DUANE
Duane's take
Now, what I'm about to tell you comes straight from the official historical marker — this is my telling of what it says, word for word in spirit. Alright. Pull over if you have to, because this one is going to test your sense of what a human life can actually hold.
His name was Jean Baptiste Chaison — went by Jonas — and he was born on August 7, 1745, in Nova Scotia, to French parents. Right from the start, the world had opinions about Jonas Chaison that he did not share. The British imprisoned him and his family during the French and Indian War.
When they finally got loose, he and his parents fled in 1763 all the way to France. And then, as if that weren't enough, he was orphaned there. Alone.
In France. Barely a teenager by the math of history. But Jonas Chaison was not a man who stayed down.
He returned to North America, and in 1775, at Quebec, he joined the Colonial Army. The marker tells us exactly why: to take revenge against the British. Not glory.
Not land. Revenge. That is a man with a long memory and a longer grudge.
And he made good on it. He served with Lafayette at Brandywine in 1777. He fought at Germantown, also 1777.
He was wounded — wounded — serving under Greene and Marion at Eutaw Springs in 1781. And then, still standing, he was found under Lafayette's command again at Yorktown, 1781. The whole arc of the Revolution, and Jonas Chaison was somewhere in the middle of it, bleeding and fighting and refusing to quit.
Now. Here is where the story takes a turn that even a tall-tale teller would hesitate to invent. About 1785, Jonas came to western Louisiana as a cattleraiser and farmer.
He married Marie LeBlanc. They had eight children. Decades rolled by.
And then, about 1840 — when most men are long in the ground — Jonas Chaison moved to Beaumont, Texas, to live with his son McGuire Chaison, born 1809. And he farmed. Right here.
Until 1854. Jean Baptiste "Jonas" Chaison died at a few days under one hundred and nine years of age, and was buried in Jirou Cemetery, three miles north of where you might be sittin' right now. The marker calls him one of the few men of the American Revolution involved in Texas history.
That is, by any measure, an understatement. The Daughters of the American Revolution marked his grave site in 1944. That DAR marker was later moved to Pipkin Park when a church was built in 1969 in the extinct Jirou Cemetery.
Born 1745. Died July 20, 1854. Imprisoned, orphaned, wounded, widened across two continents and a revolution — and he still found time to farm in Beaumont.
Some men make history. Jonas Chaison just outlived it.
What the marker says
(August 7, 1745 - July 20, 1854) Jean Baptiste ("Jonas") Chaison was born in Nova Scotia, of French parents. After imprisonment by the British during the French and Indian War, he and his parents fled in 1763 to France, where he was soon orphaned. He returned to North America, and joined the Colonial Army in 1775 at Quebec, to take revenge against the British. Continuing in the Continental Army, he served with Lafayette at Brandywine, 1777; fought at Germantown, 1777; was wounded serving under Greene and Marion at Eutaw Springs, 1781; and found under Lafayette's command at Yorktown, 1781. Coming to western Louisiana as a cattleraiser and farmer about 1785, he married Marie LeBlanc and had eight children. About 1840 he moved to Beaumont to live with his son McGuire Chaison (1809-1859). He was strong and healthy of mind and body as long as he lived, and farmed here until 1854. Dying at a few days under 109 years of age, he was buried in Jirou Cemetery (3 mi. N). He was one of the few men of the American Revolution involved in Texas history. The Daughters of the American Revolution marked his grave site in 1944. The DAR marker was moved here to Pipkin Park when a church was built in 1969 in the extinct Jirou Cemetery.