A native of Virginia, came to Texas in 1826. An active participant in the struggle for Texas independence. One of the leaders in Battle of Nacogdoches. Delegate to Consultation, November 3, 1835. Commanded the Nacogdoches Company in storming of Bexar, December 5 to 10, 1835. Signer of Declaration of Independence, March 9, 1836.

Local legend tells of Dr. Asa Hoxey who, celebrating the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836, moved to change the name of Coles settlement to Independence. Actual county records show an 1835 origin for the town of Independence, with C. Baker, J.G.W. Pierson, A.F. Burchard, and R. Stevenson, proprietors. The still-strong Independence Baptist Church was established in 1839 with Pastor T.W. Cox. Local resident Sam Houston was baptized in Little Rocky Creek in 1854. The wealthiest town in Texas by 1845, Independence won the bid for Baylor University, newly chartered by the Republic of Texas. J.B. Root became its first U.S. Postmaster in 1846. By the 1850s Independence had a hotel, jail, stagecoach depot, Masonic lodge, cemetery, and small commercial district. Both the city leaders and Baylor administrators refused to grant right-of-way to the Santa Fe Railroad. By the 1880s, trade was going to competing towns and Independence began to decline. Baylor University moved its schools to Waco and Belton in 1886. By the 1990s, Independence was a rural community with a population of 140. Remaining attractions include the Baptist church and numerous historical sites in the area.

Built 1848. Has hand-hewn cedar in log foundation, ceilings and beams. For 115 years in family of Isham D. Davis, whose wife, Martha, was a daughter of Mathew Caldwell, one of the signers of Texas Declaration of Independence.

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, 1806. Drowned in Galveston, July 11, 1838, and his remains brought by boat up Buffalo Bayou to Houston. His remains interred in this cemetery under the auspices of Temple Lodge No.4. First Masonic funeral ever held in Texas.

Delegate to the Consultation held at San Felipe, 1835. Signer, from Brazoria municipality, of the Texas Declaration of Independence. "Bore himself as a Chief" at San Jacinto. Secretary of State, 1836. Senator in the Congress of Texas, 1836. First Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. A county in Texas was named in his honor.

John Foster was born on May 25, 1757, in South Carolina to William James and Mary (Hill) Foster. Family history indicates he may have served with his brothers in Charleston against a British attack in June 1776. He married Rachel (Gibson), and they had at least six children, four of whom eventually lived in Texas.

About 1781, the Fosters crossed the Appalachians and traveled almost 2,000 miles by flatboat to the Spanish-occupied Natchez District of present-day Mississippi. There, Foster became a substantial landowner and cattleman. After Rachel died, he married Mary (Smith) Kelsey, and of their seven children, three would come to Texas. After Mississippi Territory was created in 1798, Foster opposed the decrees of the appointed governor and petitioned Congress for an elected legislature. He established the town of Washington, and after it became the territorial capital in 1802, helped found Jefferson College.

In 1822, Foster joined his son Randolph in Texas and became one of Stephen F. Austin's "Old Three Hundred" Colonists. In 1824, he received an 11,600-acre grant in what is now Fort Bend County. He is believed to have established a school on his property that eventually became the Foster Community School. On December 25, 1835, John Foster signed the Columbia Resolutions urging Texas' Declaration of Independence from Mexico.

Leaving behind four sons to support the struggle for Texas Independence, Foster went to Wilkinson County, Mississippi, in early 1836 to live in retirement at the home of one of his daughters. He died there on January 26, 1837.

Born in Georgia September 14, 1798; died July 10, 1837. Delegate to the Consultation, 1835; signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, 1836.

Born July 13, 1796; died August 9, 1871. Sheriff in Natchitoches, LA in 1826. One of the leaders in Battle of Nacogdoches. Member of Consultation, 1835. Commanded the Nacogdoches Company in storming of Bexar, 1835. Signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. His wife, Harriett Roberts, born April 7, 1796, died April 5, 1874.

Opposed Bradburn at Anahuac 1832. Member of the Consultation at San Felipe in 1835. Signer of the Declaration of Independence, 1836. First Sheriff of Harris County, 1837 to 1840. City Alderman in Houston, 1840. Married to Eliza Belnap, February 2, 1839. Died in Houston, 1846.