James J. Ross

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one bringing it down the road to you. Settle in. Somewhere around 1787, in South Carolina, a boy was born by the name of James Jeffres Ross.

Nobody there could have predicted that his name would one day be written across the Texas landscape — on a prairie, on a creek, on a cemetery — but that is precisely what happened. Ross was one of the Old Three Hundred. That's the name history gave to the colonists who arrived in Stephen F.

Austin's colony in its earliest days, and Ross was among them, showing up in late 1822 or early 1823. He settled onto a league of land granted to him near Eagle Lake in Colorado County. Then in 1828 he moved again, onto the S.

A. Anderson League, and built himself a home about one mile southwest of where this marker stands. Now, some men arrive in a new land and keep their heads down.

James Ross was not that kind of man. He rose — and he rose fast. He became captain of the militia of the Colorado District.

People took to calling him Colonel Ross, and the title stuck. In 1833 he served as a delegate to the second convention at San Felipe. In 1834 he was among those appointed to help obtain Stephen F.

Austin's release from imprisonment in Mexico. He helped establish a stage line and a stop that would grow into the town of Fayetteville. Farmer, rancher, trader, merchant — the man wore a lot of hats, and by most accounts wore them well.

Ross Prairie and Ross Creek, both in this vicinity, carry his name still. But here's where the story takes its turn, and you don't rush past this part. In January of 1835, James J.

Ross was killed by angry neighbors. The reason recorded on this marker is as plain as it is chilling: he had been sheltering Indians at his home. His neighbors did not approve.

And so Colonel Ross — delegate, militia captain, one of the Old Three Hundred — was killed for an act of hospitality. He was buried in nearby Ross Cemetery, the very ground that now bears the name he carried in life. His home passed through time.

It came to be known as the Ross/Martinek House, after Czech immigrant Joseph Martinek and his descendants, who owned it for nearly seventy years. The land remembers James Ross. The creek remembers him.

The prairie remembers him. And now, out here on this Texas road, so do you.

What the marker says

Born in South Carolina in about 1787, James Jeffres Ross was a member of the "Old Three Hundred." He arrived in Stephen F. Austin's colony in late 1822 or early 1823, moving onto the league granted him near Eagle Lake in Colorado County. In 1828 he moved to the S. A. Anderson League and built a home about one mile southwest of this site. Col. Ross, as he was known, soon assumed a position of leadership as captain of the militia of the Colorado District. He was a delegate to the second convention at San Felipe in 1833 and was one of those appointed in 1834 to help obtain Austin's release from imprisonment in Mexico. He helped establish a stage line and a stop that became the town of Fayetteville. An important figure during the early years of settlement in this part of the state, Ross was a successful farmer, rancher, trader, and merchant. Ross Prairie and Ross Creek, both in this vicinity, bear his name. He was killed by angry neighbors in January 1835 for sheltering Indians at his home and was buried in nearby Ross Cemetery. His home, which came to be known as the Ross/Martinek House, was owned by Czech immigrant Joseph Martinek and his descendants for nearly seventy years.