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An American Tradition

Monday, June 27, 2016

By Krystal Willeby, Director of Programs

July 4. Independence Day. America’s birthday.

By any of its names, the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 holds a special place in our country’s history and heritage. As we make our plans for this July 4, let’s take a moment to look to the past for some of the stories surrounding this important holiday.

July 4 seemed to have a special place in the hearts of the early Jones family members, and we are lucky enough to have a few stories documented about the family during this time period.

The Jones Family and July 4 in the 1800s

Henry Jones

Henry Jones

Henry Jones, the patriarch of the family, was born in Virginia in 1789, just 13 years after the Declaration was adopted and just eight years after the end of the American Revolution. He would have grown up in a time of great uncertainty and change, but was most likely proud of what a group of “young, scrappy and hungry” rebels had accomplished. Though he would strike out on his own path by 1815, leaving Virginia behind forever, one can only envision he did it with his country of birth still ever present in his mind.

The Jones family spent their first July 4th in Texas in limbo. Mexico had recently gained its independence from Spain and Stephen F. Austin had to return to Mexico to renegotiate the terms of the colony under the new Mexican government. The Joneses and several other families were left to wait in this new, undeveloped land, caught between two countries with the future somewhat unclear. Two years later on July 8, 1824, Henry officially received his land grand, thus becoming a Mexican citizen under the terms of the grant.

One can only imagine what was going through Henry’s mind at the moment he signed his land grant. Did he internally say goodbye to his country of birth? Was he sad or at peace with the separation? Or, even then, did he know that fortunes would reunite him to his country of birth soon enough?

Still American at Heart

Despite their new allegiance to the Mexican government, Independence Day did not cease to exist in the hearts and minds of the Texas pioneers. Dilue Harris recalls in her “Reminiscenses of Mrs. Dilue Harris” that the arrival of an unexpected group of Mexican visitors, suspected of being spies, impaired the July 4 celebrations of 1834. These celebrations were held just a few miles east of the Jones’ family home at the William Stafford plantation. Mrs. Harris recalled that the festivities still took place, but without the planned speeches and with all due caution.

The years to come would bring Texas its independence and, later, its acceptance into the United States of America. Henry would again become a United States citizen — something in his heart of hearts, he may have never relinquished.

An 1850s ‘Barbacue’ and Dance

Whatever the case, by the 1850s, Independence Day was one of the most celebrated days held at the Jones Plantation. In 1856, William F. Ferguson of the Richmond Reporter attended the festivities at the Jones Stock Farm and wrote of it in the July 12, 1856 edition. He described the “barbacue” as having meat cooked outside over open pits that “would have satisfied a Jack Falstaff,” and serving tables that “groaned beneath the delicacys of the season.” After dinner, “a dance came off” most likely continuing the festivities long into the night.

Two years later, on July 5, 1858, Henry, an accomplished fiddle player, purchased fiddle strings from O.H. Peter’s Richmond store, presumably to replace those broken in the July 4 festivities from the night before.

Though the winds of change were again on the horizon, we know in that moment the family celebrated, proud of the meaning of the holiday and happy to recognize it with their friends and family. As you celebrate your own festivities this year, we hope you take a moment to think of celebrations long past and to feel the sense of pride and patriotism that connects us all on this day, past and present.

References:

Dilue Harris, “Reminiscences of Mrs. Dilue Harris.” Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association 1 (1900-1901): 109-111 (quotes).

Richmond Reporter, July 12, 1856, 2; Account of Henry Jones with O. H. Peters, 1857-1861, Manuscript probate file for Henry Jones #546, Fort Bend County Clerk’s office.

Moore, Michael Rugeley. Settlers, Slaves, Sharecroppers and Stockhands: A Texas Plantation-Ranch, 1824-1896.(Master’s thesis, University of Houston, 2001).

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