Born in Tennessee, Ellis P. Bean came to Texas with Philip Nolan's mustang hunters in 1800. He was captured by Spanish troops in 1801, and taken to Mexico as a prisoner. In 1810 he was freed in exchange for service to the Royalist Army, but he quickly deserted to the rebels under Morelos. Fifteen years later, Bean returned to the U.S. as a Mexican Colonel to seek aid for the rebel cause. He joined Andrew Jackson's Army at the Battle of New Orleans, but returned to Mexico within the year. In 1816 he barely escaped the Royalists by leaving his wife to flee to the U.S. He married a Tennessean in 1818. They moved to Texas in 1823, where Bean served Mexico as an Indian agent. After Texas Independence, Bean made his home near this site. He disappeared in 1843 to return to Mexico, dying in the home of his first wife in 1846.

Organized in 1881 by circuit rider, Andrew Jackson Potter, who helped firmly establish the Methodist church in West Texas. Before construction of church on this site in 1917, services were held in schoolhouse or under brush arbor 3/4 mi. SW on west bank, Copperas Creek. Building site was donated by J.A. Cowsert. Lumber was hauled here by wagon from Menard. Labor was donated by members and other local residents.

A product of 1870s religious zeal on this Indian-menaced frontier. After flood destroyed area's early community of Ben Ficklin (5 mi.S), closing its Sunday school, this church was organized and chartered by the West Texas Methodist Conference in November of 1882. On this site was erected a forty by sixty-foot frame building with a cupola -- said to be the first Protestant church house between Mason and El Paso. The founding pastor was the rugged frontiersman, Parson Andrew Jackson Potter (1830-1895), succeeded in 1886 by the dynamic Rev. Arthur E. Rector (1855-1955). Rapid growth soon necessitated a twenty-foot addition for nursery and choir loft. The building became a community center for various social and religious occasions. Miss Mary West (later Mrs. J.B. Taylor) organized the first choir. Other leading musicians: Miss Amie Cornick, J.R. Sanders, Mrs. L.B. Horton, Mrs. F.O. Perry, and Mrs. Mary Deal Metz. The frame church was replaced in 1904 by a large masonry building in the square "Akron" style then in vogue. The present Gothic edifice was completed in 1950. Four-story educational building was added, 1962. This church has excelled in education, sacred music, and missionary activities over the years.

Joseph Andrew Jackson Sheffield (1837-1920), his wife Rebecca (1844-1922), and their fourteen children came to this area of Jasper County from Georgia in 1885. They settled near here in an area known as Thickey community and established a large family farm. In 1899 they donated 1.5 acres of land to the community for church and school purposes. The church was named Friendship, and the community also took the new name. The first interment in the Friendship Cemetery occurred in 1899, when the Sheffield's ten-year-old granddaughter, Quebeck Mock, died and was buried on family land. About ten more people were buried in the graveyard prior to its official designation as a cemetery in deed records in 1906.

In addition to Sheffield family members, those interred here include early Jasper County settlers, Texas Rangers, and veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.

Throughout its history, this pioneer cemetery has served citizens from a large area of the county. Containing hundreds of graves, it remains in use and stands as a reminder of the area's early heritage.

South Carolina native Edward H. Tarrant enlisted in the Kentucky Militia in 1814 and served under Gen. Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans. Moving to Tennessee after 1816, he was elected Colonel of the Henry County Militia and served as County Sheriff.

Tarrant arrived in Texas in November 1835, settling in Red River County. He served in the Republic of Texas Congress and became a Brigadier General in the Texas Militia in 1839. He commanded the Texas Rangers at the Battle of Village Creek in present Tarrant County in 1841 and, with George W. Terrell, negotiated treaties with many of the Texas Indian tribes at Bird's Fort in 1843.

Tarrant represented Bowie County at the Annexation Convention of 1845. By February 1846, he had moved to Navarro County, where he became Chief Justice and was elected to the 3rd and 4th Texas Legislatures.

In the 1850s, Tarrant commanded a force of Texas Rangers defending the frontier at Fort Belknap. He died in Parker County in 1858 and was buried there. The next year, his remains were moved to his farm in Ellis County. In 1928, his body was reinterred here by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Tarrant County, created in 1849, was named in his honor.

New York native George G. Alford, an officer in the War of 1812, came to Texas from Missouri in 1836. During the Texas Revolution he served as Gen. Sam Houston's Quartermaster General. Captured by Mexican forces after the was while on a supply trip for the Republic of Texas, he was released by Mexican forces through intervention by the U.S. President, Andrew Jackson. Alford later owned a Houston County plantation and served as Justice of the Peace and County Judge.

Home of the Karankawa Indians granted in part to Stephen F. Austin and to Martin de Leon. Settled 1824-1835 by colonists largely from Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and west of the Lavaca, Mexico. Organized as a municipality December 5, 1835. Named in honor of Andrew Jackson, President of the United States. Created a county March 17, 1836, organized in 1836 with Texana, formerly Santa Anna, county seat; Edna, county seat since 1883. In memory of John McHenry, Francis M. White, James Kerr, F.F. Wells, early settlers.

William Menefee, Elijah Stapp, signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. William Sutherland, marytr of the Alamo; George Sutherland, John S. Menefee, James A. Sylvester, heroes of San Jacinto. Clark L. Owen, Colonel in the Confederate Army, and other pioneers who resided in this county before or directly after the Texas Revolution.

Jackson County: average altitude 75 feet, annual rainfall 37 inches. Soil: black hogwallow, sandy loams, alluvial. Crops and products: cotton, livestock, corn, dairying, vegetables, poultry, pecans, oil and gas.

Born in Tennessee; came to Texas about 1829. Served in the Army of Texas, 1836; brother of Andrew Jackson Sowell, and son of John Sowell, who participated in the Battle of Gonzales; died in 1858.

In 1898 or 1899, Mrs. W.A. Pringle began seeking those in the San Angelo area who might wish to join her family in worship in the Church of Christ tradition. Andrew Jackson McCarty of Austin held a revival in San Angelo in 1900, after which a small group began meeting regularly. They formed the nucleus of what would be the Harris Avenue Church of Christ. In 1901 they purchased a house in which to hold services. Their first minister was T.B. Larimore. The church grew with San Angelo. Larger buildings were erected in 1906 and in 1936. Among the congregation's outreach ministries were local and foreign mission endeavors, which began in the 1940s. The church dedicated a building here on Johnson Street in 1963 and became Johnson Street Church of Christ. The congregation continued with programs of worship and service.

In 1833 early settler Andrew Jackson Jones deeded four acres of land to be used for a church and cemetery. The earliest marked grave in the cemetery dates from that year. After the first church building burned in 1893, the members of Mount Zion Baptist Church met in the nearby Jones School until 1909 when they erected a one-room church building. In 1950 the lumber from the 1909 structure was used to construct the present building. The membership has supported mission work since 1902, and annual brush arbor meetings are traditional.