"Brit" Bailey Plantation
Bailey's Prairie, Brazoria County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established in 1818 as an individual claim by James Briton Bailey, a member later of Austin's colony. Born 1779, Bailey was tall, fearless, of Irish stock. At his request, he was buried (1833) standing up, facing west, gun at side. His restless ghost is said to walk this prairie. (1968)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
James Briton Bailey staked this prairie in 1818 as an individual claim, later joining Stephen F. Austin's colony among the first Anglo settlers of Texas. Tall, fearless, and of Irish stock, Bailey asked at his death in 1833 to be buried standing upright, facing west, with his gun at his side. Local legend still says his restless ghost walks Bailey's Prairie by night.
Why it matters
Bailey's claim represents the very first wave of Anglo settlement in Mexican Texas, wrapped in the frontier folklore that grew up around its boldest characters.
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Related people
- · James Briton Bailey
- · Stephen F. Austin
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Munson Cemetery
Bailey's Prairie, TX
In 1850 Mordello Stephen Munson — son of Henry William Munson, a member of Stephen F. Austin's colony — set aside this tract at his family's Ridgely Plantation on Bailey's Prairie as a burying ground for kin and friends. The little cemetery ties one of the founding colonial families of Anglo Texas to the coastal prairie they helped settle. It has stood as their resting place for well over a century.
James Briton "Brit" Bailey
Bailey's Prairie, TX
James Briton "Brit" Bailey came to Texas in 1818 with his wife and six children, settling the tallgrass expanse that still bears his name. He joined Stephen F. Austin's colony in 1824, served as a militia captain, and fought in the skirmishes that preceded the 1836 revolution. True to a fiercely proud reputation, he asked to be buried upright, facing west with his gun at his side, so that no one could ever look down on him.
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East Columbia began in 1823 as Bell's Landing, a town in Stephen F. Austin's colony founded by Josiah H. Bell. The oldest part of this house was raised about 1847 on cedar pole framing by George Lewis Nash, whose family lived here some forty-five years. Merchant James P. Wright's wife Martha bought and expanded it in 1892, and their descendants preserve it still.
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