DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker tells it, here's the story of the Green Dewitt Cemetery — and it's one worth slowing down for. Green Dewitt was born in 1787, and by the time his story intersects with Texas, he'd already done something that takes a particular kind of nerve: he walked into the Mexican government and asked them to hand him the responsibility of settling four hundred Anglo-Americans on a stretch of land southwest of Stephen F. Austin's colony.
And they said yes. That Empresario Grant in hand, Green and his wife Sarah — born Sarah Seely, in 1789 — packed up their family and moved from Missouri to Texas in 1826. Now, Sarah Dewitt is not a woman who fades into the background of her husband's story.
In 1831, she received her own separate grant from the Mexican government — the Sarah Seely League, they called it — and from that land, one acre was set aside. A family cemetery. Her ground, her decision.
You may know Sarah Dewitt by something else entirely. When the fight for Texas Independence began stirring, it was Sarah who was known for the "come and take it" flag. That flag.
That phrase. That defiance. She carried it.
Green Dewitt, born 1787, died in 1835 — and here's where the story takes a quiet, aching turn. He is laid to rest in Mexico. There is no grave for him on this acre of Texas ground, only a memorial, standing near the grave of the woman who outlived him by nearly two decades.
Sarah died in 1854. The first known burial in this cemetery is not one of them, though. It is their grandson.
Jonas Dewitt. Born 1850. Died 1851.
The smallest stone often carries the heaviest weight. One acre, set aside from Sarah's own land, holding a grandmother's grave, a memorial to a husband buried far away, and the first marker of all belonging to a child who barely saw a year of Texas sky. That's the Green Dewitt Cemetery — and now you know whose ground you're passin'.
What the marker says
Green Dewitt Cemetery Green (1787-1835) and Sarah (Seely) (1789-1854) Dewitt moved their family from Missouri to Texas in 1826 after he successfully petitioned the Mexican government for an Empresario Grant to settle 400 Anglo-Americans on lands southwest of Stephen F. Austin's colony. In 1831, Sarah received a separate grant, the Sarah Seely League, from which this acre was set aside for a family cemetery. The grave of Sarah, known for her "come and take it" flag as the fight for Texas Independence began, stands near a memorial for her husband, who is laid to rest in Mexico. The first known burial here is their grandson, Jonas Dewitt (1850-1851). Historic Texas Cemetery-2002