Isham Jones Good
Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Born in Georgia, Isham Jones Good (1813-1866) came to Texas in 1835 with a group of volunteers to join the Texian forces in their war for independence from Mexico. As a member of the Georgia battalion, Good went to the aid of Col. James W. Fannin, but escaped death or capture in the Goliad Massacre in March 1836. After an honorable discharge from military service in May 1836, Good married Melissa Trantham (1811-1870) in Alabama. By February 1838, he had returned to Texas and settled near this site in what was then Gonzales County. As a participant in the 1840 Indian battle of Plum Creek, Isham Good helped open the area to further settlement. He served as first postmaster when the Plum Creek postal station was established. A civic leader, entrepreneur, and land speculator, Good was instrumental in the formation of Caldwell County in 1848 and served as its first sheriff. During the 1850s, Good sold most of his landholdings and moved his family to Bear Creek in Hays County, where he raised cattle until his death. An important local leader during Texas' formative years, Isham Jones Good is buried on his ranch in Hays County.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Georgia-born Isham Jones Good came to Texas in 1835 as a volunteer for the fight for independence from Mexico, narrowly escaping the 1836 Goliad Massacre that claimed Colonel Fannin's command. He returned to settle the frontier, fought in the 1840 Indian battle of Plum Creek, served as an early postmaster and Caldwell County's first sheriff, and helped organize the county in 1848 before turning to cattle ranching in Hays County.
Why it matters
Good's life traces the arc of the Texas frontier itself—from the revolution and its massacres through Indian conflict to the institution-building that turned open country into settled counties.
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Related people
- · Isham Jones Good
- · James W. Fannin
Related events
- · Goliad Massacre
- · Battle of Plum Creek
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Battle of Plum Creek
Lockhart, TX
By 1840 the young Republic of Texas and the Comanche and Kiowa nations were locked in escalating violence, inflamed by President Lamar's aggressive policies and the deadly Council House Fight in San Antonio. In revenge, a large war party swept to the coast and sacked Linnville before turning inland laden with plunder. On August 12, 1840, Texan volunteers under Felix Huston, Edward Burleson, and Mathew Caldwell—joined by Tonkawa allies—intercepted them at Plum Creek in a running fight across the prairie.
William W. Moon
San Marcos, TX
William W. Moon, orphaned in infancy in Alabama, came to Texas in 1838 and rode with the Texas Rangers, first seeing the San Marcos Springs during a running Indian fight in 1843. Enchanted by the country, he brought his family to build a cabin here in 1845, making the Moons the first permanent Anglo-American settlers of what became Hays County. His cabin hosted the county's first sermon and first school, and he later served in both the Mexican War and the Civil War while running a hotel, stage stop, blacksmith shop, and freight line.
Caldwell County
Lockhart, TX
The land that became Caldwell County began as part of DeWitt's Colony in 1825 and was carved from Gonzales County when the county was created and organized in 1848, with early settlements along Plum Creek and the San Marcos River. It honors Mathew Caldwell — nicknamed 'Old Paint' — a soldier-statesman who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence and commanded the Texas Rangers. Lockhart was named the county seat.
Thomas Osborn
Red Rock, TX
Thomas Osborn was one of the settlers-turned-soldiers who took up arms in the Texas Revolution of 1835–1836, the uprising that severed Mexican Texas from Mexico. The battles named here trace the war's arc: the early clash at Gonzales and the fight at Velasco, the grinding Siege of Bexar that drove Mexican forces from San Antonio, and the disastrous defeat at Coleto that led to the Goliad massacre. Texas erected the marker in 1962 to honor a veteran of that founding struggle.