Beall Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Beall Cemetery in Wilson County. Now settle in, because this one starts with a family, a long road, and a piece of ground that kept a secret for well over a century. Erasmus and Elizabeth Brinkley Beall came to Texas from Warren County, Georgia, and by 1853 they had put down roots here.

They had ten children between them, six sons and four daughters, and they were the kind of people who didn't just pass through a place. They bought land, and they bought it from two of San Antonio's more prominent men. One was John James, a realtor.

The other was John Twohig, a banker. The Bealls were building something. The land they settled sat in what was recorded as the Young Perry Alsbury Survey, and on that farm they planted the beginnings of a life.

Then, in 1854, the eldest son, William Henry Beall, passed away. The family buried him right there on their own ground. That is how a family farm becomes something more.

That first grave made it a cemetery. Years went by. Elizabeth Beall herself died in 1869, and she was laid to rest at the same site.

Then her granddaughter, Susan Emeline, followed in 1871. They were the last of the family buried there. As for Erasmus, the patriarch, the man who made the journey from Georgia and bought the land and raised all those children, his gravesite remains unknown to this day.

That is the kind of detail that lingers. After Susan Emeline in 1871, no new interments came to this little plot for a long, long time. The land kept its quiet.

It wasn't until the late twentieth century that anyone else was buried there. In 1981, the land containing the cemetery transferred to Countryside Memorial Park, which officially incorporated the following year. And so this small patch of Wilson County ground, which began as one family's sacred corner of a pioneer farm, found itself part of something larger.

The marker calls it a testament. That's the right word. A testament to the Bealls, to the others who came to settle this part of Wilson County, and maybe, just a little, to the mystery of a patriarch whose final resting place nobody has ever found.

What the marker says

Beall Cemetery, located in the Young Perry Alsbury Survey, began as a family burial ground on the farm of early settlers Erasmus (Erastus) and Elizabeth Brinkley Beall, parents of six sons and four daughters. The Beall family migrated to Texas from Warren County, Georgia by 1853 and purchased land from San Antonio realtor John James and additional acreage from San Antonio banker John Twohig. The eldest son, William Henry Beall, passed away in 1854 and the family buried him at this site. Elizabeth Beall (d. 1869) and her granddaughter, Susan Emeline (d. 1871) were the last family members buried here; the gravesite of Erasmus Beall remains unknown. No other interments occurred here until the late 20th century. In 1981, land containing the cemetery transferred to Countryside Memorial Park, which officially incorporated the next year. Beall Cemetery, though small, now serves as a testament to the lives of a pioneer family and others who settled and lived in this area of Wilson County. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2005