Daniel and Precilla Gilleland

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, when folks talk about the very beginnings of Anglo American settlement in Texas, they're talking about people like Daniel and Precilla Gilleland. Among the first to come with colonizer Stephen F.

Austin, the Gillelands were members of Austin's Old Three Hundred colony. Daniel was born in 1795, Precilla Boatwright in 1803, and together they made a decision that would shape the rest of their lives and the lives of generations to come. They packed up, gathered their infant daughter, joined relatives from the Kuykendall and Boatwright families, left their homes in Arkansas Territory, and arrived in Texas in December of 1821.

December. You want to talk about a hard welcome to a new land, try arriving in the middle of winter with a baby and a whole lot of hope. Daniel took up farming, and the Republic, and later the state, recognized his work with land grants in what are now Colorado and Austin counties.

But the Gillelands weren't the sitting-still type. Through the 1830s and into the 1840s, they farmed their way across Wharton, Fayette, Washington, Harrison, and Montgomery counties. That is a lot of moving.

That is a lot of new neighbors, new soil, new starts. By 1847, though, they had planted themselves in what is now Milam County, and that's where the story takes root for good. Daniel was more than a farmer.

He was instrumental in the growth of the Methodist church in Texas, lending his hand to several congregations along the way. He and Precilla raised thirteen children together. Three of those children died in childhood, and that grief is part of this story too, quiet and heavy.

Then came the war. Six Gilleland sons served in the Confederate army. Six sons.

You feel that number. In 1848, the family established a cemetery two and a half miles southwest of where that marker stands today, and it is still there. Daniel and Precilla Gilleland both died in 1873, after more than fifty years spent as pioneers in Texas, and they rest in that same cemetery alongside the family they built from nothing but Arkansas soil, a December arrival, and a whole lot of endurance.

What the marker says

Among the first Anglo American settlers to come to Texas with colonizer Stephen F. Austin, Daniel (b. 1795) and Precilla Boatwright (b. 1803) Gilleland were members of Austin's Old Three Hundred colony. The couple and their infant daughter, along with relatives in the Kuykendall and Boatwright families, left their homes in Arkansas Territory and arrived in Texas in December 1821. Making his living as a farmer, Daniel Gilleland received land grants in present Colorado and Austin counties. During the 1830s and 1840s the family moved frequently, farming in Wharton, Fayette, Washington, Harrison, and Montgomery counties. By 1847 they had settled in present Milam County. Daniel Gilleland was instrumental in the growth of the Methodist church in Texas, assisting several congregations. He and Precilla were the parents of thirteen children, three of whom died in childhood. Six Gilleland sons served in the Confederate army. The family cemetery (2.8 miles SW) was established in 1848 and serves as the final resting place of Daniel and Precilla Gilleland, both of whom died in 1873 after more than 50 years spent as pioneers in Texas. (1988)