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From: "Sarah" <>
Subject: excerpts from a family history
Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 12:46:47 -0500


This is an excerpt from Sheilah's cousin Jack's book that we thought would
be of interest to all. Jack has given her permission to share...(not to be
reproduced for profit or sale)

"The Soloman B. Jackson Family in Wilson County, Texas
With Attention to Other Families of MY Line,
Such as the Wests, Dyals, Pooleys, and Trammels
by
Jack Jackson
1998
copywrited

Down on the Cibolo--Or Maybe the Ecleto

When Solomon saw Sutherland Springs and the area that is now Wilson County,
he realized that he had found a place worth putting down roots in. The land
was a rich, green oasis with pure spring water, a number of different
mineral waters (including sulfur), and was drained by the Cibolo and
numerous creeks and branches. Fish and game were plentiful, and even brown
bear could be found in the river bottoms. The open, sandy prairies were
dotted with oak timber and covered by a splendid coat of deep grass. A
horse could be (pg13) ridden over the area without having to bend its head
to eat, or so it was said. Compared to modern times, there were very few
dense stretches of mesquites or prickly pear cactus. Ancil later recalled
that on this fertile land bluebonnets grew knee high to his father. It was
a stockman's paradise, exactly the sort being extolled by writers of
emigrant guides to Texas that were so popular in these years.

Before long, the area felt the impact of sturdy Anglo pioneers, in addition
to the Hispanic ranchers who had been residing along the San Antonio River
around what is now Floresville for a century. But the fortunes of these
original settlers had begun to decline after the Texas Revolution, a process
hastened by the Mexican War just concluded. Many were selling out to
newcomers and either moving to town or going south; others tried in vain to
protect their Spanish/Mexican titles (seldom executed in "proper form" )
from squatters or those located on these large grants with more recent
entitlements from the Republic of Texas. These were usually judged to be
valid by the courts, and the Hispanic old-timers found themselves being
pushed aside. Whether by hook or crook, permanent homes began to dot the
valleys on the East side of the Cibolo and appear along the Ecleto, a stream
that attracted hardly any Hispanic residents. They might venture into the
area on occasional roundups of wild cattle, but only a handful of them dared
to stay once the mestenos had been gathered and branded at remote corrals
that had been erected by their forefathers generations earlier. As Olmstead
noted, most of these Mexican ranchers had their houses along the San Antonio
River, west of the Cibolo and Ecleto. Although the first Anglos began
settling along these two streams during the Republic years, there were but a
few scattered houses in the area when Solomon moved down in the 1850s. It
was still virtually a wilderness, with only the night sounds of the steamy
creek bottoms or the muffled step of passing moccasins to disturb the ear.
Neighbors were few and far between, and valued more than we of another era
can appreciate.

Sutherland Springs got its name from Dr. John Sutherland Jr., a Virginian
who had come to Texas with his brother George in December of 1835. John
promptly declared his allegiance to the provisional government and went to
San Antonio arriving at the Alamo on 18 January 1836. As one of Travis's
couriers, he missed the slaughter of his comrades and carried on with the
struggle for Independence. After it was achieved and statehood attained, Dr.
Sutherland moved his family to the locale of the Sulpher Springs, about
1849. He is shown on the 1850 census as a 58-year-old native of Vermont
(should be Virginia as he was born near Danville Pittsylvania County in
1702) with wife Ann M. [Dickson], age 42, from Georgia, and four children
(Jack, Mary F., William and Alexander H.) aged 12 to 2. Next to Dr.
Sutherland lived the families of David K. "Southerland" (as Sutherlands name
was also given, David being his son) and William D. Mays, known to his
friends as "Billy."

Four years previously another noted Texian, Joseph Henry Polley, built his
home several miles above the Springs....

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