Notes for: Jesse GRIMES

He first settled in Stephen Austin's second colony on the San Jacinto River but the following year moved to the area now known as Grimes County. He signed up with the Texas militia as a first lieutenant in the Austin Battalion in 1829 and over the next few years held many key positions in the provisional government. Elected as one of the Washington County delegates for the Convention of 1836 to discuss the coming secession and war with Mexico, he traveled to Washington-on-the-Brazos and there signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. After Texas won its independence, he was elected to the Senate of the Texas Congress as the Washington County delegate from October 1836 to September 1837; when he moved to Montgomery County, he served in the Senate again from November 1841 to December 1843, then again in 1845. Grimes County was named for him in 1846 by petition of his constituents in honor of his work. Jesse Grimes died on March 15, 1866 and was buried in a small cemetery outside of Navasota. In 1929, the remains of he and his second wife were reinterred in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin in recognition of his service to the Republic of Texas.