DUANE
Duane's take
The marker in Coryell County tells it this way, and I'll pass it on straight. Now, some men leave just a headstone. Wiley Parker Grubb left a cemetery — and that right there tells you something about the kind of mark a person can make on a piece of Texas ground.
Wiley Parker Grubb came into the world on May 19, 1846, in Walker County, Texas, the son of Jacob N. and Mary Ann Grubb — Mary Ann being a Wiley before she was a Grubb, if you're keeping the family names straight. He grew up in Texas, which in 1863 meant he grew up fast. That year, he joined the Texas Rangers.
He wasn't yet twenty years old by the calendar, and he was already riding with the Rangers. Then came Dove Creek. In 1865, near what is present-day San Angelo, Wiley Parker Grubb was wounded at the battle of Dove Creek.
That's the kind of detail that tends to stay with a man — a wound, a battle, a place name he'd carry the rest of his life. But he kept on. In 1872, he married Georgia Hester.
And in 1874, he bought land right here in Coryell County — bought it from his own father, Jacob N. Grubb — and he set to ranchin'. He didn't just scrape by on that land.
He became a prominent landowner. A man who'd once been wounded in a frontier battle had put down roots deep enough to matter. Wiley Parker Grubb died on January 23, 1918.
And the story doesn't quite end there. In 1937 — nearly two decades after he was gone — approximately two acres surrounding Grubb's grave site were deeded as a public cemetery. The ground that holds him became ground set aside for others too.
From Walker County to the Rangers to Dove Creek to Coryell County — Wiley Parker Grubb traveled a long road. And at the end of it, he left behind two acres of common ground. Not a bad thing to leave.
What the marker says
(May 19, 1846- January 23, 1918) Wiley Parker Grubb, the son of Jacob N. and Mary Ann (Wiley) Grubb, was born in Walker County, Texas. He joined the Texas Rangers in 1863 and in 1865 was wounded at the battle of Dove Creek near present day San Angelo. He married Georgia Hester in 1872. In 1874 he bought land here in Coryell County from his father where he ranched and became a prominent landowner. Approximately 2 acres surrounding Grubb's grave site were deeded as a public cemetery in 1937.