tract of land. Gault died about 1865 and was buried in Merrilltown Cemetery. The homestead property remained in his family until 1892, when it was sold to William and Edna Graves. They maintained the Gault homestead as tenant property for a number of years, during which the original cabin was enlarged with a board-and-batten addition. R.C. Cox acquired the property in 1929, and his family lived in the cabin through the following decade. After a succession of owners, the Gault homestead became part of a modern housing development in the 1980s. It remains as a reminder of the Merrilltown community and of the county’s early rural heritage.