Jackson County

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Jackson County. Out on the coastal plain of Texas, where the land sits low and wide, averaging seventy-five feet above sea level, soaked by thirty-seven inches of rain a year, fed by black hogwallow soil and sandy loams and alluvial ground that has been growing cotton and corn and pecans and raising livestock since before Texas was Texas.

This was Karankawa country first. Home of the Karankawa Indians, and then it was granted, in part, to Stephen F. Austin and to Martin de Leon.

And between 1824 and 1835, colonists started coming. From Alabama, from Louisiana, from Kentucky, from Tennessee, and from west of the Lavaca out in Mexico. They put down roots in ground that had stories already running through it.

On December 5, 1835, the place was organized as a municipality, named in honor of Andrew Jackson, president of the United States. Then on March 17, 1836, it was created a county, organized that same year, with Texana as the county seat. Texana, which had formerly been called Santa Anna.

That name would change too. By 1883, Edna had taken over as county seat, and that's where it has sat ever since. Now, this county sent people into the fire of the Texas Revolution, and some of them didn't come back.

William Sutherland is remembered here as a martyr of the Alamo. And those who fought at San Jacinto and came through, they're remembered too. George Sutherland.

John S. Menefee. James A.

Sylvester. Heroes of San Jacinto, the marker calls them, and it doesn't use that word lightly. Then there were the men who signed their names to the Texas Declaration of Independence, knowing full well what they were risking.

William Menefee and Elijah Stapp, both of them from this county. The marker also lifts up the names of early settlers, John McHenry, Francis M. White, James Kerr, F.

F. Wells, men who came early and shaped what this place became. And Clark L.

Owen, who served as a colonel in the Confederate army, along with other pioneers who lived in this county before or directly after the Revolution. What they left behind is this: a county growing cotton and raising livestock and dairying and pulling oil and gas from that low, rain-softened ground. Jackson County.

The names are carved in. The land remembers.

What the marker says

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 Mc Henry, 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.