History of Texas, together with a biographical history of the cities of Houston and Galveston; containing a concise history of the state, with protraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named cities, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families, Part 35

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing co., 1895
Number of Pages: 1532

USA > Texas > Harris County > Houston > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of the cities of Houston and Galveston; containing a concise history of the state, with protraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named cities, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 35
USA > Texas > Galveston County > Galveston > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of the cities of Houston and Galveston; containing a concise history of the state, with protraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named cities, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 35

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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Richard Strong, one of the earliest ancestors of Sarah Strong, was born in county Caer- narvon, Wales, in 1561; he died in Taunton, Somersetshire, England, in 1613. John Strong, son of Richard Strong, was born in Taunton, England, in 1605. March 20, 1630, he sailed on board the ship "Mary and John" for America, arriving at Nan- tasket, Massachusetts, May 30, 1630. He became a conspicuous figure in the history of Dorchester, Hingham and Taunton, Massachusetts., Windsor, Connecticut, and Northampton, Massachusetts. His first wife, whom he married in England, died on the passage, or soon after landing, leaving two children. He was married a second time, in December, 1630, to Abigail Ford, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, with whom he lived fifty-eight years; she died July 6, 1688, at the age of eighty years; she was the mother of sixteen children. John Strong died April 14, 1699, aged ninety-four years. Sarah Strong, born April 6, 1758, was the fourth in descent from John Strong. She married Solomon Jones, and Anson Jones was the youngest of their family of seven daughters and three sons. Sol- omon Jones was in the service of the United States during the war of the Revolu- tion, and again volunteered in 1812. All of his brothers served in the first war with England, and two of them were captured by the enemy, but survived their imprisonment with all its attendant horrors.

Anson Jones received his elementary education in the schools of the neighborhood of his home, and later was a pupil in the school at Great Barrington, taught by the Rev. Mr. Griswold. At Lenox Academy he began the study of the languages and higher mathematics, and after leaving school studied with his book on the bench before

him while working at harnessmaking. Hav- ing received a thorough training in English and a tolerable knowledge of Latin and Greek, he went, in 1817, to Litchfield to begin the study of medicine, somewhat against his own inclinations, but with the approval of his father and elder sisters. After overcoming many obstacles he com- pleted the course of study, and in 1820 was licensed to practice by the Oneida Medical Society. He began the practice of his pro- fession at Bainbridge, Chenango county, New York, but without success, as an older and experienced physician was located there. After an effort to establish himself in the drug business at Norwich, and an attempt to secure a practice in Philadelphia, both of which endeavors ended in failure, he engaged in teaching. In the fall of 1824, upon the invitation of Mr. Lowry, the American Con- sul to La Guayra, he sailed for South America, remaining in Venezuela until June, 1826, when he returned to Philadelphia.

In the winter of 1826-7 he attended a course of lectures in Jefferson Medical Col- lege, and in March, 1827, received the de- gree of Doctor of Medicine from that insti- tution. He continued to reside in Phila- delphia five years; while there he joined the I. O. O. F. in 1827, was admitted a men- ber of the Grand Lodge in 1829, and was elected Grand Master June 13, 1831. In 1849 he writes : "On the twenty-ninth of March, 1829, I organized, joined and put in operation Philadelphia Lodge, No. 13, of the city of Philadelphia, framing its consti- tution, by-laws, and rules of order, which are still continued unchanged and have been the model for the order everywhere." In October, 1832, he went to New Orleans, and, after a disastrous mercantile venture in that city, resumed the practice of his pro-

Anson alones.

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fession. Through enforced idleness he in- dulged extravagantly in drink and gaming, which habits he laments very pathetically in his private papers. In the autumn of 1833 he sailed with Captain Brown, of the Sabine, from New Orleans, and arrived at Velasco, October 29, of that year. Up to this per- iod of his life his career had been one of continued disappointment and of struggles against poverty and adversity. When he landed in Brazoria he had $17 in money and a small stock of medicines, and owed more than $2,000, chiefly a security debt, every dollar of which he afterward paid. He immediately entered upon the practice of his profession and was very successful, visiting patients within a radius of forty miles.

To Dr. Jones, and five of his brethren, John A. Wharton, Asa Brigham, James A. E. Phelps, Alexander Russell and J. P. Caldwell, belongs the honor of instituting the first lodge of Freemasons in Texas. The first meeting was held in a private burying- ground near Brazoria, and from the Grand Lodge of Louisiana the charter was obtained for Holland Lodge, No. 36, A. F. and A. M., which was opened December 27, 1835. Death and war played sad havoc with the little organization, and the last meeting was held in February, 1836, when the lodge was closed until October, 1837. It was re- opened by Dr. Jones in the city of Houston, and he was afterward chosen the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Texas. He was also identified with the Odd Fellows of Texas, and was Grand Master of that order in 1852.

At the close of the year 1834 he found himself well established andin possession of a practice worth $5,000 a year. In 1835 the difficulties between Texas and Mexico began

to assume a serious character, and Dr. Jones became an anxious observer of the political aspect of events occurring in his adopted country. He accompanied Padre Apulche, a Mexican of some distinction who had recently come from his own country, to San Felipe, where the convention was be- ing held for the purpose of consulting upon the affairs of the people. He became con- vinced of the unfaitlifulness of the Padre, notwithstanding his assertions to the con- trary, and prevented his advice being fol- lowed by the convention. His opinion was that history would not be able to say much of the consultation or the provisional govern- ment it established, though these had the effect of precipitating the final and probably inevitable result of an early seperation from Mexico. He was satisfied that the best and only course was an unconditional de- claration of independence. At a meeting called in December, 1835, in the munici- palty of Brazoria, Dr. Jones was chairman of the committee which drew up resolutions which declared in favor of "the total and absolute independence of Texas, and that the people are at liberty to establish such form of government as, in their opinion, may be necessary to promote their pros- perity." These resolutions were the first on the subject of total separation from Mexico ever passed in Texas. Santa Anna and the Mexican people were thoroughly aroused, and seeing the storm approaching, Dr. Jones made his preparations accordingly. Immediately following the fall of the Alamo he enlisted as a private in Captain Colder's company, and at the urgent request of his inany friends and former patients he con- sented to take the post of Surgeon of the Second Regiment, upon the condition that he should be premitted to resign as soon as

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the necessity of his service ceased, and that he should be permitted to hold his "rank" as a private in the line. The success which he met was phenomenal, not a single mem- ber of the Second Regiment dying from the time of his appointment until the battle of San Jacinto. He was appointed Judge Advocate General the 2d day of April, and held that position until September, 1837, when he entered Congress.

On the morning of the day the army left the camp at Harrisburg a general order was issued for a detail to stay with the sick. Dr. Jones was of the number, but resolved to disobey the order, and after attending to his daily routine he joined the army. As a consequence he participated in the battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. Having re- signed the office of Surgeon to the Second Regiment, he was appointed Assistant Sur- geon General and Medical Purveyor to the army, May 10, and was sent to New Orleans to procure supplies. He held this office un- til the close of the year 1836, wlien he re- signed, and prepared to resume thie prac- tice of his profession. However, at the solicitation of his friends he consented to become a candidate for Representative in the Second Congress, and after a some- what heated campaign, was elected, taking his seat at the called session in September, 1837. He uniformly resisted the issue of paper money beyond what had been author- · ized by the previous acts of Congress, and vehemently opposed a bill "for issuing promissory notes of the Government for $3,000,000 or upward." In the spring of 1838 he endeavored to procure an appro- priation of the public lands for the pur- poses of education, and made a report to Congress on the subject.

In 1836-7 Texas was suppliant to the

United States for annexation, but as Mr. Wharton informed Dr. Jones, "was rudely spurned by President Jackson." In 1837-8 she was again suppliant to President Van Buren, but her request for admission was promptly and firmly rejected. Indignant at the position Texas occupied, Dr. Jones introduced April 23, 1838, in the House a resolution authorizing the President to with- draw the proposition of annexation to the United States of North America from be- fore the Government at Washington. The resolution was a failure, so he urged Presi- dent Houston to withdraw the proposition, but he declined. Upon his appointment as Minister to the United States, he made it one of the conditions of his acceptance that this proposition should be withdrawn; and after his presentation to the President he lost no time in declaring the independence and retrieving the dignity of the country he represented.

