Jackson Family Cemetery
Sour Lake, Hardin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Stephen Jackson (1803-1860), a settler in the Lorenzo de Zavala colony, was granted one league (4,428 acres) of land in this area in 1835. Jackson built his home near this site and cleared pastures for cattle and horses on most of the land. The grant also included palmetto thickets shielding numerous mineral springs and lakes of sulphurous water. Settlers frequented the lakes seeking cures, and a small community grew near Jackson's home. In 1851 he sold this land but in 1856 acquired a controlling interest in the spa that had developed nearby (then located about 5 mi. NW). As late as 1878, Jackson's daughter Minerva (1838-1911) and her husband James A. Merchant (1836-1886) were operating the spa's hotel. Jackson died in 1860 and was buried near his home. In 1871 his widow Susan Choate Jackson (1807-1873) designated four acres of her homestead as a cemetery, including her husband's grave. She was subsequently buried here, along with five of their children. Other members of the Sour Lake community have been buried here, as well as numerous descendants of Stephen Jackson. Surnames of Jackson family descendants represented here include Frazier, Guedry, Herring, Merchant, Mowbray, Moye and Pietzcker. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Stephen Jackson, a settler in Lorenzo de Zavala's colony, received a league of land here in 1835 and built a home amid palmetto thickets and sulphur springs whose mineral waters drew settlers seeking cures. A small community grew nearby, and by the 1850s Jackson held a stake in the spa that became Sour Lake. After his death in 1860, his widow Susan set aside four acres as a family cemetery, where generations of Jackson descendants and other members of the Sour Lake community have since been laid to rest.
Why it matters
The cemetery anchors the story of one of the founding families of Sour Lake and of the mineral-springs spas that first drew people to this corner of East Texas.
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Related people
- · Stephen Jackson
- · Susan Choate Jackson
- · Minerva Jackson Merchant
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Stephen Jackson
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Born in South Carolina, Stephen Jackson joined Lorenzo de Zavala's colony in 1831, part of the wave of Anglo settlers who took Mexican land grants in Texas. He earned a farm, then a full league of land encompassing the future community of Sour Lake, and in 1836 marched with the Texas army in its war for independence. He and his wife Susan raised a family here and lie with their children in the cemetery near this spot.
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