Jonathan Anthony McGary Sr was born on 15 February 1815 in Evansville, Indiana, to Gen Hugh McGary Jr and Mary Clarissa Anthony. He was named after his maternal grandfather. Jonathan's mother died when was seven years old. Not long after, Jonathan's heartbroken father abandoned him and his brothers with their older sister, Clarissa McGary Dobyns, in Sumner County, Tennessee. When Clarissa died, her husband, Thomas Dobyns, was appointed guardian of the boys. Jonathan and his younger brother, Daniel Hugh McGary, eventually migrated to Texas. They both fought in the Texas Revolution and were present at the Battle of San Jacinto when the Texans defeated Mexico. Jonathan married Sarah Leah Noble Bankhead Lamb, 17 December 1837. Sarah was an older, twice widowed, mother of four girls. They settled in western Walker County (then part of Montgomery County), in 1838, after petitioning for both of Sarah's deceased husbands' land claims. Jonathan and Sarah built a log cabin where they raised cotton and formed an ox wagon train to Houston. Five more children were born: Courtney, Sarah, Amanda, Marion, and Jonathan Anthony McGary Jr. In 1854, Jonathan and Sarah donated land for Ebenezer Baptist Church and Cemetery. According to the 1860 Census of Huntsville, Texas, Jonathan's nieces, Amanda and Octavia McGary, were also living with the family. They were the daughters of his brother, Daniel Hugh McGary, who disappeared on his way to the California Gold Rush. Jonathan Anthony McGary Sr died, 3 November 1862, aged 47, and was buried with his wife at Ebenezer Cemetery in Huntsville. The cemetery's historical marker reads, "Along with Ebenezer Baptist Church, this cemetery organized in 1854 on land donated by Jonathan and Sarah McGary along a stagecoach road from Huntsville to Austin."