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The Last President 2 LbNA #46154 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Boots Tex
Plant date:Mar 24, 2009
Location:
City:Washington on the Brazos
County:Washington
State:Texas
Boxes:1
Found by: Wry Me
Last found:Nov 23, 2012
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFar
Last edited:Mar 24, 2009
Anson Jones was born in Barrington, Massachusetts in 1798. He studied medicine and began a medical practice in Philadelphia in 1826. In 1833 Jones headed west to Texas, settling eventually in Brazoria. Here, at last, he met with success, establishing a medical practice that prospered quickly. But if Jones was looking for a quiet life in Texas, he would not find it. In 1835, he began to speak out about the growing tensions between Texas and Mexico and that year he attended The Consultation, a meeting held at Columbia by Texas patriots to discuss the fight with Mexico (the meeting's leadership didn't want to call the meeting a "convention," for fear the Mexican government would view it as an independence forum, though this surely is what it was). Dr. Jones himself presented a resolution at the Consultation calling for a convention to be held to declare independence, but he himself refused to be nominated to the convention. During the Texas Revolution, Jones served as a judge advocate and surgeon to the Texas army, though he insisted on holding the rank of private throughout the conflict. After the war, Jones planned to return to Brazoria to resume his medical practice, but Texas President Sam Houston instead appointed him Minister to the United States, where Jones was to formally withdraw the annexation proposal. In September 1844, Jones was elected president of the Republic of Texas, despite running a virtually silent campaign. When Texas was annexed by the United States after all, he would become The Last President of the Republic of Texas, replaced by Texas’ first elected governor, James Pinckney Henderson.
He retired to his plantation near Washington, which he called Barrington after his Massachusetts home. The home is preserved as the Barrington Living History Museum at the Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site.

Directions:
From Navasota, travel west 7 miles and turn left on FM 1155 to Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site.

To the box:
The letterbox is located in the picnic area behind and below the visitor's center. If you choose to drive to that area, take the first right off Park Road 12, pass the road to Barrington Farm, and park behind the rest rooms at the picnic area. If you would like to walk, park at the visitor's center and take the path down to the picnic area. From the rest rooms, follow the wooden posts around the loop road until you are standing even with Pavilion #2. Continue around, looking ahead for a large oak tree growing on the fence line in front of you. It has a broken trunk that has fallen to the right, forming an arch. Walk to that tree and look between the two trunks at the white farm house in the distance. This is Barrington Plantation, the home of Anson Jones, the Last President of the Republic of Texas. While facing the tree, turn to your left and go the the fourth fence post, counting the one next to the tree. The box is wedged into a crevice on the top of the post. Please put it back and wedge it in, leaving enough to grab so it can be pulled out. There are other letterboxes in this park, including "The Dodson Flag" and "The Legend of the Bluebonnet" by Lone Star Quilter.