Jonesville

Jonesville, the second of four county seats of Angelina County, was twelve miles southeast of Lufkin on what is now U.S. Highway 69. It succeeded Marion as county seat on August 22, 1854, and held the position until May 19, 1858, when Angelina (later called Homer) assumed the honor. Jonesville was named for Martin William (Gobbler) Jones, Sr., an early settler said to be known for his habit of imitating a turkey gobbler. Jones came to Texas by way of Tennessee, Alabama, and Arkansas, where he founded the community of Old Royal Colony near present day Searcy, Arkansas, in White County. He also represented White County in the first General Assembly of the state of Arkansas in 1836. Jones, on the advice of his son, moved his family from Arkansas to Angelina County in the mid 1840s and established them on a place three miles southeast of what is now Huntington. After Angelina County was founded, Jones became a member of the county commissioners' court that voted to make Jonesville the county seat. He also had a tannery near Jonesville, kept cattle, and farmed.

The town remained small throughout its history. It had a few saloons, a post office, a few general merchandise houses, and no courthouse. It also had a very small sawmill.