While in the city of New York in April, 1839, Dr. Jones addressed a letter to the Hon. Christopher Hughes, Charge d' Af- faires of the United States to Sweden and Norway, soliciting his good offices in behalf of Texas with influential men of England and France, with a view of obtaining the recognition of her independence by those powers. This was among the first steps taken by Dr. Jones in that course which ultimately led to the settlement of the diffi- culties between Texas and Mexico, and the annexation of Texas to the United States. After nearly a year in Washington city he was recalled by President Lamar, and upon his arrival at Galveston learned that he had been elected to the Senate for a term of two years, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of the Hon. William H. Whar- ton. At the close of the session he aban-

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doned the idea of resuming his practice at Brazoria.

Dr. Jones was married at Austin, Texas, May 17, 1840, to Mrs. Mary McCrory, née Smith. Her father was a native of Virginia, and her mother was born in Tennessee. She was born in Lawrence county, Arkan- sas, July 24, 1819, and was in her fifteenth year when the family removed to Texas. They were living in Brazoria county at the time of the invasion of Texas by the Mexi- cans, and were forced to flee for safety be- fore the invading enemy. After the battle of San Jacinto they went to Houston, and occupied one of the first houses built in that place. Mrs. Jones' first husband died soon after their marriage, in 1837. Possessing great energy and force of character, benevo- lent and charitable to a high degree, she has made warm and devoted friends wherever she has lived. She is a type of those noble women, who, in the infancy of Texas, en- dured with their fathers, husbands, brothers and sons the perils and sufferings incident to laying in the wilderness the foundation of an empire. She is still living, and re- sides in Houston, of which city she saw the feeble beginning.

In the fall of 1840 Dr. Jones took his seat in the Fifth Congress, and was soon afterward elected President pro tem. of the Senate. He steadily opposed the financial policy and many of the leading measures of President Lamar's administration. In April, 1839, he wrote: "Every Texas shin-plas- ter is a fraud and a national crime, and all confidence in either the wisdom or honesty of the government must soon be lost." In December, 1841, when Secretary of State, he wrote: "In conversation with the Presi- dent and his cabinet, I expressed the opinion that our scale of operations was too large,

and that it was a great fault, thinking and acting as a great nation, when we were but a first-rate county; that there were counties in the United States ahead of us in wealth and population, and that we were about to realize the fable of the frog and the ox- and burst." His election to the office of Secretary of State occurred in 1841, and in December of that year he assumed the duties of the position. On the 22d of the month was held a cabinet council, to which he submitted his opinion on the financial and war policy of the country; he made a clear statement of the condition of affairs, and outlined a course that would restore Texas to a position of financial independ- ence. His views upon the Indian question are thus expressed: "The Indians should be conciliated by every means in our power. It is much cheaper and more humane to purchase their friendship than to fight them. A small suin will be sufficient for the former; the latter would require millions."

" In the commencement of 1842," wrote Dr. Jones, "Mr. Tyler being President of the United States, the subject of the annex- ation of Texas was brought to his attention by Colonel Reilly, acting under instructions from me as Secretary of State. * * But Mr. Tyler repulsed our advances with the same coldness and apathy which General Jackson and Mr. Van Buren had evinced to the measure, and continued to maintain this attitude of indifference or hostility to it until the close of 1843."

In 1844 Dr. Jones removed with his family to Washington, on the Brazos, and in March, 1845, occupied his new home, " Barrington," named after his native town in Massachussetts. There he resided until within a few days of his death.

