Chew Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. George Oliver Chew was born in West Virginia in 1832, and by 1839 he had made his way to Texas. That's a young man crossing a long distance into a land that was still finding its own shape.

He married Nancy Taylor sometime before 1870, and in 1883 the two of them settled in western Llano County, putting down roots on 320 acres of purchased land. Three hundred and twenty acres. Room enough to build something that lasts.

And they did. Now, the land came first, then came the graves. This site probably became a family cemetery around 1885, when an infant granddaughter was interred here.

That word, probably, is doing some quiet, heavy work. Nobody marked the exact moment a patch of ground became sacred. It just became that, the way these things do, with loss.

Two years later, in 1887, a two-year-old grandson named Osceola Chew was buried here. Two graves, both small, both too small. George Oliver Chew himself was interred in this same ground in 1901.

The man who had come a long way from West Virginia, who had chosen this particular corner of Llano County, ended up part of it permanently. But the Chew family kept going. They grew, they operated a school, and later they ran a cotton gin.

A whole little world centered on that 320 acres. Then in 1927, the land was sold to another family. And here is where the story takes a turn that is worth sitting with.

Twenty years after that sale, the family who had bought the land donated the one-acre cemetery back. They gave it back. Today there are more than forty known graves in the Chew Cemetery.

Among those buried here, a Confederate soldier and a Union soldier both rest in the same ground, alongside veterans of other military conflicts. Men who once stood on opposite sides of the bloodiest American conflict, now neighbors in the quiet of western Llano County. George Oliver Chew came to Texas in 1839 with nothing marked yet.

By the time it was all said and done, he left behind forty graves, a school, a cotton gin, and a piece of land somebody thought enough of to give back. That's a life that put down roots.

What the marker says

Born in West Virginia in 1832, George Oliver Chew came to Texas in 1839. He married Nancy Taylor prior to 1870, and they settled in western Llano County in 1883, purchasing 320 acres of land. This site probably was first used as a family cemetery about 1885 when their infant granddaughter was interred here. The second marked burial was that of a 2-year-old grandson, Osceola Chew, in 1887. George Oliver Chew was interred here in 1901. The Chew family continued to grow, operating a school and later a cotton gin. In 1927 they sold the land to another family, who donated back the one-acre cemetery twenty years later. There are more than 40 known graves in the Chew Cemetery. Both a Confederate and a Union soldier are interred here, as are veterans of other military conflicts. (1999)