DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — let me bring it to you now. Somewhere out in Robertson County, there's a piece of ground that's been holding the memory of a particular group of people for a long, long time. The Dunn Cemetery.
And the story behind it stretches back farther than you might expect. James and Isabella Caufield Dunn didn't just appear in Texas one fine afternoon. They came the long way.
Back in 1821, they crossed from Ireland to America — not alone, mind you, but with eight other families making that same leap across the Atlantic together. They settled first in Charleston, South Carolina, then moved again to Boligee, Alabama. These were people who understood that a life could require more than one reinvention.
Then came December of 1833. That's when the Dunns and the families traveling with them pointed their ox-wagons and carryalls toward something new — the colony of Sterling C. Robertson, deep in Texas.
Now stop and let that image settle on you a moment. Ox-wagons. December.
A colony that was, by any honest measure, still being figured out. Who was riding along on that trek? The families of Henry Caufield.
Letitia Ellis and her daughter Elizabeth Watson. Henry and William Fullerton. Hugh and William Henry.
The widow McMillan. And the Youngs. A whole community in motion, bound together by something stronger than convenience.
They arrived. They put down roots. And then, in 1836, James and Isabella Dunn buried an infant — their infant — in the earth of their own land.
That burial opened the cemetery. It didn't start with a plan or a dedication ceremony. It started with grief, the way so many of the most enduring things do.
And from that 1836 beginning, the cemetery has been used ever since — by the heirs of those very pioneers who made the long journey from Ireland, through Charleston, through Boligee, and finally to Robertson County, Texas. The land remembers all of them.
What the marker says
Started in pioneer era on land of James and Isabella Caufield Dunn, who with 8 other families came from Ireland to America in 1821, living first in Charleston, S. C., then in Boligee, Ala. In Dec. 1833 they began trek to colony of Sterling C. Robertson by ox-wagons and carryalls. With the Dunns were families of Henry Caufield, Letitia Ellis and her daughter Elizabeth Watson, Henry and William Fullerton, Hugh and William Henry, the widow McMillan, and the Youngs. Burial of infant of James and Isabella Dunn (1836) opened this cemetery, used ever since by heirs of the pioneers.