As early as 1837 Dr. Jones had adopted

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and maintained decided opinions upon three great and vital questions of administrative policy: 1, annexation; 2, a more economi- cal administration of the government; and 3, a defensive and conciliatory attitude toward Mexico, and peace with the Indians. In the fall of 1843 he was nominated Presi- dent of the Republic, and September 2, 1844, he was elected to this office by a majority of 1,400 votes. He was inaugu- rated President of the Republic, December 9, 1844, but in his address made no allusion to the subject of annexation. In his private papers he wrote: "I had a right to be silent, and the grave keeps not its counsels more safely than I did mine. I saw no object but the best interest of my country, and I steadily pursued that object, as I think is now (1847) demonstrated by results. * * Frankness is a quality I very much admire, but I did not esteem it the province of Texas to read other nations a homily on the subject by affording exclusive ex- amples of it to them. She had suffered sufficiently from ten years' war with a power one hundred times more populous than her- self, and stood in need of all the advantages which the proper maintenance of a prudent and discreet silence on the part of her chief executive officer could give her in relation to matters affecting in some degree her very existence." In his inaugural address he stated the following as some of the objects he conceived to be of importance to the welfare of the country: The maintenance of the public credit and the preservation of the national faith; a reduction of govern- mental expenses; the entire abolishment of paper money issued by government, corpor- ations or individuals; a tariff for revenue, with incidental protection and encourage- ment to agricultural and manufacturing in-

terests; the establishment of a systemn of common schools; the attainment of speedy peace with Mexico, and friendly and just relations with the Indian tribes; extensive commercial relations with foreign powers, exempt from inconvenient and entangling alliances. The important events which came rapidly crowding on rendered his position one of great delicacy and embarras- ment. Questions of grave difficulty were presented for his determination, and "with- out prededent or constitutional guide for his governance," he was obliged to assume in consequence great responsibilities and to act with the utmost prudence and circumspec- tion. In view of the probable acceptance of the proposition for annexation still pend- ing, President Jones deemed it justly due to the friendly feeling manifested upon all occasions by the governments of England and France to send over a minister to ex- press upon behalf of the government of Texas the grateful sentiments entertained for those powers by the Republic; accord- ingly the Hon. Ashbel Smith was sent to Europe for that purpose.

March 1, 1845, the resolutions of the Congress of the United States for the an- nexation of Texas were approved by the President and in due time were presented to President Jones, who assured their bearer that the proposition should be fairly and promptly submitted to the people of Texas. Immediately after, a proclamation was is- sued calling an extra session of Congress to convene June 16th. July 4th a convention was called to act upon the proposition of annexation. Congress met and trans- acted its important business and adjourned after a session of less than two weeks. The convention met a few days afterward in Austin, confirmed that place as the seat of

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government of the State, and the constitu- tion which was framed perpetuated the basis of representation which Dr. Jones had es- tablished. On the 2d day of July following he received the conditions preliminary to a treaty of peace with Mexico, and on the 4th day of the saine month lie issued a proclama- tion declaring to the people of Texas the actual state of affairs with Mexico. Through all the negotiations with this power his effort was to maintain a perfectly erect and per- pendicular attitude, being convinced that the people of Texas preferred annexation to in- dependence. It was about this time that he also received proposals of peace from the Comanche chief, Santa Anna, the last enemy which Texas had; he accepted them, and for the first time in ten years Texas was actually at peace with all the world.

The excitement naturally attendant upon the discussion of the question of annexation was greatly increased by charges of the most odious crimes against President Jones and members of his administration; these were printed by newspapers in the United States with which the country was flooded. It was also claimed that the President was op- posed to annexation, and that he was using every means, in conjunction with England and France, to defeat the popular will.

Congress met pursuant to call June 16; the President laid before that body the prop- ositions made on the part of the United States for the annexation of Texas, together with the correspondence between the gov- ernments growing out of the same. The message concluded as follows: "The altern- ative of annexation or independence will thus be placed before the people of Texas, and their free, sovereign, and unbiased voice will determine the all-important issue; and so far as it shall depend upon the Executive

to act, he will give immediate and full effect to the expression of their will." The pledge made by President Jones to the representa- tives of Great Britain and France was scrupulously fulfilled. Texas entered . the Union, not from necessity nor as a suitor, but with the deliberate consent of her peo- ple, maintaining a dignified attitude. A joint resolution, giving the consent of the existing goverment to the annexation of Texas to the United States was passed by both houses of Congress, and was approved by the President on the 23d of June. The people of Texas having decided in favor of annexation at the election in October fol- lowing, President Jones, on the 19th of February, 1846, surrendered the Govern- ment of Texas into the hands of General J. P. Henderson, Governor. In retiring he said: "This surrender is made with the most perfect cheerfulness, and in respectful submission to the public will; for my indi- vidual part I beg further to add that the only motive which has heretofore actuated me in consenting to hold high and responsi- ble office in this, my adopted and beloved country, has been to aid by the best exertion of such abilities as I possessed, in extricat- ing her from her difficulties and to place her in some safe and secure condition where she might be relieved from the long pressure of the past, and repose from the toils, the sufferings, and threatened dangers which surround her. * * * I sincerely wish

