Joseph and Rachel Rabb Newman

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say, so take it for what it is: the recorded history, straight from the commission. Now settle in, because this one starts before Texas was even a dream on most people's maps. Joseph and Rachel Rabb Newman.

Two names on a marker standing in Wharton County, but behind those names is a life that crossed half a continent before it ever put down roots in Texas soil. They married in 1806, in Ohio. Joseph, born around 1787.

Rachel, born in 1790. A young couple at the start of a very long road. Joseph went off to serve in the War of 1812, and he did that service in Illinois.

When that was done, they weren't ones for staying put. They moved to Arkansas Territory, on the Red River. That might sound like the edge of the known world, and for a lot of folks back then, it pretty much was.

But even that wasn't far enough. In 1820, they crossed into Texas. And then in 1823, they made a decision that would tie their name to this land permanently.

Rachel's parents, William and Mary Smalley Rabb, were joining Stephen F. Austin's colony. The Old Three Hundred, history calls them.

The first three hundred settlers in Austin's grant. The Newmans went with the Rabbs. Mexico issued land grant number fifty-nine to the Newman family.

A league and a labor of land. That grant fell in what would eventually become Wharton County, and it included the very ground that marker stands on today. An early census recorded Joseph as a farmer and stock raiser, workin land that had no roads worth speakin of, no towns to speak of either, just the frontier and whatever you could build from it.

They built quite a bit. Ten children. Mary, William, Louisa, Minerva, Sarah, who history would come to know as Sally Scull, Elizabeth, Thomas, Ali, Joseph Junior, and Andrew.

Ten children on the Texas frontier in the 1820s. The marker uses the word austerity, and that word is doing a lot of work. Then February 1831 arrived, and Joseph Newman died.

He was buried somewhere on his own league of land. That location is unknown today. A man who helped settle a country, and the ground that holds him has been forgotten by the map.

Rachel kept going. Four years after Joseph's death, she gave her interest in the Newman lands to her children, but she stayed. Kept living on her original homesite.

She also inherited Rabb property over in Matagorda County from her parents. By 1854, the entire Newman league had been sold out of the family. The land passed on.

Rachel moved to DeWitt County, and she married again. She lived until 1872, and she is buried in the Salt Creek Cemetery on the DeWitt-Karnes County line. The children.

They lived on to serve their state and their country in a variety of ways. The marker doesn't name every deed, but it makes the point: the Newmans helped settle a new land and built a foundation for those who came after. That foundation is still under your feet right now.

What the marker says

Joseph and Rachel Rabb Newman Joseph (c. 1787-1831) and Rachel Rabb (1790-1872) Newman were married in 1806 in Ohio. Following Joseph's service in the War of 1812 in Illinois, they lived in Arkansas Territory on the Red River before moving into Texas in 1820. In 1823, they left the Red River area to join Rachel's parents, William and Mary Smalley Rabb, as members of Stephen F. Austin's "Old 300" colony. As pioneers in this colony, the Newmans received land grant no. 59 from Mexico - a league and a labor of land in what became Wharton County, including this site. An early census listed Joseph Newman as a farmer and stock raiser. They had ten children-Mary, William, Louisa, Minerva, Sarah (known in Texas history as Sally Scull), Elizabeth, Thomas, Ali, Joseph, Jr., and Andrew-and experienced firsthand the austerity of the Texas frontier. Upon Joseph's death in February 1831, he was buried at a now-unknown location on his league of land. Four years after Joseph's death, Rachel gave her interest in the Newman lands to her children, but continued living on her original homesite. She also inherited Rabb property in Matagorda County from her parents. By 1854, the entire Newman League had been sold out of the family. Rachel moved to Dewitt County, where she married again. She is buried in the Salt Creek Cemetery on the Dewitt-Karnes County line. Joseph and Rachel Newman's children lived on to serve their state and country in a variety of ways. As Texas pioneers, the Newmans helped settle a new land and built a foundation for those who came after them. (2002)