By Chris Godbold

Jane Long, called the Mother of Texas, was born in Maryland in 1798 to Gen. William Wilkinson and Annie Dent Wilkinson. She married Dr. James Long in 1815 and they settled near Natchez, Miss. Their first daughter, Ann, was born a year later.

Soon thereafter, Dr. Long became leader of an effort to free Texas from Spanish rule. He gathered forces and entered Texas taking Nacogdoches. Along the way, Jane and their two daughters were left with her sister. Another daughter, Rebecca, had been born by this time. Eventually, Jane would join her husband in Nacogdoches, but before long the Spanish pushed the group back to Louisiana. Dr. Long mounted another expedition to Texas and landed at Bolivar Point. There Jane, Ann, and a servant girl, Kian, were left with a few others and a small amount of provisions while the rest of the expedition proceeded to Goliad. (By this time, Rebecca had passed away.)

It was on Bolivar Point that the Lively carrying the first of Austin’s colonists found Jane Long still waiting for her husband to return. The captain of the Lively gave her more supplies as Jane refused to leave with the Lively. She gave birth to another daughter, Mary, in 1821 who would only live to the age of 4, and remained at Bolivar until she received news in 1822 that her husband had been captured by the Spanish and then killed by Mexican revolutionaries. This sad news prompted her to leave the coast and settle on the San Jacinto River. She stayed there a short time.

By 1825, she established a boarding house in San Felipe and entertained any number of important people. In 1832, Long moved to Brazoria and opened a boarding house there that was frequented by Stephen F. Austin, Mirabeau Lamar, the New Orleans Grays, and others. A ball was held there for Austin after he was freed from imprisonment in Mexico.

In 1827, Austin confirmed Jane Long’s headright league in what would become Richmond and surrounds. She sold part of that headright to Robert E. Handy who founded Richmond in 1837. Long didn’t move to her land until 1837. There she began a plantation and operated a hotel. Ann Long married Edward Winston, lived in Richmond and had a son, James. Jane Long would remain in Richmond for the rest of her life, never remarrying despite rumors of her famous would-be suitors that included Ben Milam, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, and Mirabeau Lamar.

Jane Long died in Richmond in December 1880 at the age of 82 and is buried in Morton Cemetery. She was called the Mother of Texas because she was one of the first Anglo women in Texas to have a child. Long often claimed to be the first to give birth but this had happened prior to her coming to Texas.

Historical facts and photos courtesy of the Fort Bend County
Museum Association, Richmond, TX