Alexander Cemetery

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of Alexander Cemetery. Now, it starts the way so many Texas stories do, with land and time and a name that's almost been forgotten. Back in 1854, there was a schoolhouse near this very site.

And according to tradition, that's when the first burial was made here. A child, by the name of Whitley. No marker was ever placed on that grave, and over the years, it was lost to the earth entirely.

Just a name passed down by word of mouth, and the quiet fact of a child buried in this ground. That's where it begins. The land itself goes back even further.

It was part of a one-league headright grant, made on October 15th, 1832, by Mexico, to a man named George W. Singleton. Singleton had come to Texas with the Old 300, those early settlers who arrived under Stephen F.

Austin. So the roots of this place run deep, all the way down to the founding days of Anglo Texas. Now, George W.

Singleton's story fades from the marker after that, but his heirs carry it forward. Two of them, living in Washington County, signed a deed on October 2nd, 1856, carving ten acres out of that original grant for the use and benefit of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Ten acres set aside.

And not long after, the Alexander Church building went up right near that old schoolhouse, and the burials continued in the area. The earliest grave that can still be identified belongs to James Walker, born in 1817, died in 1874, one of the original trustees of this property. Another of those first trustees, William Lawrence, was buried here too, in 1879.

Two men who helped steward this land, now resting in it. The cemetery kept going, kept growing, quietly doing what cemeteries do. Then 1941 comes around, and the Alexander Cemetery Association is formed, with A.J.

McCallum as President and L.T. Wilson serving as Secretary-Treasurer. After Wilson, Joe B.

Walker stepped in and served the association for twenty-seven years. Under the association's watch, the chain link fence went in, and a water supply system was installed. Today there are about three hundred marked graves, and the cemetery is still open to burials.

Three hundred souls remembered by name, and at least one, that child named Whitley, remembered only by tradition. That's the kind of place this is. Built on a land grant, held together by trustees and associations and people who showed up for twenty-seven years at a stretch, all of it rooted in a schoolhouse and a grave with no marker.

That's Alexander Cemetery.

What the marker says

There was a schoolhouse near this site in 1854 when, according to tradition, the first interment was made here. That early grave, for a child by the name of Whitley, had no marker and has been lost. This land was part of a one-league headright grant made on Oct. 15, 1832, by Mexico to George W. Singleton, who had come to Texas with the "Old 300" settlers of Stephen F. Austin. Two of Singleton's heirs, living in Washington County, on Oct. 2, 1856, deeded ten acres from the grant for the use and benefit of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. The Alexander Church building was then erected near the school, and burials were continued in the area. The earliest identifiable grave is that of one of the original trustees of the property, James Walker (1817-74). William Lawrence, another of the first trustees, was also buried here, in 1879. The Alexander Cemetery Association was formed in 1941, with A.J. McCallum as President and L.T. Wilson, Secretary-Treasurer. Joe B. Walker, Wilson's successor, has served the association for 27 years. The association installed the chain link fence and water supply system. There are about 300 marked graves, and the cemetery is still open to burials.