DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna pass it along to you. Now, some men wander into history quiet-like, and you'd nearly miss 'em if you blinked. Stephen Jackson was not quite that kind of man.
Born in South Carolina in 1803, Jackson didn't stay put long. By 1831 he had packed himself up and moved clear into Texas — into Lorenzo de Zavala's colony, no less. That's frontier country, friends.
He received a labor of land right off — a hundred and seventy-seven acres — just enough to dig in and start farming. And dig in he did. But 1835 brought something considerably bigger.
Jackson was granted a full league of land — four thousand, four hundred and twenty-eight acres. That is not a farm. That is a dominion.
And tucked inside those bounds was land that would later become the community of Sour Lake. Four thousand acres, sittin' right there in Hardin County. Then 1836 rolled in, and Stephen Jackson put down the plow and picked up a musket.
He served in Captain Logan's company of the Texas army. For that service, he was awarded three hundred and twenty acres of bounty land over in Milam County. The man was collectin' acreage like some folks collect regrets.
In 1838 he married Susan Choate, born in 1807, and the two of them established their home near here — right on this ground. Together they built not just a household but a family. Ambrose, Sarah, James A., Minerva, Stephen, and W.
J. Six children. Susan lived until 1873.
Stephen had passed in 1860. And when all was said and done, they were laid to rest together — Stephen, Susan, and their children — in the family cemetery, right here where they planted their lives. From South Carolina to Zavala's colony to Captain Logan's company to four thousand acres of East Texas earth.
Stephen Jackson didn't wander into history quiet. He strode in — and he stayed.
What the marker says
(1803-1860) Born in South Carolina, Stephen Jackson moved to Lorenzo de Zavala's colony in Texas in 1831. He received a labor of land (177 acres) to establish a farm. In 1835 Jackson was granted a league of land (4,428 acres), which included the later community of Sour Lake. In 1836 Jackson served in Captain Logan's company of the Texas army and awarded 320 acres of land in Milam County as bounty. He married Susan Choate (1807-1873) in 1838 and established their home near here. They are buried along with their children-- Ambrose, Sarah, James A., Minerva, Stephen, and W. J.-- in the family cemetery. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986