Randal Jones (1786-1873)

    Randal Jones, early Texas soldier and public official, was born in Columbus, Georgia, on August 19, 1786. He moved to Wilkinson County, Mississippi, in 1810, became a captain in the United States volunteers in 1812, and took part in the "Canoe Fight" with Creek Indians on the Alabama River in 1813. In 1814 or 1815 he moved to Texas, opened a store at Nacogdoches as an Indian trader, and had some dealings with Jean Laffite. In 1820 he joined the Long expedition and conducted Jane Wilkinson Long from Louisiana to Texas to join her husband. Driven from Texas by the failure of the expedition, Jones and his brother, James W. Jones, returned to Texas in January 1821; they built a house for Mrs. Long on San Jacinto Bay in 1822 and later escorted her to San Antonio. In June 1824 Randal Jones wrote to Stephen F. Austin proposing legislation to require registration of marks and brands and prevention of prairie fires and to forbid the killing of deer and mustangs. 

    As one of Austin's Old Three Hundred colonists, Jones received title to a league and a labor of land now in Wharton and Fort Bend counties on July 15, 1824; he settled on Jones Creek two miles above the site of present Richmond. He was captain of the Texas militia organized to quell trouble with the Karankawa Indians and was in command at the battle of Jones Creek in September 1824. He married Polly Andrews on October 12, 1824; they had nine children. In December 1830 Jones was elected regidor of Austin Municipality. On October 11, 1835, he was at army headquarters at Gonzales and was appointed by Austin to appraise horses and equipment for the army. He represented Fort Bend County at the Consultation in November 1835, was a member of the General Council, and served on the first petit jury impaneled in Fort Bend County in February 1838. Jones became blind and moved to Houston shortly before his death, which occurred in June 1873. He was buried on his land in Fort Bend County and reinterred in the State Cemetery in 1934. Source

Republic Hill
Texas State Cemetery
Austin

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