Alexander Glenn Family Graveyard

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Alexander Glenn Family Graveyard, out in Austin County. Now, some family stories are written in courthouse records and church pews. This one is written in the ground itself.

Alexander Glenn was born in 1812, and his wife, Sarah Pamplin Shelburne Glenn, in 1819. They came out of Georgia, the way so many did, looking for somewhere to put down roots. And they found it.

First in the Mill Creek Forks area, then, come 1854, they made their way to Bellville. When they got to Bellville, they didn't start from scratch. They purchased the Ezra Cleveland home, and that was no ordinary house.

That was one of the first homes built there. Think about what that means. The town was barely a town, and the Glenns were movin' into one of its founding structures.

The very ground the graveyard sits on today is that original Cleveland property. The land itself remembers. Alexander wasn't the kind of man to sit still, either.

He served as the Austin County surveyor from 1853 to 1860. Seven years of walking the land, measuring it, making it official. He knew this county in a way most people never would.

And the Glenns were church people, deeply so. St. Mary's Episcopal Church, from its very inception, counted Alexander and Sarah among its active members.

The community respected them. That's not a small thing. Respect earned over a lifetime, in a place you chose to call home.

Alexander Glenn died in 1894. Sarah Pamplin Shelburne Glenn followed in 1899. And here is where the story settles into something quiet and a little tender.

Their daughter, Sarah Alexander Glenn, born 1850, died 1910, rests alongside them on that same original ground. The Bellville Historical Society tends the site to this day. Some families build monuments.

The Glenns built a community, and the community turned around and made sure they weren't forgotten. That's about as good an ending as a family story gets.

What the marker says

Alexander Glenn (1812-1894), and his wife, Sarah Pamplin Shelburne Glenn (1819-1899), came from Georgia and settled in the Mill Creek Forks area before moving to Bellville in 1854. They purchased the Ezra Cleveland home, one of the first to be built here; this burial site is located on that original property. Glenn served as the Austin County surveyor from 1853 to 1860. The Glenns were active members of St. Mary's Episcopal Church from its inception and were well respected in the community. Their daughter, Sarah Alexander Glenn (1850-1910), is also laid to rest here. The site continues to be cared for by the Bellville Historical Society. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2001