DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Ben Ficklin Cemetery in Tom Green County. Now settle in, because this one starts with a town that the river just up and swallowed whole. On August 24, 1882, a flood came through and washed away the settlement of Ben Ficklin — took the whole town, and it didn't stop there.
It inundated the cemetery too, exposing many of the graves. The river didn't just threaten the living that day. It disturbed the dead.
When it was over, something had to be done, and a man named Charles B. Metcalfe stepped up to do it. Metcalfe was the nephew of Colonel Francis C.
Taylor — the very founder of Ben Ficklin — and he understood better than most what was at stake. He chose a new site, this one on higher ground, and he set about reinterring the remains of his relatives, including Colonel Taylor himself. And if that burden weren't heavy enough, Metcalfe was also laying to rest his mother, his sister, and another uncle — all of them victims of that same flood.
The same water that wrecked the cemetery had taken his family. So the cemetery and the town both carried the name of Ben Ficklin, the owner of the San Antonio–El Paso mail line — that's who they were named for. The place became known also as the Metcalfe-Spence Cemetery, and it grew into the final resting place of many Tom Green County pioneers.
Higher ground, harder ground, ground chosen with grief and purpose. That's the ground beneath this cemetery, and now you know why it's there.
What the marker says
(Also known as Metcalfe-Spence Cemetery) Replaced older burial plot at nearby settlement of Ben Ficklin, after flood of Aug. 24, 1882, washed away the town and inundated the cemetery, exposing many graves. Charles B. Metcalfe, nephew of Col. Francis C. Taylor, founder of Ben Ficklin, selected this site, on higher ground, to reinter remains of relatives, including Col. Taylor, and bury his mother, sister, and another uncle, victims of the flood. Final resting place of many Tom Green County pioneers. Cemetery and village were named for owner of San Antonio-El Paso mail line, Ben Ficklin. (1973) Historic Texas Cemetery medallion attached to post in 2010.