John Sadler

Kosse, TX

Georgia-born James A. Head came to Texas in 1835 and enlisted at San Felipe de Austin in Silas Parker's ranging company, earning a land grant and a place among the Texas Rangers who guarded the frontier during the war for independence. With his wife Elizabeth he farmed in what became Brazos County, served as justice of the peace and chief justice, and won election to the Sixth Congress of the Republic of Texas. By 1852 he worked some 17,800 acres and died at Headsville in 1872, father of thirteen children.

Kosse, TX

This state marker honors James Alfred Head, who fought for Texas independence and then served in the Congress of the young Republic of Texas in 1841-1842. Erected in 1962, it commemorates a member of the generation that won and then governed the short-lived Republic before annexation to the United States.

Donie, TX

In the southwest corner of Freestone County, the Wilson Chapel Cemetery sits on land first granted to Isaac Connelly by the Republic of Texas in 1838 and later owned by Frederich Wilson, whose daughter Martha became the first burial in 1867. Around a red-brick church that replaced the original white frame structure in 1958, generations of a farming community lie among cedars and crepe myrtle. Veterans of every American war from the Mexican War through the Persian Gulf rest here, and a memorial day tradition still gathers families to tend the graves.

Groesbeck, TX

Born in 1817, Abram Anglin served as an early Ranger during the Texas War for Independence, riding with Captain Seale's company in 1835–36 under authority of the provisional Council of Texas. He lived on into the frontier era of the Republic and statehood, dying in 1875. His grave marker, crowned with the star and wreath, commemorates the volunteer soldiers who fought to sever Texas from Mexico.