Josiah Hart Jackson, Texas Ranger
Commerce, Hunt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1821-1892) Born in Kentucky. Came to Texas 1839. In 1850s opened Jackson's store, 1 mi. NE of here, starting "Cow Hill," a village with race track, blacksmith shop, other stores. He became postmaster and renamed place Ashland, 1873.. But moved post office here to Commerce, at city's birth. Married Sarah A. Maddox in 1841; had 6 children. After her death, married Elvira Jernigan Hart.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Kentucky-born Josiah Hart Jackson reached Texas in 1839 and, in the 1850s, opened a store that seeded a village he called "Cow Hill," complete with race track and blacksmith shop. As postmaster he renamed the place Ashland in 1873, then moved the post office to nearby Commerce at that town's founding. His trading post traces the way a single frontier merchant could conjure a community.
Why it matters
Jackson's shifting stores and post offices show how commerce and mail routes literally named and relocated towns across the North Texas frontier.
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Related people
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Jernigin's Store
Commerce, TX
A Tennessee native and former Arkansas legislator, William Jernigin came to Hunt County in 1856 and, in 1872, opened a mercantile store beside a newly bridged trade route over the South Sulphur River. Because the settlement around his store had no name, he simply asked that goods be shipped to "Commerce" — and the name stuck. The town's later rise as a trading center grew directly from his pioneer venture.
First Christian Church of Commerce
Commerce, TX
Families of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) began settling around Commerce in the 1850s and worshiping together, first in a local schoolhouse and later in a shared Union Church on Live Oak Street. The congregation formally organized in November 1890 during a revival, bought this property in 1891, and finished its first church building in 1893. Its history traces the slow gathering of a frontier faith community into a settled congregation.
First Baptist Church of Commerce
Commerce, TX
Begun in November 1883 with nine charter members as the Missionary Baptist Church of Commerce, this congregation first worshiped in a shared Union church building before raising its own sanctuary. As it outgrew that home, its Women's Missionary Society raised funds for a new site, completed in 1913. Renamed First Baptist in 1933, the church became a civic leader in Commerce and a longtime presence in the life of East Texas State University students.
Lebanon Cemetery
Commerce, TX
This ground has served as a burial place since the 1860s, and pioneer settler Rebecca Hart Williams Little—who reached the area in the 1830s—formally deeded it for church and school use in 1871. Among those laid to rest are early settlers, infants and children, and veterans of the Civil War and both World Wars. A one-room school once stood alongside it until 1945.