Dikes Family Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out here in Gonzales County, there's a piece of ground that's been holding memory since about 1850, and the man who set it aside was Miles G. Dikes, born in 1804.

Now Miles wasn't a newcomer to Texas in any casual sense. He was an original member of DeWitt Colony, which puts him in rare company, and he made the long journey from Georgia all the way to this country in 1829. That's a man who committed.

In 1839, he married Eady Hodges, born in 1810, and together they built a life on this land. Miles established the cemetery around 1850, though nobody back then could have told you what it would grow into. The first known burial came in 1859, and it was Dikes' own son, Lovic.

There's a particular weight to that. A father who set aside ground for the dead, and then had to use it for his child. Miles himself passed in 1872, Eady before him in 1868.

Today the cemetery holds twenty marked graves, and beyond those, others that have lost their names to time, unmarked but still there. And here's the thing that really lands this story. That cemetery is still in use.

Descendants of Miles G. Dikes are still coming back to this same ground he set aside all those years ago. Some roots, once they go down, they don't let go.

What the marker says

Established about 1850 by Miles G. Dikes (1804-1872). An original member of DeWitt Colony, Dikes emigrated from Georgia in 1829. In 1839 , married Eady Hodges (1810-1868). First known burial, in 1859, was Dikes' son, Lovic. Cemetery contains 20 marked graves; other are unmarked. Still in use by descendants.