ANSON JONES

(January 20, 1798 - January 9, 1858)

by Kameron Searle

Note: On November 21, 2009, an Official Texas Historical Marker will be dedicated at the gravesite of Anson Jones in Glenwood Cemetery. As the weather services indicate that the rain will have stopped by noon today and the dedication ceremony is a 2:00 p.m., the dedication ceremony will continue as planned. See you there!

Click here for program from marker dedication of Texas Historical Commission marker for Anson Jones.

Anson Jones was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts on January 20, 1798. Jones studied medicine and received his M. D. degree in 1827. Jones came to Brazoria, Texas in 1833 and practiced medicine with much success.

In March 1835, Anson Jones was one of six Master Masons who met near Brazoria to establish the first regularly formed Masonic lodge in Texas. Under a special dispensation from Grand Lodge of Louisiana, Holland Lodge #36 was opened on December 27, 1835 in Brazoria with Jones presiding as Worshipful Master.

Anson Jones joined the Texas Army in 1836 and fought as a private in Sherman’s Second Regiment in the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. The formal charter granted to Holland Lodge by the Grand Lodge of Louisiana was delivered to Jones just before the Battle of San Jacinto and was carried in his saddle bags during the battle.

Jones was elected to the House of Representative from Brazoria to the Second Congress in 1837. On December 20, 1837, Texas Masons convened in Houston to organize the Grand Lodge of Texas. Jones was elected the first Grand Master of Masons in Texas. Jones co-founded The Philosophical Society of Texas on December 5, 1837.

In 1838, Sam Houston, appointed Anson Jones the Republic’s Minister to the United States. Jones went to Washington D.C. and began his strategy for the annexation of Texas. In 1839, Jones was elected Senator and served in the Fourth and Fifth Congresses. On May 17, 1840, he married Mary Smith McCrory. Later, Mrs. Anson Jones would be the first President of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

In 1841, Sam Houston appointed Jones Secretary of State. In September 1844, Anson Jones was elected the last President of the Republic of Texas. The Congress of United States concluded the annexation of Texas on December 29, 1845. On February 19, 1846, at a formal ceremony in Austin, President Jones, the "Architect of Annexation," lowered the Lone Star Flag of Texas and proclaimed, "The Republic of Texas is no more."

Anson Jones retired from politics to his "Barrington" plantation. Anson Jones died in Houston, Texas on January 9, 1858.

Note: Anson Jones is the only President of a sovereign nation buried in Houston or Harris County, Texas.

Gravesite of Anson Jones