BY NORMAN ROZEFF
Jane Long is commonly known as the “Mother of Texas.”
This name was later given to her in recognition of giving birth in 1821 to her daughter Mary, supposedly the first child born to an English-speaking woman in Texas. Earlier censuses however indicate otherwise. Nevertheless Jane had other accomplishments meriting historical recognition.
Jane Herbert Wilkinson was born on July 23, 1798, in Charles County, Maryland. About 1811, her mother, widowed when Jane was 1 year old, moved the family to Washington, Mississippi, then the capital of the Mississippi Territory. Her mother died the following year, and Jane went to live with a sister, in Natchez.
She was to marry in May 1815 James Long, a physician who had come to Natchez following his participation as a surgeon at the Battle of New Orleans.
The following year they had their first child.
The doctor moved on to Texas where he joined efforts to extract Texas from Spanish rule.
By 1920 Jane reunited with him at Fort Las Casas on Bolivar Point, a peninsula opposite Galveston Island, where they established an outpost. She became pregnant as, in September 1821, the doctor and others executed a failed rebellious excursion. He was captured and somehow killed “accidentally” in Mexico City.
An historian was to write, “Unaware of her husband’s fate, Jane steadfastly remained at Bolivar Point through the winter of 1821-1822.
The few other inhabitants left the fort as supplies ran out. Along with a twelve-year-old servant and her six—year-old daughter, Jane stubbornly survived on dwindling supplies of corn meal, salted fish and oysters scavenged from the bay.
“As Jane later reported, the trio kept nearby Indians at a safe distance by a ruse designed to give the illusion that the fort was still protected by soldiers.
On December 21 in an ice covered tent, Jane gave birth to Mary James Long.”
Jane was what we would call today “a tough customer.” She finally left the Bolivar Peninsula in March 1823.
In 1832 she established a successful hotel in Brazoria, which was then an active port for newly arriving emigrants. She operated it for five years.
Jane would entertain many who would play a major role in the growth and independence of Texas.
These included Austin, Milam, Houston, Lamar, Travis and others. In addition to the hotel, Jane became a prosperous plantation owner, having been awarded considerable acreage from empresario Stephen Austin.
At age 39, in 1837, she moved to it and by 1861 had 19 slaves working her then 2,000 acres.
Despite the offers of matrimony from many a suitor, Jane rejected all and died a widow on December 30, 1880.
Buried in the Morton Cemetery at Richmond, Texas, her gravestone is inscribed “Mrs. Jane H. Long, The Mother of Texas.”
