DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm passing it right along to you. Just west of where you're rolling now, tucked behind a rock wall, sits a small pioneer cemetery — and the land it rests on was once the William H. Magill homestead.
Now, William H. Magill wasn't just any settler. He was a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto.
That puts him in some serious company. And in 1850, he packed up his family and made his way to Burnet County to put down roots. He built a life out here.
And then, in 1863, he did the hardest thing a father can do. He buried his fifteen-year-old son, John, in that ground. That burial established the family cemetery — and it would not be the last.
Four marked graves remain today. William H. Magill himself, born in 1813, died in 1878.
His second wife, Elizabeth, born in 1831, who outlasted nearly everyone, passing in 1914. And William's own parents — Nancy, born in 1792, died in 1865, and Samuel, born in 1783, died in 1865 — same year, both of them, gone from this world. And then there's this: at least one unmarked grave is known to exist out there behind that rock wall.
Someone is buried in that ground with no name left to mark them. The San Jacinto veteran, his young son, his parents, his wife — and one soul the records forgot. That little cemetery west of here holds all of them still.
What the marker says
Surrounded by a rock wall, the small pioneer family cemetery just west of this site is located on land that was once part of the William H. Magill homestead. Magill, a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto, moved his family to Burnet County in 1850. He established this graveyard with the burial of his 15-year-old son, John, in 1863. The remaining four marked graves include William H. Magill (1813-1878); his second wife, Elizabeth (1831-1914); and his parents, Nancy (1792-1865) and Samuel (1783-1865) Magill. At least one unmarked grave is known to exist. (1985)