DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Ponton family of Lavaca County, and friend, this one earns every word. William and Isabella Ponton were Virginians — William born in 1772, Isabella a Moreland by birth — and by 1829 they had already made one move, out of Missouri, before they pointed themselves toward Texas. They didn't come alone.
They brought their children Andrew, Sarah Ann, and Mary Jane, and their son-in-law James Patrick made the journey with them too. That's a whole household rolling into DeWitt's colony, receiving land, and planting roots in ground that had not yet decided whether it wanted to be friendly. Then in 1834 their son Joel Ponton arrived, rounding out the family's presence in the area that would one day be called Lavaca County.
Now, William Ponton holds a distinction no family wants — he was the first recorded settler killed by Comanche Indians in that area. The marker doesn't soften it, and neither will I. The land gave, and the land took.
And then — as if the land wanted to underline the point — in 1840, Joel Ponton and a companion were attacked in that same area. Joel survived. He survived with two arrows in his back.
Two arrows. The man walked away from that country with Comanche arrows still in him, and he stayed. Ponton Creek, the marker tells us, was named for William.
But the Comanche weren't the only force pressing in on this family. When the Mexican Army came and the Battle of Gonzales ignited, the Pontons and their neighbors stood up and fought. And then Santa Anna won at the Alamo, and the whole region cracked open in panic.
The Pontons joined what history remembers as the Runaway Scrape — fleeing the area with their neighbors, leaving behind whatever they couldn't carry, running ahead of an army. Now here's where the story turns. The Texans won at the Battle of San Jacinto.
And the Pontons came back. Back to land they had fled, back to homes that were close to nothing by then, and they rebuilt. From almost nothing.
That phrase is in the marker, and it deserves a moment of quiet respect — almost nothing, and they rebuilt anyway. What followed was a long, long road. Indian attacks continued.
The Republic of Texas rose and fell. Statehood came. The Civil War tore through.
Reconstruction followed. The Pontons lived through all of it. And they weren't just survivors scratching at the dirt.
William and Isabella's children and grandchildren became alcaldes, judges, tax collectors, commissioners, doctors, preachers, storekeepers, farmers, ranchers, and official peacemakers. Mothers and fathers. The whole machinery of a civilization, built from people who had once run for their lives and come back to start over.
The marker says it plainly, and plainly is exactly right: the children and grandchildren of William and Isabella Ponton forged Lavaca County from a wilderness. The story of the Ponton family, it says, is a story of Texas. And after everything you've just heard — two arrows in a man's back, a creek named for a man killed on his own land, a family that fled and returned and built a county — I don't think you'll argue with that.
What the marker says
Virginians William (1772-1834) and Isabella (Moreland) Ponton came to Texas in 1829 from Missouri. With them were their children Andrew, Sarah Ann, and Mary Jane and son-in-law James Patrick. Their son Joel Ponton arrived in 1834. The families received land in DeWitt's colony. William Ponton was the first recorded settler killed by Comanche Indians in the area that became Lavaca County. Joel Ponton and a companion were attacked in the same area in 1840; Joel survived with two arrows in his back. Ponton Creek was named for William. The Pontons and their neighbors stood up against the Mexican Army in the Battle of Gonzales and later fled the area in "The Runaway Scrape" in the wake of Santa Anna's victory at the Alamo. After the Texan victory at the Battle of San Jacinto, they returned to rebuild their homes from almost nothing. They endured Indian attacks and lived through the eras of the Republic of Texas, statehood, the Civil War and Reconstruction. Exemplary pioneers, they were mothers and fathers, alcaldes, judges, tax collectors, commissioners, doctors, preachers, storekeepers, farmers, ranchers, and official peacemakers. The children and grandchildren of William and Isabella Ponton forged Lavaca County from a wilderness. The story of the Ponton family is a story of Texas. (1998)