Darden, Fannie Baker (1829–1890)

Fannie Amelia Dickson Baker Darden was born in Autauga County, Alabama. She was the daughter of General Moseley Baker and his wife, Eliza. Her family moved to Texas during her childhood. She married William John Darden in 1847 and had two sons.

Photograph courtesy of Nesbitt Memorial Library, Columbus, Texas.

She was an accomplished painter and taught art at Colorado College before the Civil War. She was also a distinguished poet and known as the Poet Laureate of Columbus, Texas. She wrote poetry for newspapers in Columbus, Galveston, Houston, and New Orleans. One of her poems reflected her love and fierce pride for Texas, as shown in Loved Texas: “When the red Rio Grande flows swiftly and proud, where the mountains stand wrapped in their tissuey clouds, ...