Jacobs Well Cemetery

Duane's take

The official marker for Jacobs Well Cemetery in Hays County tells it like this, and I'll do my best to honor it. Now, there are places in Texas that don't just hold history. They hold the people who made it.

Jacobs Well Cemetery is one of those places, and it has been since 1883. Let's go back a little further, though. Back to 1876, when three schools were organized in the area.

One of them served the Jacob's Well community, a settlement named for a natural spring in Cypress Creek. That school building had to work hard for its keep. It housed grades first through eighth, and it doubled as the community church.

A building like that is the heartbeat of a small settlement, and this one was no different. Many of the pioneers who put down roots here had come a long way to do it. They came from South Carolina.

When the school eventually closed down, the students started making their way to Wimberley for class. The community kept on living, kept on growing, and kept on leaving people behind in the earth. The earliest burial recorded here is that of pioneer Moses Bond Egger, who died in 1883.

After Egger's death, a man named James Hardy Monroe Spillar, who owned this property, donated the land for use as a burial ground. That act of generosity set the course for everything that followed. And what followed was a long procession of lives.

Notable burials include Texas Ranger Foster Massey, Texas Ranger Elisha McCuistion, and Hays County sheriff Alton Lee Smithey. But the cemetery didn't draw lines. Ranchers, teachers, ministers, blacksmiths, store owners, housewives, and veterans of conflicts dating all the way back to the Civil War, they're all here.

And there are whole families interred here, entire families who died from epidemics. That is a weight this ground carries quietly. Walk through and you'll see vertical stones and wooden gravestones.

You'll notice interior fencing. And you'll find graves that are unmarked, or simply unidentified. Some stories this place holds without giving them back.

Around 1950, descendants connected to both the Jacobs Well and Wimberley cemeteries began working together to maintain the burial grounds. That cooperation held for three decades, and then in 1980, the Jacobs Well families separated out and formed their own cemetery association. That association continues to care for this ground to this day.

Since 1883, Jacobs Well Cemetery has been receiving the people of this land. And as that marker puts it, it continues to chronicle the history and legacy of the early area settlers. Some chronicles are written in ink.

This one is written in stone, in wood, and in the unmarked places where names have faded but presence has not.

What the marker says

Since 1883, Jacobs Well (Jacob’s Well) Cemetery has served as a final resting place for area residents. In 1876, three schools were organized nearby, including one for the Jacob’s Well community, named for a natural spring in Cypress Creek. The school building housed grades first through eighth and also hosted the community church. Many of the settlement’s pioneers came from South Carolina. After the school closed down, students started attending class in Wimberley. The earliest burial here is of pioneer Moses Bond Egger (d. 1883). James Hardy Monroe Spillar, who owned this property, donated land for use as a burial ground after Egger’s death. Other notable burials include Texas Ranger Foster Massey, Texas Ranger Elisha McCuistion, and Hays County sheriff Alton Lee Smithey. The interred also include ranchers, teachers, ministers, blacksmiths, store owners, housewives and veterans of conflicts dating to the Civil War. Entire families who died from epidemics are also interred here. The cemetery features vertical stones, wooden gravestones, interior fencing and a number of unmarked or unidentified graves. Around 1950, descendants of the Jacobs Well and Wimberley cemeteries began to work together to maintain the burial grounds. In 1980, the Jacobs Well families separated and formed a cemetery association, which continues to care for this burial ground. Today, Jacobs Well Cemetery continues to chronicle the history and legacy of the early area settlers.