Jared Groce

Jared Ellison Groce (October 12, 1782, Halifax County, Virginia ) was an American planter, slaveowner and settler. He was one of the first American settlers in Texas, making him one of the Old Three Hundred.

Early life and family Groce's great-grandfather, Samuel Groce, arrived in West Point, Virginia, from Basingstoke, England in 1722 at the age of 20. He settled in Kenbridge, Virginia in 1727 and farmed tobacco with slaves, and married Elsa Murray, an Ulster Scots woman from Carrickfergus. In the 1750s, Groce's grandfather moved to Halifax County, Virginia.

An article in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly states that Jared Groce's father and uncle emigrated from England c. 1772. During the American Revolutionary War, Groce's father enlisted in George Washington's army, while his uncle supported the British; such was the uncle's anger that the two men never saw each other ever again, and the father changed the spelling of his surname from Gross to Groce.

Mexico and Texas The Mexican government gave him title to ten leagues of land (approximately 44,280 acres) on July 29, 1824. By the end of 1822, the main home was finally finished. The name "Bernardo" supposedly came from Bernardo de Gálvez, an old Spanish governor. Slave quarters were also built.

Towards the end of 1822, Groce planted his first crop, cotton, and was possibly the first to do so in Austin's colony. He took 20 slaves with him and established Groce's Retreat. This became his main home for the second half of his life. The place sat on three acres on the highest point of the plots. William Fairfax Gary, a guest there at one point, described the multitude of houses on the plantation as "numerous but small and crowded".

The town of Retreat is two miles east of Groce's Retreat and was established in 1851. It was signed the next day in Washington-on-the-Brazos. David G. Burnet, interim President of Texas, and his cabinet stayed at Groce's Retreat between March 18 and March 21, making it the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas.