Background

Anson Jones was born on January 20, 1798 in Great Barrington, Massachussets, thirteenth of fourteen children of whom four died in infancy. His parents were Solomon Jones, a harness maker, and Sarah (Strong) Jones.

Education

Anson's parents found difficulty in supporting their family, but the father was ambitious for the studious boy, and without any great zeal for the profession Anson Jones, at the age of nineteen, commenced the study of medicine. His studies were constantly interrupted by efforts to make a living.

Jones graduated from Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania in March 1827 with the degree of doctor of medicine.

Career

Anson Jones started his career teaching school and selling pharmaceutical drugs. He then spent two years in Venezuela, and after ten years, in March 1827, he received the degree of doctor of medicine from the medical department of Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

For five years he kept an office in Philadelphia; but patients did not come. In the autumn of 1833, he landed at Brazoria, Texas, with seventeen dollars in his pocket. A trained physician was just what Brazoria wanted; Jones received an eager welcome, and he was soon established as a busy and highly respected member of a pioneer community.

In 1835, on the outbreak of difficulties with Mexico, he attended the so-called "Consultation, " where he was not favorably impressed with some of his colleagues, especially James Bowie and Sam Houston. Indeed, throughout his life he was perhaps apt to look on both himself and others with too critical an eye.

He returned an open advocate of independence, and the next year served as a physician in Houston's little army, leaving his medicines to fight as a private soldier in the decisive engagement of San Jacinto. His brief career in the Texan Congress was interrupted when President Houston sent him as the Texan minister to Washington. After a few uneventful months, President Lamar recalled him; Jones returned to Texas.

He was now elected to the Senate of Texas, of which he became presiding officer, and was known as a trenchant critic of the administration. During his vacations he practiced medicine among his neighbors and took great interest in the organization of Masonic lodges.

When late in 1841 Houston was reelected president, he made Jones secretary of state. The two men were too unlike to become close friends. Jones was often irritated by the old chieftain's convivial habits; his feelings were hurt when Houston insisted on deciding important questions for himself; but Houston evidently trusted Jones and respected his superior education, without leaning too heavily on his judgment.

On September 2, 1844, Anson Jones, with the powerful support of Houston, was elected president of Texas for three years from December 9. The chief subject under consideration at the time was a "diplomatic act, " proposed by Lord Aberdeen, the British secretary of state for foreign affairs, which would secure peace for Texas by making it virtually a British protectorate. The proposal had been treated with caution by Smith, Houston, and Jones, Jones seeming to be more favorable to it than either of the other two. Strangely enough, however, on September 23, Houston issued an executive order authorizing Jones to close with Aberdeen's offer, with the single proviso that Texas should extend to the Rio Grande.

In spite of the order, Jones continued to pursue the same temporizing policy, and in the meantime, for reasons of his own, Aberdeen virtually withdrew his offer. In later years Jones made much of this incident to prove that he had saved Texas from the rash policy of Sam Houston and was the true father of annexation, but the order is quite out of line with Houston's cautious policy at the time as indicated by other documents. The probable explanation is that, according to custom, Houston was withdrawing from the seat of government and leaving affairs in the hands of the President-Elect, and was merely placing in Jones's hands authority which he might use as a diplomatic weapon in any emergency which arose.

Jones was now president of Texas in his own right. The election of Polk had made an offer of annexation by the United States virtually certain. Captain Charles Elliot, the British chargé in Texas, believed that Jones was now opposed to annexation and in favor of continued independence.

On March 29, 1845, before the offer of the United States could be officially received, Jones authorized Elliot to go to Mexico and to bring pressure for an acknowledgment of independence. The people of Texas undoubtedly desired annexation on almost any terms. At great personal risk, Jones postponed consideration of the annexation offer until he had learned of the success of Elliot's mission. He was then able to proclaim peace with Mexico, and to lay before a convention, not one offer, but two. He was probably disappointed but not surprised when on July 4, 1845, the Texas convention voted for annexation.

On February 19, 1846, the last president of Texas surrendered his authority to the newly elected governor of one of the United States, and retired to his plantation on the Brazos, which, in honor of his birthplace, he called "Barrington. " He maintained an active interest in public affairs, taking a distinctly Southern position and on such questions as Oregon, Kansas, and the Know-Nothing movement coming out in bitter opposition to his old chief, Sam Houston.

