Jasper, Jasper County
Important river shipping and trading point; was made seat of Bevil municipality, 1834. Named for John Bevil, Texas Ranger, a delegate (1835) to Consultation on Texas Independence, Chief Justice of Jasper County (1839), farmer. On Angelina River, Bevilport shipped cotton, hides and other East Texas products to markets in New Orleans. Its docks were busy with flatboats, keelboats-- its stores packed with travelers. Texas rivers flowing to Gulf of Mexico were favorite areas for settlement; Bevil and others prospered on rich "bottom" lands, using river as road to market. (1967)