DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the one ridin' shotgun on the story. Josiah Hart Jackson — Texas Ranger, born in Kentucky in 1821 — made his way to Texas in 1839, and Texas, it seems, was more than ready for him. By the time the 1850s rolled around, he'd planted himself about a mile northeast of where we're standin' right now and opened up Jackson's store.
Now, one store has a way of attracting company. Before long, that little spot had a race track — a race track, mind you — a blacksmith shop, and other stores crowding in around it. The place picked up the name Cow Hill, which tells you something about the character of the land, if not the ambitions of the man running it.
Jackson became postmaster, and in 1873 he did what any self-respecting postmaster with a sense of dignity might do — he renamed the place Ashland. Cow Hill to Ashland. That's quite a leap in one man's lifetime.
But the story doesn't stop there. When Commerce came into being, Jackson moved that post office right here, to the city at its birth, carrying the whole operation along with him like a man who knew which way the future was headed. On the personal side, he married Sarah A.
Maddox in 1841, and together they had six children. After Sarah's death, he married Elvira Jernigan Hart. Josiah Hart Jackson died in 1892, having seen Texas go from wide-open country to a place with towns, race tracks, and post offices bearing respectable names.
Not bad for a Kentucky boy who showed up in 1839 with, we can only imagine, very little but ambition. Sometimes that's enough.
What the marker says
(1821-1892) Born in Kentucky. Came to Texas 1839. In 1850s opened Jackson's store, 1 mi. NE of here, starting "Cow Hill," a village with race track, blacksmith shop, other stores. He became postmaster and renamed place Ashland, 1873.. But moved post office here to Commerce, at city's birth. Married Sarah A. Maddox in 1841; had 6 children. After her death, married Elvira Jernigan Hart.