James Wales Jones

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some stories stretch out long and complicated, full of twists and turns and enough names to fill a courthouse ledger. And then some stories are short.

Quiet. The kind that hit you harder for what they don't say than for what they do. This is one of those.

James Wales Jones was born in Georgia in 1797, and somewhere along the way, life pointed him west. He came to Texas early enough to be counted among the Old Three Hundred, those original colonists who put down roots in this land before it was anything close to easy. That alone is a chapter worth a campfire.

But Jones didn't stop there. When Texas called men to fight for her independence, he answered. A soldier in the Texas War for Independence.

Think about what that means, what that cost, what it asked of a man. He saw that through. James Wales Jones died in 1847.

His wife, Hetty Stiles Jones, outlived him by a stretch, dying in 1899. Two lives, one small marker, and the whole weight of early Texas resting quietly underneath. The State of Texas erected this tribute in 1957.

Sometimes that's enough.

What the marker says

Born in Georgia 1797 One of the Old Three Hundred Colonists A Soldier in the Texas War for Independence Died 1847 His wife Hetty Stiles Jones Died 1899 Erected by the State of Texas 1957