DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's a story worth hearin'. Out on the Texas plains of Atascosa County, there's a patch of ground that's been holdin' the memories of this place since the eighteen fifties. Brite Cemetery, they call it now, and the name goes back to a man who left a long shadow on this county — Thomas Ransdele Brite.
Thomas Brite was born in 1824, and by 1839 his parents, Henry and Elizabeth Moore Brite, had brought him to Texas. He was a young man in a young republic, and he didn't sit still for long. In the eighteen forties, he joined the Republic of Texas Army and got himself mixed up in some of the most storied campaigns of that era — the Vasquez Campaign, the Woll Campaign, and the Somervell Expedition.
Now, on that last one, here's where the story gets interesting. Some of the Texans on that expedition kept right on going into Mexico. Thomas Brite was not among them.
He was one of the men who turned back — as ordered by Sam Houston himself. Make of that what you will. He'd go on to fight in the Mexican-American War too, so it's not like the man was short on service.
Back home in Atascosa County, Thomas Brite carved out a life beyond the battlefield. He became the county's first tax assessor-collector, and later served as county treasurer. A man who fought campaigns and then kept the books.
That's a particular kind of Texas. Now, the cemetery. The earliest marked burial in this ground is that of an infant — Dan Brite, Thomas's own son, who died in 1854.
That little grave came before any formal arrangement. It was Thomas Brite's own death in 1859 that formally set the land aside as a burial ground. He left the property to his wife, Mary Louisa Fuller, and their two living sons, William and Charles.
By 1876, the Brite family had sold their land to one Robert E. Neill — a Texas Ranger and a veteran of the Mexican-American War. Neill didn't have long to enjoy that land.
He died in 1878, and he was buried right there in the very cemetery that bore the name of the man he'd bought it from. The ground has a way of keeping people. There's another burial here worth pausin' on.
Alfred Kelso, Senior, who died in 1898, had been a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto — the battle that won Texas its independence — and had served as sheriff of Gonzales County in the later eighteen thirties and early eighteen forties. The kind of man who showed up when history was bein' made, more than once. A number of other war veterans rest here too, their stories quieter but no less real.
For a time, the Neill Cemetery Association watched over this ground. Then in 1955, the Brite Cemetery Association organized and took up that care. Different names, same devotion.
Today, Brite Cemetery still serves the communities nearby — not just as a burial ground, but as the marker itself says, as an important historical reminder of the pioneer settlers of Atascosa County. The infant. The soldier-politician.
The Ranger. The San Jacinto veteran. All of them here, under the same Texas sky, since the eighteen fifties.
Some ground just holds more than dirt.
What the marker says
Brite Cemetery has served citizens of Atascosa County since the 1850s. It was formally set aside when Thomas Ransdele Brite passed away in 1859, though the earliest marked burial is that of his infant son, Dan (d. 1854). Thomas Brite was born in 1824 and came to Texas with his parents, Henry and Elizabeth (Moore), in 1839. He joined the Republic of Texas Army in the 1840s and participated in the Vasquez Campaign, Woll Campaign and Somervell Expedition, where he was one of the Texans who returned home as ordered by Sam Houston, rather than continuing into Mexico. Brite also fought in the Mexican-American War. He would become Atascosa County's first tax assessor-collector and later serve as county treasurer. After Thomas Brite's death, the land was left to his wife, Mary Louisa Fuller, and their two living sons, William and Charles. By 1876, The Brite family sold their land to Robert E. Neill, a Texas Ranger and veteran of the Mexican-American War who would be buried in the cemetery upon his death in 1878. Another notable burial is that of Alfred Kelso, Sr. (d. 1898), a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto and sheriff of Gonzales County in the later 1830s and early 1840s. Also buried here are a number of other war veterans. At one time, the Neill Cemetery Association cared for the burial ground, but in 1955 the Brite Cemetery Association organized to care for the site. Today, Brite Cemetery still serves nearby communities as an important historical reminder of pioneer settlers of Atascosa County. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2006