PONTON, ANDREW (1804-1850). Andrew Ponton, pioneer farmer, stockman, politician, and judge, was born in 1804 in Nelson, Amherst County, Virginia, one of four children of William and Isabell (Moreland) Ponton. With his father and brother-in-law, James Blair Patrick, he arrived in Texas on December 17, 1829. He received his land title on June 18, 1832, and was married on July 8, 1841, to Mary H. Berry in Gonzales County, Republic of Texas. Of the couple's four sons, Andrew S. was killed in the battle of Atlanta, and Thomas Jefferson was an attorney in Gonzales County.
Ponton was the last alcalde of Gonzales, elected to that position in 1835. In May 1835 he was a member of the Gonzales Committee of Safety (see COMMITTEES OF SAFETY AND CORRESPONDENCE). In September 1835, when Domingo de Ugartechea demanded that the Gonzales "Come and Take It" cannon be surrendered to Mexican soldiers or that Ponton be brought to San Antonio as a hostage, Ponton put off the Mexicans with excuses; he sent calls for help to the settlements and was a defender in the battle of Gonzales on October 2, 1835. On February 23, 1836,William B. Travis sent Ponton an appeal asking for men and provisions for the relief of the Alamo, and men from Gonzales answered his request.
Ponton was the first judge of the Municipality of Gonzales and a member from Gonzales County of the Second Congress of the republic in 1837-38. He was the first chief justice of Lavaca County, elected on July 13, 1846. Ponton was a Mason. He died on July 4, 1850, and is buried in the Old Gonzales Masonic Cemetery, where the Texas Centennial Commission erected a marker on his grave in 1936.
Last edited: