Culture

Culture. Providence Church Historic Site. The Brazos Valley was first settled and formed by people from all over America and other foreign lands. The earliest Anglo settlers arrived in this Mexican province from nearby southern states, lured by large Mexican land grants. After the Texas Revolution, the Republic of Texas also granted land for service during the fighting. Typically, land would remain in a family and be apportioned to grown children as they began their own families. Areas quickly became populated by many families with just a few surnames., German immigrants began arriving in the mid-1800s followed by Italian, Polish, and Slavic settlers. As the original land grants were divided, portions were sold to these later settlers whose surnames can be found throughout the area. The history and development of the Brazos Valley and the people associated with this memorial are typical of rural Texas., In February 1829, John Henry Jones arrived in Texas from Jefferson County, Tennessee. One of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, he received a Mexican land grant of "a league and a labor of land" (4605 acres). The next year brought Dr. Thomas Wooten from Henry County, Virginia. Dr. Wooten, who received a grant of land from Stephen F. Austin in 1832, brought family including his daughter Marth Jane, who later married John Henry Jones. In October of 1836, Jones enlisted as Texas Ranger, serving under Captain William W. Hill. Called "Choctaw" by fellow Rangers, Jones received a Bounty Warrant amounting to an additional 320 acres after his discharge in 1837., John Henry and Martha located their first home beside the Brazos River. The site is still noted on modern maps bearing the name "Jones Bluff". Filled with trees and heavy brush, the land was not ideal cropland. With sweat and hard work, they managed to raise cattle and hogs and enough crops to support their family, which eventually grew to nine children. Following John Henry's death in 1850, Martha Jones remarried Jabez M. Roberts and had three more children. Jabez, like many Texas settlers, served in the Confederate Army., John Henry Jones, Jr. was the second son of John Henry Jones and Martha Jane Jones. He also served in the Confederacy during the Civil War, enlisted in Company I, 21st Texas Cavalry. The 21st was part of Parson's Brigade, which provided dangerous scouting and advanced picket duty for the Army of the Trans-Mississippi in Arkansas and Louisiana. After a year away, he was transferred home to the Commissary Department at Boonville due to illness. John and his wife settled in his parents' first home, on Jones Bluff. There they started a ferry service known as Jones Ferry, just below the bluff on the edge of the Brazos River. Dr. Thomas J. Wotten was among the first physicians in Brazos County. His land grant was located along the Brazos River above Jones Bridge Road. The Wooten's established their home near Turkey Creek and the present Leonard School Road., The descendants of these and other pioneer families founded the cities and towns we live in today. Their names are commemorated on streets, buildings, creeks, and schools throughout the Brazos Valley. Names like Curd, Creed, Clower, Conaway, Coulter-Robinson, Deason, Dilleshow, Dominik, Dowling, Duncan, Drummond, Eschols, Millican, Edge, Fullerton, Gorbet, Hemphfling, Henry, Hugh, Henserling-Easterling, Holick, Holmes, Horton, Hudson, Kurten, and Weedon are commonly found throughout the area. The names serve as reminders that progress is the fruit of all too often mundane, but sometimes heroic tasks of everyday living.