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- DeWitt Colony Biographies
Gonzales Town Residents
Town Lot Owners
http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/innerresidents3o-z2.htm
Andrew Ponton (1804-1850) was born in Amherst County, Virginia and went to the DeWitt Colony, Gonzales County, Texas in 1829 from Boonville, Cooper County, Missouri with his parents, two sisters and others. Andrew's parents were William Ponton (1772-1834) and Isabella Mooreland (1782-1860), a native of Pennsylvania. William was killed by a stray band of Indians May 20, 1834 where he and a friend John Hays were cutting poles for a crib. The daughters were: Polly "Mary" Jane Patrick (1810 near Lovingston, Nelson County, Virginia-1837 San Felipe, Austin Colony) married May 29, 1828 James Blair Patrick in Cooper County, Missouri; and Sarah Ann (September 16, 1820 Boonville, Cooper County, Missouri) who married Horace Eggleston. Andrew married July 8, 1841 Mary H. Berry in Columbus, Colorado County, Republic of Texas with his brother Joel Ponton, a minister of the Disciples of Christ Church, performing the ceremony. He died July 4, 1850 and was buried in the Gonzales Masonic Cemetery where the Texas Centennial Commission erected an Historical Marker on his grave in 1936. His brother Joel (July 3, 1802 near Lovingston, Amherst County, Virginia) married January 5, 1827 in Cooper County, Missouri Sarah Ann Reavis (June 8, 1794 August 31, 1837), a native of Rutherford County, North Carolina, and died in Gonzales County. The school where Andrew received his education has not been found.
In 1835 Andrew was elected Alcalde of Gonzales, and in September he was a member of the Gonzales Committee for Safety. The Mexican government had furnished a cannon for the protection of Gonzales' inhabitants against Indians; in 1835 Mexico sent soldiers to Gonzales to get the cannon or bring Ponton to San Antonio as a hostage. He put them off, and the final result was that he sent a very diplomatic letter of why he could not return the cannon. He was a farmer, stockman, politician and judge. He was the first chief justice of Gonzales County, a member of the Second Congress, House of Representatives in Houston for the County of Gonzales 1837-1838. He was elected the first chief justice of Lavaca County when it was formed in 1846. His land grant was issued June 18, 1832 and was located on the Gonzales-Lavaca County line. Andrew Ponton and his son Thomas Jefferson were members of the Masonic Order A.F. & A.M. Andrew and Mary had four children: William W. (1842) joined the Confederate army in 1862 and was soon released for a disability; Andrew S. (1845-1862) joined the Confederate army in September, 1861 and was killed in the battle at Atlanta in 1862; Thomas Jefferson Ponton Sr. (April 6, 1847 Gonzales County-December 9, 1889 Gonzales) after his high school education studied law and became a prominent attorney in Gonzales County, married February 27, 1872 in Gonzales Martha "Mattie" Kentuckey Brown (1849-1887) and had seven children with descendants later living in California and Florida; and Samuel Virgin (1849 1856). B. Elmer Spradley (From The History of Gonzales County, Texas. Reprinted by permission of the Gonzales County Historical Commission).
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