First president of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas from 1891 through 1907. She was a Democrat and Episcopalian and was influential in establishing a church in Washington-on-the-Brazos and St. Paul's College in Anderson. Wife of (1) Hugh McCrory, they were married on July 18, 1837 in Houston, Harris, Texas. McCrory, a soldier in the Army of the Republic of Texas died suddenly seven weeks later. Wife of (2) Anson Jones, they were married on May 17, 1840. Jones was a prominent doctor and politician and served as the last President of the Republic of Texas, 1844-1846. Mary and Anson Jones had four children: Samuel Houston (later changed to Samuel Edward), Charles Elliot who died at the Battle of Shiloh, Sallie S., and Cromwell Anson Jones. Mary Jones died on December 31, 1907, at the residence of her daughter in Houston.

For more information see "History of Texas Biographical History of the Cities of Houston and Galveston (1895)"
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On July 24, 1819, in Lawrence county, Arkansas Territory, Mary Smith was born, the first in a family of five children. Her father was John McCutcheon Smith, a native of Rockbridge county, Virginia, and her mother, Sarah Pevhouse, of west Tennessee. When Mary was three years old the family moved to Conway county, Arkansas, where they lived five years, and where the early childhood impressions of the beautiful scenery of that section was deeply engraved upon the little girl's memory. From the year 1827 until October 23, 1833, their home was near Little Rock, where such school advantages were enjoyed as the condition of the new country afforded.
Here the father died, and at the date mentioned the widowed mother, with her little family, resolved to come to Texas, as there was a large emigration from Arkansas at that time. On the 18th of November they reached the Sabine river, and found it swollen from recent heavy rains. A raft, constructed of mulberry logs fastened together with wooden pins driven into auger holes, was made by the immigrants, who were there waiting to cross into the promised land, and in this they all crossed, about twenty families, together with their household goods. The journey was attended with much delay and suffering in consequence of excessive rains and cold weather, so that they did not reach their destination, Brazoria county, until near the first of January, 1834.
In 1835 Mrs. Smith married John Woodruff, of Brazoria county, a widower with six children. The family was farther augmented by the birth of four children, all girls, the fruit of this marriage. Mary, being the eldest, naturally shared with her mother the care of the other children, and upon the mother's death in June, 1845, and the step-father's in March, 1847, the whole responsibility of caring for the little ones devolved upon her. She cherished tender recollections of her stepfather, and always regarded the sisters by her mother's second marriage with the same tender affection bestowed upon those of her own father, she raised two of them, one lived with her five years, and one until married.
Settled in Brazoria county, where a large number of colonists of Stephen F. Austin had made homes, there was little incident to disturb the routine of family life. The ordinary condition of the colonists was their's; they encountered many hardships, and suffered many privations common to life in a new and unsettled country. They had few comforts, no luxuries, but life had its pleasures, and each day brought its interests and duties. "A true pioneer does not think, nor care, much for money or luxuries."
But before the close of the year 1835, a storm which had been long gathering burst upon the colonists. The invasion of their homes by armed Mexican forces excited anxiety, but the success which attended all the early engagements between the troops of Texas and Mexico was reassuring, and, until the fall of the Alamo, there was little apprehension that the colonists east of the Brazos river would be disturbed. After this terribly disastrous siege, followed closely by the massacre of Fannin and his men at Goliad, panic spread throughout the country. One division of Santa Anna's army had advanced to within six miles of the home of Mr. Woodruff. Most of the colonists prepared to move their families to the other side of the Sabine river. Many of the men who were in the Texan army returned home to provide places of safety for their dear ones. Mr. Woodruff's family, in company with others, set out on the march toward the Sabine. Having learned that Santa Anna's army had reached the crossing on the San Jacinto river where they intended to cross, they left the road and sought temporary shelter in the timber on Clear creek, where they remained until after the battle of San Jacinto was fought and won.
In their hasty departure from home they were able to take with them only the actual necessaries of life, and were considered fortunate in having an ox team for transportation; on this were loaded the bedding, or rather bed covering, and ticks which could be used, for filling with straw or whatever could be had for that purpose, a few cooking utensils, the clothing of the family, and bacon, coffee, corn and a steel mill for grinding. All along the roads were to be seen vehicles of every kind, followed by women and children, many of them on foot. Some hastily put a few provisions and clothing on sleds of slides, some wagons consisted of wheels cut out of solid tree trunks with an axle; often camps seemed to have been hastily abandoned. In one instance, an open trunk that had been hastily rummaged for some essential article, a looking glass fastened to the side of a tree gave testimony of the recent possession and hasty departure of campers. The news of the Texan army having crossed the Brazos river warned them that unless they made all possible haste they were in danger of being left a prey to Mexican rapacity. So they fled as if fleeing for their lives.
While encamped at this place the corn-mill, which had been so providently placed in their wagon, furnished grinding power for thirty families. On the road from Brazoria to this point for eight miles there was a constant stream of people, many on foot, on horseback and progressing by every kind of rude conveyance that could be hastily devised.
