History
First Baptist Church of Rusk
The First Baptist Church of Rusk traces its history to 1853, when a small group of worshippers led by the Rev. John C. Woolam met in the home of Mrs. Nan C. Trimble to organize a congregation. Early worship services were held in a Union Church shared with the local Presbyterian congregation. Located on Barron Street on land donated by Mrs. Joseph L.
History
First Baptist Church of Rusk
In 2002, First Baptist Church purchased 16 acres at this location, built a new sanctuary and moved in December 2006.
History
Fred Douglass School
Named after prominent African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, the Fred Douglass School was a 20th century African American educational institution in Jacksonville. Because of Jim Crow, the system of laws that legalized segregation, African Americans had to attend separate schools. In the 1900s, the "Little Red School House" was one of the first African American schools in Jacksonville.
History
Friendship Baptist Church and Corine Cemetery
The church and cemetery nearby have served the rural Corine area for more than a century. Founded in 1872, the church held early worship services in a log building, which also housed the community school. Early baptisms were held in nearby Neches River or in Carey Lake. The church met in three locations through the years.
History
Fry's Gap
Fry's Gap A gap in a ridge near Gum Creek headwaters made a natural trail for early travelers, including Kickapoo Indians. The Fry family settled along the creek in the 1840s. Early industry in the Fry's Gap Community included Joseph Fry's grist mill and blacksmith shop, as well as Rhome Ragsdale's brickyard, kiln, paint factory, cotton gin and corn mill.
History
Gent Village
Located on top of Gent Mountain between two creeks, the village of Gent was settled in the 1850s primarily by families from Alabama and Tennessee in search of good farmland. The early settlers quickly established religious and educational institutions, and by 1900 the village boasted several stores, mills and cotton gins as well.
History
George Wahington Slover
(March 27, 1816 -- August 22, 1864) Baptist minister and carpenter. Of French descent, he was born in Jefferson County, Tennessee. Said to have built the Atlanta Hotel depicted in "Gone with the Wind", famous novel of the South during the Civil War. Moved to Cherokee County in 1848, where, on April 8, he helped found the Rocky Springs Baptist Church. He also served as pastor.
History
Gregg Family Home
One of the oldest houses in Rusk; Built 1847-48; Dog-trot styling, pine construction. Modernized in 1919 and 1935. Three former owners were Confederate captains; Daniel Egbert, E. C. Williams, Elbert L. Gregg. Owned by Gregg family since 1876; Community leaders. RTHL 1967
History
Grimes Cemetery
Grimes Cemetery Benjamin Franklin Grimes came to Cherokee County in 1852 with his parents, Isaac and Sara Wilkinson Grimes. In 1859, Benjamin married Mary Jane Wallace, and to this union were born ten children. For a living, he operated freight wagons. He also served in the Confederate army. On April 20, 1883, Grimes buried his daughter Cassandra Gabriella here on his family's land.
History
Helena Kimble Dill Nelson
(1770 -- 1848) Mother of child thought to have been first Anglo-American born in Texas, in 1804. Helena Kimble was born in Maryland. Married James Dill in 1786. Moved to Nacogdoches, then under Spanish rule, 1793. There he became an Indian trader and served as alcalde (mayor), 1821-1823. He died 1825. She gained title in 1828 to Dill's land grant, in present Cherokee County.
History
Henry Cemetery
Woodson Henry and his wife Levissa Hutton Henry were part of a group of thirty-five Muskogee (Creek) indian families who came to Texas between 1832 and 1837 from Chambers County, Alabama. After claiming land in Texas, Henry returned to Alabama in 1840 to recruit additional settlers to join him in Texas.
History
Henry's Chapel Community (Ghost Town)
In 1848, Presbyterian minister William Porter Henry (1820-1875) moved from Alabama to northeastern Cherokee County, where he preached throughout his life. In 1854, Tennessean investors bought land near his home and platted the town of Knoxville, which thrived until 1872 when the International and Great Northern Railway bypassed it for Troup.
History
Holcomb Family Reunion
Members of the Holcomb family have been holding reunions in this location since 1897. George Creagor Holcomb moved to Texas from Arkansas in 1842 and later brought his father Joseph and uncle Zachariah Holcomb and their families to Texas. The Holcomb family acquired land in Cherokee County and soon became active in local churches and communities.