the terms could have been made more ad- vantageous, more definite, and less fraught with subjects of future dispute." The ad- dress concludes with the following: "The lone star of Texas, which ten years since arose amid cloud, over fields of carnage, and obscurely shone for a while, lias culininated, and following an inscrutable destiny has

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passed on, and become fixed forever in that glorious constellation which all free men and lovers of freedom must reverence and adore, -the American Union. Blending its rays with its sister stars, long may it con- tinue to shine, and may a gracious heaven smile upon this consummation of the wishes of the two republics now joined in one. May the Union be perpetual, and may it be the means of conferring benefits and bless- ings upon the people of all the States is my ardent prayer. The final act of this great drama is now performed. The Republic of Texas is no more." With this event his public career closed, and he firmly declined all public offices afterward tendered him. In 1853-4 he devoted much time to efforts looking to the construction of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, especially to securing the Texas route for the road. In November, 1857, he sold his homestead in Washington county, with a view to locating in Galveston and resuming his practice there. On his return from a visit to the latter city he was at the old Capitol Hotel in Houston, Janu- ary, 9, 1858; he then seemed in low spirits, and in a sad tone remarked to a friend, "Here in this house twenty years ago I com- menced my political career in Texas, and here I would like to end it." Not long afterward a pistol shot was heard in his room, and he was found in a dying condi- tion. The country was deeply shocked by this occurrence.

In a biography written by an old ac- quaintance of Dr. Jones is the following : "We now approach the most painful part of our duty in compiling this sketchi, for there are few things that can be more dis- tressing to surviving friends than the fact of a man's hastening the termination of his earthly career by his own hand. Texas

seems to have lost a larger number of her distinguished leaders in lier revolution in this way than has fallen to the lot of other nations. In this list of unhappy victims we may name Collingsworth, Grayson, Rusk, and the subject of this narrative; besides Perry, McGee and others who figured in an earlier period of our history. All we can say in explanation is to refer to the fact that Dr. Jones was subject to paroxysms of men- tal gloom and deep despondency which he could not overcome or control, and which often well-nigh destroyed his balance of mind. During the latter years of his life this unhappy temperament had gradually assumed more and more the character of disease, under the influence of a physical derangement to which he was subject. Those who have any knowledge of this painful mental depression will need no fur- ther explanation, and those who best under- stand the intensity of suffering from this cause, to which the most sensitive and no- ble minds are chiefly subject, will be the last to cast reproach upon the memory of the unhappy victim."

In physique Dr. Jones was not unusual; he was about five feet, eight inches in height, had deep auburn hair, light hazel eyes of much brilliancy and expression, and a florid complexion. Though somewhat re- served in manner he was of a social disposi- tion. He enjoyed in a high degree the pleasures of domestic life, and the com- panionship of his wife and children. He was exceedingly benevolent, ever ready to hear and respond to the calls of the needy and unfortunate. Scrupulously correct in his business affairs he was intolerant of any deviation on the part of others. It was a matter of especial pride with him that he owed nothing, that he had paid off, though

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after the lapse of many years, the debts of his unfortunate youth and early manhood. In politics he was throughout his entire life a Democrat. He was reared in the faith of ' the Protestant Episcopal Church, of which his wife is a member; his children were reared in this church, and although he was not a communicant he took a deep interest in the affairs of the church, and was at dif- ferent times a delegate to the annual con- ventions of the diocese of Texas; he was lay delegate from that diocese to the Triennial Convention of the United States. Free from bigotry and tolerant of the religious views of others, he evinced a profound re- spect for true religion and the Holy Scrip- tures.

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Author: Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing co., 1895 Number of Pages: 1532

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing co., 1895
Number of Pages: 1532