From the retreat on Clear Creek, eight miles from the battlefield, the booming of the cannon could be distinctly heard by the camped colonists, but their hearts never for an instant faltered as to the certainty of a successful issue. When the news of certain victory came, they all returned to their desolate homes, to find that everything left there had been carried away or destroyed, and again the early hardships, which had begun to lessen with the rapid settlement of the country, were renewed.
In the fall of this year, 1836, the city of Houston was laid out, and in December of the same year, Mr. Woodruff and family moved to the new city. At that time there were no houses, not even tents; so they camped, where the city of Houston now is, until a house could be built for them. There was no house of any kind for the use of men of business, who were obliged to be there. At first houses were so few that it was a singular sight to look abroad in the morning and see so many people moving about; the wonder was where they all had accommodated themselves with shelter during the night. The first church service was held under the shade of a grove, where benches, which had been sawed by a whipsaw, were arranged for seats. Lyttleton Fowler and Mr. Hose were among the early preachers here. There was soon a town full of people, and all went to work with a hearty good will to build suitable shelter for the numbers daily arriving and settling.
Here, in the spring of 1837, Mary Smith became acquainted with Hugh McCrory, who had come to Texas with General Felix Houston's volunteer command to aid Texas in her struggle for liberty. In July, a marriage license issued to them was the first in the book of records of Harrisburg, now Harris county. They were married July 23, 1837. Within seven weeks the bridegroom was taken ill and died, leaving Mary a widow at the early age of eighteen. She continued to reside in Houston with her parents until the early part of June, 1839, when, the seat of government having been established at Austin, they moved to the new town.
Here, far from any other settlements, the citizens were in constant danger from hostile Indians, who almost every full moon would visit the settlement, killing or carrying off some citizen, or perhaps capturing one or two children. On account of the terrible cruelties to which they subjected prisoners this fate was regarded as worse than immediate death at their hands.
In the fall of 1839, an acquaintance began between Mrs. McCrory and Dr. Anson Jones, in Houston, in the summer of 1838 was renewed at Austin, and in May, 1840, they were married, at Austin.
Dr. Jones was a native of Massachusetts. He came to Texas in 1833 and began the practice of medicine at Brazoria. From December, 1835, when he took part in a public meeting at Brazoria, being chairman of a committee which drew up and offered resolutions advocating a declaration of independence from Mexico, till the day of his death. January 9, 1858, he was prominently connected with the public affairs of Texas. He was Representative from Brazoria county in the Congress assembled at Houston in 1838, and at about the same time was appointed Minister to the United States, and was absent at Washington in this capacity for about eleven months. During his absence he was nominated and elected Senator from Brazoria county to the Texas Congress for a term of two years to fill out the unexpired term of Hon. William H. Wharton, who had been accidentally killed after serving only a portion of his term. This brought Dr. Jones to the new seat of government at Austin, where he and his wife continued to live until after the expiration of his term of office, when they moved to Columbia, twelve miles from Brazoria, in the edge of Oyster creek timber, Brazoria county, his former home, and he there resumed the practice of medicine. From the time of her marriage Mrs. Jones' life became closely identified with the leading events of the country, particularly with every measure in which her husband took part, and he was continually holding important positions under the government of the Republic of Texas. A soldier as well as surgeon at the battle of San Jacinto, from the first organization of the government he was almost continually in its service until the final act of annexation to the United States. Annexation was a pet scheme of his, long before the measure became sufficiently popular to become a public measure of government policy. As Secretary of State under General Houston he fostered the measure, and finally it was under his administration as President of the Republic that the change of government took place. On the 19th of February, 1846, President Jones in an impressive and touching address announced the change in these words, "The Republic of Texas is no more." At the same moment the Texas flag was lowered to give place to the Stars and Stripes. This occurred at the old log State-house at Austin.
The seat of government had been moved from Austin to Washington in the fall of 1843, and on January 29, 1843, Dr. Jones and his family moved there, or rather to a farm four miles from Washington on the road to Chapel Hill and Independence. This farm was called Barrington, Dr. Jones having named his home in honor of Great Barrington township, Massachusetts, where he was born. At Barrington their youngest child was born, the elder near the same place, and Mrs. Jones dispensed a liberal hospitality. Here she was known for her charities. Many a poor family migrating to Texas, with all their worldly good hauled by a surly team, in need of medicine, clothes and food, has been supplied with all from her well-furnished stores. In those days and in that locality everything was brought in wholesale quantities, and trunks of dry goods, as well as barrels of all kinds of groceries were at hand to administer, if need be, to the wants of the destitute, and every planter's wife knew enough of medicine to give from a simple laboratory such remedies as would relieve the diseases of the country. Mrs. Jones was truly a lady bountiful, and bestowed favors with a generous hand and sympathetic heart.
