Jesse P. Munson

     Jesse P. Munson was born in 1800 in Mississippi.¹ He was the son of Jesse Munson.¹ He married Clara C. (—?—) probably after 1850. He and Clara C. (—?—) were divorced on 11 April 1859 in Brazoria County, Texas.² He married Susan Stringfellow Hughes on 25 May 1872 in Brazoria County, Texas.³ He died after 25 May 1872 in Phair, Brazoria County, Texas.¹
     
     Jesse P. Munson was a younger half-brother to Micajah and Henry. The first mention of him is in a letter written by William Benjamin Munson (son of Henry William) from Oakland Plantation to his brother Mordello in 1846. It reads:

Uncle Jesse very suddenly made his appearance a few days since from Louisiana. You do not recollect him of course, he came to Texas with Father and lived with him a year, he then returned to Louisiana and has been living on the Mississippi river above New Orleans ever since. He is a half-brother of Father's, seems to be a good sort of a man though very illiterate. He will stay with us this winter.

It is concluded then, that Jesse P. accompanied his half-brothers and their families to the Trinity settlement, Coahuila and Texas, in 1824, but moved back to Louisiana before 31 July 1826 when he doesn't appear on the Atascosito census. Neither does he appear in the 1820 census in Rapides Parish where his brothers were enumerated that year, or in any Louisiana parish in the 1830 census or 1840 census. In 1820, it is likely he was living with Micajah as there was a male in the household in his age range. His years "on the Mississippi river above New Orleans" may have been spent living on plantations employed as a sugar maker. To support this theory, in the 1850 census, on 26 August, he was living on a Brazoria County plantation of George Souter, an unrelated individual, occupation "sugar maker." (An article in the "Texas Historical Quarterly" describes Jesse Munson as "the best sugar maker in Brazoria County.") A few weeks later, on 13 September, he was enumerated again in the 1850 census, this time in Liberty County, Texas, a "sugar boiler" living in the household of William and Martha Caroline Munson. Martha was his niece, Micajah's daughter. In 1859 in Brazoria County, Jesse P. Munson was divorced from Clara C. Munson. If he is the same individual, his marriage to Clara was probably brief as she doesn't appear with him in Brazoria County or Liberty County in the 1850 census. In the 1860 census, he was living at Oakland Plantation with his nephews Gerard and George Munson, and Gerard's family. No occupation is given. Jesse is nowhere to be found on the 1870 census. At about age 72, he married Susan Hughes, formerly Stringfellow, who was previously married to Allen Harrison and Joseph Hughes. Susan was a neighbor of George Souter in 1850. It is not known when Jesse died, but family tradition is that he spent his last years as a gentleman of liesure at Phair, a small community southeast of present-day Angleton, and was buried there in the Stratton Ridge Cemetery. However, proof is lacking. He probably had no children.^4,5,6,7,8