Ross Prairie, Texas, Fayette County, and St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery. (original) (raw)
Tom Hruska Farm in Ross Prairie, circa 1912
Photo courtesy Fayette County Historical Commission, submitted by Carolyn Heinsohn
History in a Pecan Shell
The namesake of the community was James J. Ross, one of the �Old 300� of Stephen F. Austin's Colony. Settled in the 1820s, the original Anglo settlers sold out to incoming Czech and German immigrants in the 1840s. Many of these settlers� descendants continue to live in the area.
A German Lutheran church was built there in 1861. The fertile flat to rolling land produced fine grain and cotton crops from 1850 to 1950 although today much of the land is used for hay production and some cattle raising.
The community�s nearness to Fayetteville prevented independent growth, but its presence has never been forgotten. A historical marker on Highway 71 gives the history of Ross Prairie's namesake, and the cemetery was recently designated as Historic Texas Cemetery with a marker.
Ross Prairie - St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery
Photo courtesy William Beauchamp, December 2009
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery
Historic Texas Cemetery
TE Photo, October 2011
James J. Ross, Ross Prairie's namesake, Historical Marker
TE Photo, October 2011
Historical Marker: From La Grange, take S Hwy 71 NE about 10 miles to intersection of Hwy. 71 & FM 955.
James J. Ross
Born in South Carolina in about 1787, James Jeffres Ross was a member of the "Old Three Hundred." He arrived in Stephen F. Austin's colony in late 1822 or early 1823, moving onto the league granted him near Eagle Lake in Colorado County. In 1828 he moved to the S. A. Anderson League and built a home about one mile southwest of this site.
Col. Ross, as he was known, soon assumed a position of leadership as captain of the militia of the Colorado District. He was a delegate to the second convention at San Felipe in 1833 and was one of those appointed in 1834 to help obtain Austin's release from imprisonment in Mexico. He helped establish a stage line and a stop that became the town of Fayetteville.
An important figure during the early years of settlement in this part of the state, Ross was a successful farmer, rancher, trader, and merchant. Ross Prairie and Ross Creek, both in this vicinity, bear his name. He was killed by angry neighbors in January 1835 for sheltering Indians at his home and was buried in nearby Ross Cemetery. His home, which came to be known as the Ross/Martinek House, was owned by Czech immigrant Joseph Martinek and his descendants for nearly seventy years.
1985
St. Mary's Catholic Church viewed from St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery
TE Photo, October 2011
View of St. Mary's Catholic Church
TE Photo, October 2011
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