History
In the Present County of Cherokee
Was the home of the exalted grand xinesi - chief priest and custodian of the sacred fire of the Hasinai Confederacy of Indians. If fire was allowed to die out, it was his duty to carry more fire with proper ceremony to their homes to be rekindled. It was to the Hainai -- the principal tribe of this Confederacy, that the word "Texas" was generally applied. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
History
Isaac Lee
(February 8, 1788 -- October 4, 1880) A native of Georgia, Isaac Lee lived in Mississippi and Arkansas before coming to Texas in 1828. He settled first at present San Augustine and later near Nacogdoches. He was a participant in the Battle of Nacogdoches in 1832 and served in the Republic of Texas Army. He and his wife, Mary, were the parents of four children.
History
Jackson Smith
A blacksmith by trade, Kentuckian Jackson Smith came to Texas in the 1830s and participated in the War for Independence. He later visited this area as a Republic of Texas scout. In the 1840s, he settled southwest of here in the Gum Creek community. Near there he platted a townsite he called Jacksonville. Smith served as a Confederate officer in the Civil War.
History
Jacksonville Independent School District
Jacksonville Independent School District Jacksonville's early settlers valued education and had a school as early as 1846 at the original townsite. The Texas Legislature authorized creation of county school districts in 1854, and by the 1860s, Old Jacksonville supported at least two schools. In 1872, residents moved closer to the railroad, and by 1873, they established their first public school.
History
Jacksonville's Public Square
Jackson Smith, a Republic of Texas soldier and scout who first explored the Gum Creek area in 1838, returned in 1847 and built a house and blacksmith shop where F.C. Hardgraves, James G. Earle, David Templeton and others had started a community. Smith became the first postmaster of Gum Creek in 1848. Two years later, the name changed to Jacksonville.
History
James Stephen Hogg and Cherokee County
James Stephen Hogg was born in 1851 to Lucanda (McMath) and Joseph L. Hogg on the family's plantation near Rusk. After a political career in Wood County as justice of the peace, judge and prosecutor, he became Texas Attorney General in 1887. In 1890, he ran as the Democratic candidate for Governor.
History
Jarratt Cemetery
In 1850 Devereux and Polly Ann Jarratt of Virginia settled in this area. In 1858 their sons Henry Morris Jarratt and Wade Jarratt set aside the original cemetery plot for family and public burial. The first burial was a transient worker, Mr. Watts, in 1858. Additional land was acquired later from contributions of many.
History
John Joseph Bowman
(Aug. 15, 1807-Mar. 30, 1890) Tennessee native John Joseph Bowman came to Texas with his family in 1822 and settled in Stephen F. Austin's colony on the Colorado. He later resided in Matagorda County, where, in 1835, he enlisted in the Texian Army, and served in the Texas War for Independence with his father, Joseph, and his brother James, who also is buried here.
Architecture
John Wesley Love Home
Known as "The Peach King" for his large peach orchards, John Wesley Love was born near Jacksonville in 1858. He and his wife, Texanna (Pickens), had this home built in 1902-03 to accommodate their family of twelve children. The turn-of-the-century Victorian-style house features a two-tiered, wraparound porch with hand-finished millwork ornamentation.
History
Jones Cemetery
This family cemetery is located on property owned by John R. Jones and his wife Mary. The couple came here with family from Jackson County, Alabama in 1853. They established a farm and built a log cabin. John Jones died in 1857 and was the first person interred here. Mary died in 1864 and was buried next to her husband.
History
Knoxville
In 1854 Thomas Norman (1812-1859), a native of Tennessee, sold 2/3 interest in a 30-acre tract to William A. Pope and Archibald Carmichael. They sold town lots for Knoxville and in 1856, they gave 3/4 acre for a community church. Soon mercantile stores, a mill, distillery, blacksmith shop and a new school opened. Knoxville never had a saloon although all the stores sold whiskey.
History
Little Bean's Cherokee Village
In the winter of 1819-1820 Chief John Bowles led about sixty Cherokee families from Arkansas to East Texas. Near this site a small settlement was established by a leader named Little Bean. They remained until 1839, when the Republic of Texas government forced the tribe to move to Oklahoma. The land later was opened to Anglo settlers. Early owners of the Indian village were Reza J.
Elsewhere in Texas
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