Joseph Newman and Rachel Rabb Newman were married in 1806 in Ohio. After Joseph's service in the War of 1812 in Illinois, they lived in Arkansas Territory on the Red River before moving into Texas in 1820. In 1823, they left the Red River area to join Rachel's parents, William and Mary Smalley Rabb, in Stephen F. Austin's Old 300 colony. As pioneers in the colony, they received land grant no. 59 from Mexico, a league and a labor of land in what became Wharton County, including this site. An early census listed Joseph as a farmer and stock raiser. The couple had ten children: Mary, William, Louisa, Minerva, Sarah, known in Texas history as Sally Scull, Elizabeth, Thomas, Ali, Joseph, Jr., and Andrew, and they experienced the austerity of the Texas frontier firsthand. Joseph died in February 1831 and was buried at a now-unknown location on his league of land. Four years later, Rachel gave her interest in the Newman lands to her children but continued living on her original homesite. She also inherited Rabb property in Matagorda County from her parents. By 1854, the entire Newman League had been sold out of the family. Rachel moved to DeWitt County, where she married again, and she was buried in Salt Creek Cemetery on the DeWitt-Karnes County line. Their children later served their state and country in a variety of ways, and as Texas pioneers, Joseph and Rachel Newman helped settle a new land and built a foundation for those who came after them.