Shannon

Jacob Montgomery Shannon, Sr., Texas Ranger and pioneer settler of Austin's colony and Montgomery County, the son of Margaret (Montgomery) and Owen Shannon, was born on March 6, 1804, in Wilkes County, Georgia. The town of Montgomery and the county of the same name were named for Margaret Montgomery's family. Shannon moved to Texas in 1821 and was married in 1823 at Fort Jessup, Louisiana, to Catherine (Kitty) Yoakum, daughter of American Revolution veteran Jesse Yoakum. Their first child was born at San Augustine in 1824. Owen and Jacob, along with Jacob's brother John Shannon, are listed in the June 9, 1826, muster roll of the Ayish Bayou District. Jacob was among the troops under Stephen F. Austin who put down the Fredonian Rebellion in 1827. Shannon ran unsuccessfully for sheriff in Washington Municipality on July 18, 1835. He was in the first force of Texas Rangers organized after the Texas Revolution. He built a successful plantation, which produced cotton, corn, tobacco, and livestock and included a two-story plantation home furnished with fine Victorian furniture and one of the first square grand pianos imported to Texas. His plantation and that of his cousin, Aaron Shannon, became known as Shannon Prairie, and the post office was known as Shannon (now Dobbin). Shannon was friendly with Indian tribes and carried out many civic activities. He deeded land for a school, a church, and a public burial ground. He was a charter trustee of Montgomery Academy, founded in Montgomery in 1848. He died in 1878.