DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just here to pass it along. Now, some families put down roots in Texas. The Gates family — they came in at the very beginning, part of Stephen F.
Austin's original colony. That's not a late arrival. That's ground floor.
By the time the family needed a place to bury their dead, this wasn't even their first cemetery in Texas. This was the second one. And the land it sits on wasn't purchased — it was given.
Given to Samuel H. Gates for service in Texas' War for Independence. That's the kind of land that means something.
Samuel H. and his wife Eliza Dillard raised four children out here, in a community that came to be known as Gates-Well. The community had this cemetery and a schoolhouse that stayed in use all the way until the turn of the twentieth century. A whole world, rooted right here in Gonzales County.
But the first burial — the very first soul laid to rest in this ground — that's the part that'll settle heavy on you. It was their son. Samuel A.
Gates. A Confederate veteran who had been imprisoned at Vicksburg. He made it home.
He came back. And then, shortly after his return in 1863, he died. That was the first grave.
His father, Samuel H., would follow him here in time. And so would his brother — Joseph Dillard Gates, who had served as Second Sergeant in Company I, First Texas Regiment, one of Texas' very first Confederate units. Joseph lived long enough to build a different kind of legacy.
He went on to serve as Inspector of Cattle and as a Gonzales County Commissioner. A man who kept showing up for his community, one way or another. Now fast-forward a generation or two, and you meet Jaime K.
Ferguson — Joseph's granddaughter. She, too, is buried here. She carried the family's sense of purpose into a different arena entirely, working for the U.S.
Department of the Interior as a teacher on Indian reservations. And when she turned her attention back to this piece of ground, she helped form a cemetery association to maintain it — to keep it from being forgotten. Because this cemetery is more than a collection of headstones.
Its features demonstrate decades of burial practices and reflect the early history of this whole area. Generations of Gates family members rest here, from the colonists who came with Austin all the way down through the people who made sure those graves would be tended. Some families pass through history.
This one just kept on being part of it.
What the marker says
GATES CEMETERY THE GATES FAMILY CAME TO TEXAS AS PART OF STEPHEN F. AUSTIN'S ORIGINAL COLONY. THIS CEMETERY, THE FAMILY'S SECOND IN TEXAS, WAS ESTABLISHED ON LAND GIVEN TO SAMUEL H. GATES FOR SERVICE IN TEXAS" WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. HE AND HIS WIFE, ELIZA DILLARD, RAISED THEIR FOUR CHILDREN IN THE GATES-WELL COMMUNITY, WHICH WAS SERVED BY THIS CEMETERY AND BY A SCHOOLHOUSE IN USE UNTIL THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY. THE FIRST BURIAL HERE WAS THAT OF THE GATES" SON SAMUEL A., A CONFEDERATE VETERAN IMPRISONED AT VICKSBURG WHO DIED SHORTLY AFTER HIS RETURN HOME IN 1863. OTHER BURIALS INCLUDE HIS FATHER, SAMUEL H., AND HIS BROTHER, JOSEPH DILLARD GATES, A SECOND SERGEANT IN COMPANY I, FIRST TEXAS REGIMENT, ONE OF TEXAS" FIRST CONFEDERATE UNITS. JOSEPH LATER SERVED AS INSPECTOR OF CATTLE AND AS GONZALES COUNTY COMMISSIONER. HIS GRANDDAUGHTER JAIME K. FERGUSON, ALSO BURIED HERE, WORKED FOR THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AS A TEACHER ON INDIAN RESERVATIONS. SHE HELPED FORM A CEMETERY ASSOCIATION TO MAINTAIN THESE GROUNDS, THE RESTING PLACE FOR GENERATIONS OF GATES FAMILY MEMBERS. THE CEMETERY'S FEATURES DEMONSTRATE DECADES OF BURIAL PRACTICES AND REFLECT THE AREA'S EARLY HISTORY. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY - 2002