CHARTER MEMBERS: Who Were These Men? Judge John Stamps

• By 1841 he had enough influence to have Mount Vernon, a site near his residence, declared the county seat of Washington County. 
•  The new community was county seat for three years. 
•  Stamps represented the county as a member of the House in the Eighth Congress of the Republic. 
•  He is listed in the 1850 agricultural census as the owner of extensive farmland and livestock. 
•  At the time of his death he was on the board of directors of Baylor University and Baylor Female College. 
• Contractor of 4th Washington County Courthouse in Brenham in use from 1855 to 1883

Mount Vernon, the second county seat of Washington County, was on or near New Year's Creek six miles northwest of the site of present Brenham and ten miles from the town of Independence. Judge John Stamps, a prominent citizen of the county, built an imposing home, named for George Washington's residence, at the future townsite. A school existed there as early as 1835.  

In the 1840s Mount Vernon was a stop on the stagecoach route from Washington to Austin. The community once had a post office. Stamps laid out streets and lots for a town in 1841.  In the fall of 1841 Judge Stamps utilized his political influence and this dissatisfaction with the location of the county courts at Washington in far northeastern Washington County to make Mount Vernon temporarily the county seat. Although a log courthouse was erected there, uncertainty over the town's approval as the permanent county seat prevented construction of more permanent buildings. 

Brenham, Independence, and Turkey Creek competed with Mount Vernon in the county seat election in 1843. Despite the natural advantages of its high elevation, healthful climate, and plentiful water and timber supply, Mount Vernon failed to obtain sufficient votes in the runoff election. 

After Brenham became the county seat, Mount Vernon rapidly lost residents to that growing community. On December 20, 1846, the New Year's Baptist Church was founded at Mount Vernon. This church, of which Robert E. B. Baylor was a charter member, moved to Brenham in 1851. 

Eventually Mount Vernon became a ghost town. No trace of the town remains today. During the Civil War Washington County commissioners started a training camp for Confederate soldiers at Mount Vernon.