Container is large enough to hold many swag items, trackables, log book and pen. Cache has been placed with permission from Independence Historical Society.
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COLES SETTLEMENT: In 1822, John and Mary Eleanor Coles migrated from Georgia to Texas with their two children and three slaves. Coles was given extensive holdings when the Mexican government issued land grants, making him one of the “Old Three Hundred” to settle in Texas. Around 1825, the family came to what is now the Independence area and established Coles Settlement.
The Coles’ house was the center of land and political activity because John Prince Coles (1793-1847) served as a personal agent of “the Father of Texas,” Stephen F. Austin, and was appointed first Alcalde in the upper portion of Austin’s colony when Texas was a Mexican territory. In 1836, he was appointed the first Chief Justice of Washington County by Sam Houston, first President of the Republic of Texas.
It was in this house that John and Mary Coles raised their large family and managed their farm operations. Coles also took an active interest in establishing educational institutions in the area. John & Mary Coles and seven of their 12 children are buried in the Old Independence Cemetery, located nearby.