Jane Chandler Gill
Manchester, Red River County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(January 1, 1782 - September 20, 1816) An Englishwoman who died soon after settling in Jonesboro. Her grave is one of Texas' oldest Caucasian burials.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Jane Chandler Gill was an Englishwoman who died in 1816, soon after settling at Jonesboro in what is now Red River County โ decades before Texas independence, when the region was still a remote borderland of New Spain. Her grave is counted among the oldest marked European-American burials in Texas.
Why it matters
Her early grave testifies to the first trickle of Anglo-American settlement into the Red River country years before the Republic of Texas existed, marking the leading edge of a migration that would reshape the region.
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Related people
- ยท Jane Chandler Gill
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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On the Red River, Jonesboro was one of the earliest ports of entry into Texas for Anglo-Americans, in use by 1814 and busy by 1817, named for ferry owner Henry Jones. Claimed by both Mexico and the United States, it served as county seat of Arkansas's Miller County and counted some 2,350 residents by 1834. Sam Houston crossed into Texas here in 1832 and David Crockett in 1835 โ but by 1840 the town had lost its trade and settlers to rival communities.
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