Jean Baptiste Chaison
Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(August 7, 1745 - July 20, 1854) Jean Baptiste ("Jonas") Chaison was born in Nova Scotia, of French parents. After imprisonment by the British during the French and Indian War, he and his parents fled in 1763 to France, where he was soon orphaned. He returned to North America, and joined the Colonial Army in 1775 at Quebec, to take revenge against the British. Continuing in the Continental Army, he served with Lafayette at Brandywine, 1777; fought at Germantown, 1777; was wounded serving under Greene and Marion at Eutaw Springs, 1781; and found under Lafayette's command at Yorktown, 1781. Coming to western Louisiana as a cattleraiser and farmer about 1785, he married Marie LeBlanc and had eight children. About 1840 he moved to Beaumont to live with his son McGuire Chaison (1809-1859). He was strong and healthy of mind and body as long as he lived, and farmed here until 1854. Dying at a few days under 109 years of age, he was buried in Jirou Cemetery (3 mi. N). He was one of the few men of the American Revolution involved in Texas history. The Daughters of the American Revolution marked his grave site in 1944. The DAR marker was moved here to Pipkin Park when a church was built in 1969 in the extinct Jirou Cemetery.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Jean Baptiste 'Jonas' Chaison was born in Nova Scotia to French parents and, after his family's imprisonment during the French and Indian War, fled to France before returning to North America. He joined the American cause in 1775 and, by the marker's account, served through the Revolution — at Brandywine and Germantown, wounded at Eutaw Springs, and present at Yorktown under Lafayette. He later settled as a farmer, moved to Beaumont around 1840, and lived, the marker says, to well past a hundred; the Daughters of the American Revolution marked his grave in 1944.
Why it matters
Chaison is remembered as one of the rare Revolutionary War veterans whose lives reached into early Texas history, a living link between the founding era and the frontier.
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Related people
- · Jean Baptiste Chaison
- · Marquis de Lafayette
Related events
- · Battle of Brandywine
- · Battle of Germantown
- · Battle of Eutaw Springs
- · Siege of Yorktown
Themes & tags
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