THE STORY OF NEW LONDON
Rev David W. Diller, March 1986
used by permission of Mollie Ward, Director of the London Museum
New London 1836- 1886 Sesquicentennial Program
Rusk County was separated out from Nacogdoches County in 1843. Smith and Cherokee counties were organized from Nacogdoches County soon after Texas had become the 28th state in 1846. By 1850 this tri-county area was dotted with settlers' homes and small villages, a fresh spring, or a way-station on an overnight stagecoach.
Old maps, deed records, and post office information all point to London as being a few years younger than the nearby community of Bunker Hill, which is about 2 miles NE of what later residents would refer to as "old London". Settled in the 1840's Bunker Hill was one of the most public places in the county of Rusk by July 1851. Deed Records Rusk Co. Vol 4, 234.
Some of the earliest known settlers in the Bunker Hill-London area were William and Dicey Brown, ca 1844: John C. and Isabella Thompson Miller, ca 1844: George Clough, ca 1845, Cornelius and Rutha Wims Cooper, ca 1845 , Bennett and Susan Vannoy Smith ca 1847. Edward and Caroline Vinzent, ca 1849, Simeon and Frances Florence ca 1849.
A post office was established at Bunker Hill with the appointment of Edward Vinzent as postmaster, Aug 20, 1852. He was succeeded by Thomas Wilson on Dec. 22, 1854. That the post office was changed to London with the appointment of Wilson W. Baker on March 22, 1855, indicates the emergence to prominence and priority of London by the mid 1850. John T. Pace became postmaster Aug 30, 1858. The later three men ran businesses in the old village of London.
The German merchant, Edward Vinzent, of Bunker Hill has a special place in the London story. He was a Freemason. In May, 1852, he donated Lot No. 5 on the north side of East St. in Bunker Hill to Rocky Mount Lodge No. 63, AFAM, on the condition that the lodge never permit "spirituous liquors or malt liquors: to be vended there. A Lodge Hall was constructed that year with the Masons using the upper floor while the lower floor served as an academy or school room.