Who is called "The Mother of Texas"?

Long was born Jane Wilkinson on July 23, 1798 in Maryland. In 1811, she moved with her mother to Mississippi Territory. When her mother died the following year, Jane went to live with her older sister near Natchez.

Jane came to Texas in 1819, following her husband James who was fighting to free Texas from Spanish rule. James was arrested soon after, and later he went to Mexico City in March 1822 to plead his case but was mysteriously shot and killed by a guard the following month.

Jane remained at Bolivar Peninsula near Galveston 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 survived on dwindling supplies of corn meal, salted fish and oysters. 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, firing a cannon at intervals. On December 21 in an ice-covered tent, Jane gave birth to Mary James Long. Jane believed that she was the first Anglo woman to give birth to a child in Texas. Though census data contradicts that claim, her legacy as the “Mother of Texas” stuck.

After she left Bolivar, Jane operated boarding houses. She started the first in Brazoria in 1832; her guests included Sam Houston, Mirabeau Lamar and William B. Travis.

Jane Long is buried at Richmond, Texas. Her gravestone reads, “Mrs. Jane H. Long, The Mother of Texas.”