Included in the empresario grant to Lorenzo de Zavala in 1829, the area became the municipality of Bevil in 1834 in honor of early settler John Bevil. The provisional government of Texas changed the name to Jasper on December 3, 1835, in honor of William Jasper (1750-1779), a hero of the American Revolution. It was created a county on March 17, 1836, and organized on December 14, 1837, with Jasper as its county seat. Known for its long-leaf pine, the county also honors early settlers Martin Parmer, Stephen Williams, John Bevil, Thomas B. Huling, M. B. Lewis, and R. C. Doom; Consultation members from Bevil Municipality Wyatt Hanks, Thomas Holmes, and John H. Blount; Declaration of Independence signers George Washington Smyth and Stephen H. Everitt; Confederate figures Col. Anderson Crawford, Maj. Ben. Norsworthy, Major E. T. Seale, Lt. Col. C. R. Beaty, and Capt. E. I. Kellie; and Robert Perkins, Thomas Seale, and Major W. R. Blackshear, who fell in the World War.