In January, 1858, Dr. Jones died, and on January 29, of the same year, just fifteen years after moving to the farm in Washington county, his widow and her four children moved to Galveston, where they lived nearly one year. In December, 1858, they moved to a farm in Harris county, situated on Goose creek, about ten miles from Lynchburg. From this place the children were sent to school in Galveston until the beginning of the civil war in 1861, when a school was established at a short distance by Mr. and Mrs. Kemp, who were in turn succeeded by Mr. Preston, who had a flourishing school there for some years.
In this quiet country home Mrs. Jones managed her little farm with a skill born of practical knowledge, which made it a model in the neighborhood. An early riser, a keen observer, everything about house, garden, dairy and farm showed the result of her untiring industry and observant scrutiny; neatness and regularity pervaded every department. Her children's studies also claimed a large share of her attention, and by her clear judgment, her careful training in distinct enunciation and exactitude of pronunciation in their school days, she not only aided their teachers, but gave them necessary training too often neglected by careless mothers and which in after years no education can supply. In the truest sense of the word she was a mother who appreciated the responsibilities resting upon her as the guardian of the moral no less than of the physical and mental well-being of her children, and her moral precepts carried with them the additional weight of example. It was from this country home that Mrs. Jones' elder sons, Samuel and Charles, went forth at the beginning of the civil war to join the Confederate army as member of Company C, Dr. Ashbel Smith, Captain, Second Texas Regiment of Infantry, Colonel Moore commanding. Charles never returned, was mortally wounded at the battle of Shiloh, April 7, 1862; the date of his death and place of his burial were never known. The hope was long indulged that as a prisoner his wounds might heal and he be returned to his sorrowing mother; but time dispelled all such vain hopes. He was a youth of brilliant parts and great promise, and his untimely death filled to overflowing his mother's cup of sorrow, already full. Like many another brave Southern woman, at that time her life was sorrowful yet dutiful, and through her tears she saw the path that the living must tread beset with briars and thorns though it might be.
Her youngest son, Cromwell Anson, studious from his earliest childhood, determined to qualify himself for the practice of law, and in 1871 went to Houston for that purpose. Her only daughter, Sallie, having married R. G. Ashe, made her home at San Jacinto. Samuel also having married, Mrs. Jones left her lonely home and moved to San Jacinto at a short distance from the battle-ground. In 1875 she, together with her daughter's family, moved to Willis, where they lived until December 16, 1879, when, after an absence of forty years, Houston again became Mrs. Jones' home. Her son, Cromwell Anson, the young lawyer, had speedily acquired great popularity and had been for some years Judge of the County Court of Harris county, respected for his virtues, admitted for his talents, endowed with gifts which would have guaranteed him a prominent place in the affairs of the State. Everything seemed to promise a tranquil, happy old age to his mother, whose delight was in his congenial society. But on January 19, 1888, death removed him from their family circle, where he was the idol. To use his mother's own words, "In the midst of his usefulness, in the bloom of young manhood, he was called from labor below to labor above, in that better life. Oh, the blackness of that pall of sorrow I held in my heart of hearts, as one, apart from all other beings, so thoughtful, so gentle had he ever been in bestowing filial care upon an aged mother."
Few women have incurred greater hardships in early life, and not many have drained the cup of sorrow with greater fortitude than Mrs. Jones. Truly her sorrows have been great, but the bitterness of grief have not tainted the sweetness of her life. Having lived from childhood to old age in Texas, the sacred sentiment of patriotism is deeply rooted in her heart, and second only to her love for her own family may be ranked her pride in Texas and her love for its institutions. As president of the Daughters of the Republic, of Texas, she occupies a position which none other could fill with equal fitness. But while feebleness prevents her active participation in many of the affairs of the society, she inspires and advises.
Two children remain to comfort her declining years: Dr. S. E. Jones, the eldest son, a successful practitioner of dentistry, who with his son Elliott resides with her; and her daughter, Mrs. R. G. Ashe, who with her husband and interesting family life in the same city. President Anson Jones, her husband; Cromwell Anson, her son; and Willie G. Ashe, a beloved granddaughter, rest in Glenwood cemetery at Houston.
In all the varied experiences of Mrs. Jones' life she has shown remarkable strength of character. A companion to her husband in every sense of the word, he made her acquainted with all the details of his business; there her quick mind grasped and comprehended, so that, when his sudden death left her the sole guardian of their family of four children, she found herself possessed of business qualifications of incalculable value in the management of their estate. At once the responsibilities of guardian, parent and teacher rested upon her alone, and she fulfilled the duties of each with a precision and exactitude to excite the admiration of her friends, and always with the welfare and happiness of her children the one object in view.
Mrs. Jones' character is shown in her strongly marked features, which are clear cut, her steady grey eyes, which express sincerity and decision, and the firmness of the tones of her voice, as well as in the distinctness of her enunciation; all these indicate that with her there is no wavering to this side or that, where truth or right is concerned. Her memory is good, exact even in minute particulars, and running over the events of her early life in Texas with the same exactitude as in regard to an occurrence of yesterday.

(Source: History of Texas Biographical History of the Cities of Houston and Galveston (1895)