In 1857 he was disappointed in his hopes of election to the Senate of the United States, and early in the next year his many friends were shocked to learn that he had taken his own life in the old Capitol Hotel at Houston. He was buried in Glenwood Cemetery at Houston.

Achievements

• Anson Jones's major achievement was in becoming a president of the Republic of Texas in 1844. During the First Congress of the republic, Jones became increasingly interested in public questions and critical of congressional policies. He was elected a representative to the Second Congress as an opponent of the Texas Railroad, Navigation, and Banking Company. As chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, he advocated a withdrawal of the Texas proposal for annexation to the United States. He was also chairman of the committee on privileges and elections and the committee on ways and means. He helped formulate legislation to regulate medical practice and advocated a uniform system of education and an endowment for a university. At the end of his congressional term, Jones planned to marry Mrs. Mary (Smith) McCrory and return to his practice at Brazoria. President Sam Houston, appointed him minister to the United States in June 1838 and authorized him to withdraw the annexation proposal. Jones's purpose as minister was to stimulate recognition from and trade relations with Europe in order to make the United States desire annexation or to make Texas strong enough to remain independent. Another Jones considerable achievement to mention about is that on March 1, 1835, with four other persons, Jones had established the first Masonic lodge in Texas, originally Holland Lodge No. 36 at Brazoria. He was its first head. He called the convention that organized the Grand Lodge of Texas on December 20, 1837, and was elected first grand master.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Memoranda and Official Correspondence Relating to the Republic of Texas, Its History and Annexation: Including a Brief Autobiography of the Author

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Letters Relating to the History of Annexation

    (This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

  • Memoranda and Official Correspondence Relating to the Republic of Texas, Its History and Annexation

    (This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

  • Memoranda and Official Correspondence Relating to the Republic of Texas, Its History and Annexation: Including a Brief Autobiography of the Author (Classic Reprint)

    (Ehteeed, according to A ct of Congress, in the year 1869,...)

  • Memoranda and Official Correspondence Relating to the Republic of Texas, Its History and Annexation: Including a Brief Autobiography of the Author 1859

    (Originally published in 1859. This volume from the Cornel...)

Views

At some point Jones took great interest in the organization of Masonic lodges and became a member and Past Master of the Masonic Harmony Lodge #52 of Philadelphia.

Quotations: Jones, in his last official act, declared that, "The Republic of Texas is no more. " Then he retired to Brazoria.

Membership

Anson Jones was a member of the Medical Society, Oneida, New York. He was a charter member and vice president of the Philosophical Society of Texas in 1837 and in 1853 helped found the Medical Association of Texas.

Personality

Extreme poverty, that he experienced in the early years of his life, had left traces of bitterness which appear clearly in his reminiscences.

After starting his own medical practice, Jones didn't succeed, so he drifted from Philadelphia to New Orleans, where he had a serious illness, and where, he tells us, he was falling into habits of drinking and gambling.

Connections

On May 17, 1839, was married to Mrs. Mary McCrory of Brazoria.

Father:

Solomon Jones

harness maker

Mother:

Sarah (Strong) Jones

Daughter :

Sallie Jones Ashe

1845–1919

wife :

Mary Smith Jones

1819–1907

colleague:

James Bowie

colleague:

Robert James Calder

When war came Jones enlisted in Robert J. Calder's company and during the San Jacinto campaign was judge advocate and surgeon of the Second Regiment.

colleague:

Sam Houston

Son :

Cromwell Anson Jones

1850–1888

Son :

Charles Elliot Jones

1843–1862

Son :

Samuel Edward Jones

1841–1913

associate:

Sam Houston

An important leader of the Texas Revolution, Houston served as the 1st and 3rd president of the Republic of Texas.

References

• DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS. Part I. Volume II
• Anson Jones: The last President of Texas
• The Annexation of Texas: 1911
• British interests and activities in Texas, 1838-1846 (1910)
• Diplomatic Correspondence of the Republic of Texas - Part II : ANNUAL REPORT OF THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE YEAR 1907
• Personnel of the Texas State Government: With Sketches of Representative Men of Texas (Classic Reprint)