Jonesville

JONESVILLE, TEXAS (Angelina County). Jonesville, the second of four county seats of Angelina County, was twelve miles southeast of Lufkin on what is now U.S. Highway 69. It succeeded Marion as county seat on August 22, 1854, and held the position until May 19, 1858, when Angelina (later called Homer) assumed the honor. Jonesville was named for Martin William (Gobbler) Jones, an early settler said to be known for his habit of imitating a turkey gobbler. Jones moved his family of twelve children from Alabama to Angelina County in the mid 1840s and established them on a place three miles southeast of what is now Huntington. After Angelina County was founded, Jones became a member of the county commissioners' court that voted to make Jonesville the county seat. He also had a tannery near Jonesville, kept cattle, and farmed.