Jones' Mill Community
Honey Grove, Fannin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In the 1840s, New Jersey natives John W. and Tamson (Tamezine) Finley Jones settled in Fannin County. Joining them later, other family members included sons who had served as missionaries to the Choctaw and Chikasaw nations. The Jones’ Mill Community arose around the family’s flour mill and cotton gin. Four decades later, the Self brothers built a mill, and the population shifted and became known as the Selfs community. Eventually, Honey Grove became the predominant area settlement. Over the years, many from Jones’ Mill contributed to development of churches and other institutions in Honey Grove. Today, the Jones’ Mill community is represented by its historic cemetery (1/4 mi. E.), with grave markers dating to 1850. (2006)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the 1840s New Jersey natives John W. and Tamson Finley Jones settled in Fannin County, later joined by kin who had served as missionaries to the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations. A community grew up around the family's flour mill and cotton gin, though decades later a rival mill built by the Self brothers shifted the population, and eventually nearby Honey Grove eclipsed them all. Today the Jones' Mill community survives only in its historic cemetery, with headstones reaching back to 1850.
Why it matters
The rise and disappearance of Jones' Mill captures how frontier Texas settlements clustered around a single mill or gin and faded as railroads and larger towns redrew the map—and how such families were entangled with the Indian nations just to the north.
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Related people
- · John W. Jones
- · Tamson Finley Jones
Themes & tags
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