Col. John "Jack" Sims

Colonel Jack John Sims

"He was a high mason who was master of the lodge in Lancaster and lived up to the stern principles of the craft. He believed that a good mason was good enough for heaven. In his old days he joined the Methodist Church and became an exemplary Christian. He was always one before he joined the church, but he never deserted his masonic faith and works. There is now a masonic lodge in New Waverly Texas named in his honor, the John Sims Lodge." -James Marion Sims from The Story Of My Life

http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/s/Sims,J.Marion.html

From Sims Family of Lancaster

Jack Sims, who besides being sheriff of Lancaster District had run a hotel, been a surveyor and was a council member, in 1838 left Lancaster to settle in Mississippi. Less successful than the expected, Sims moved to New Waverly, Walker County, Texas, in 1853 to live with a married daughter. ...

Marion Sims said of Jack Sims:

"No man ever had warmer friends, and was loved and honored wherever he lived. He had a military bearing, with courtly manners, was generous to a fault and kind to everyone."