From Proud Heritage, Vol. 1 by DCPA, not currently in print
John Jackson and Eliza Brown, natives of Tennessee, were married in Blount County, Tennessee, on 4 July 1822. Eliza Brown was born 26 July 1802. Her parents are unknown. John was born south of Maryville, Blount County on 17 April 1798, one of seven children born to Andrew and Jean Sloan Jackson, who married 8 June 1797 in the same county. Jean Sloan, born 16 March 1768, died 1 January 1835, was a daughter of Archibald Sloan. Andrew Jackson was born 7 March 1761, signed the petition for the “Lost” State of Franklin, and died 31 January 1815 while in the process of probating his father John’s will. He left seven children between the ages of 4 and 16, the oldest being the subject of this sketch.
John Jackson grew up on a branch of Baker’s Creek near Clover Hill and the Brick Mill. In Tennessee, John Jackson worked as a cooper (barrel maker). John and Eliza shared their home with his mother and youngest brother, Andrew Jr. After their deaths, John and Eliza Jackson moved to Missouri at some time after December, 1838. There the two youngest of their nine surviving children were born.
John and Eliza Jackson and children arrived in Dallas County in 1846, settling in the Peters Colony, where each married head of household was granted 640 acres and each single male over 17 was given 320 acres. John and his wife selected the section of land at what is now the southeast corner of Audelia Road and Forest Lane. As heir to their son, William Clark, they also received 320 acres located about a mile south of McCree Cemetery. Early court records show that in August 1849 John Jackson and his neighbors Benjamin Dye and A. G. Collins were appointed Commissioners to review the best route for a public highway from the town of Dallas to the Crossing of the East Fork of the Trinity. The plan was approved in February 1850, and among the hands appointed to work were his sons Andrew and James Jackson, Benjamin Prigmore (his future son-in-law), and Benjamin and John Davis (brothers of James E. Jackson’s wife Diana Jane).
The children of John and Eliza Jackson were: 1) Andrew Sloan born 1 August 1823, died 4 July 1897; married 24 December 1851 in Dallas County Elizabeth Dye born 11 November 1835, died 3 April 1921. Both are buried in McCree Cemetery. 2) William Clark born 23 September 1824, died 1 September 1848. He died single of typhoid fever after returning from Mexican War, probably buried on family farm. 3) James Everts born 1 April 1826, died 16 December 1903; married 10 January 1850 in Dallas County, Diana Jane Davis born 14 February 1831, died 20 November 1908. Both are buried in McCree Cemetery. 4) Mary Jane born 3 November 1827, died 12 December 1902; married (1) William Irwin 1 January 1857 in Dallas County, married (2) Billy R. Rader. No known children. She is buried in McCree Cemetery. 5) Ruth Ann born 24 August 1829, died 10 October 1910; married 19 December 1849 in Dallas County, William Chenault born 28 February 1828, died 10 November 1886. Ruth Ann buried Olustee, Jackson County, Oklahoma. William buried Millwood Cemetery, Collin County. 6) Elizabeth Caroline born 14 March 1831, died 23 February 1836. Died as a child in Blount County. 7) Nancy Lucinda born 12 September 1833, died 28 October 1904; married 8 February 1853 in Dallas County Benjamin J. Prigmore born 1 August 1830, died 3 October 1901. Both buried in McCree Cemetery. 8) John Gordon born 28 September 1835, died by 1876; married 15 April 1866 Mary J. Walker, dead by 1880. Their daughter, Talitha G., shared in the estate of her grandfather, John Jackson. She married J. D. (or J. B.) Spain and was in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) in March 1883. 9) Jacob A. born 20 June 1837, died 31 October 1839. Died as a child. 10) Thomas Jefferson born 18 September 1842, died 3 March 1910; married 25 December 1866 in Dallas County Mary Eliza Nash born 3 January 1848, died 14 February 1902. Both buried in McCree Cemetery. 11) Hannah Lenora born 23 May 1844, died 19 June 1926; married 18 October 1865 in Dallas County Charles Lafayette Nash born 16 September 1842, died 19 July 1928. Both buried in Knights of Pythias Cemetery. C. L. Nash was a brother of Mary Eliza Nash.
After devoting a lifetime to farming and raising of stock, John Jackson died 5 September 1875 and was buried in McCree Cemetery beside his wife Eliza, who died 25 April 1871. In his estate settlement claimants show that he owned 20 horses, 5 work oxen, 50 head of cattle, 110 acres of the land heired by son William Clark, and the 640 acres which almost thirty years before had lured him to Texas.
By Everts E. Jackson, Richardson
