Maxey Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Maxey Cemetery, out in Travis County. Now settle in, because this one starts with a journey and ends the way so many Texas stories do, with the land keeping its people close. Between 1855 and 1859, a man named James Edward Maxey packed up and headed west from Arkansas.

He brought his mother, two sons, and a daughter, and they put down roots in Bosque County, Texas. James was born in 1831, and by the time the Civil War came calling, he was serving as a private in the frontier militia. Then, sometime around 1870, he moved his family again, this time to western Travis County, out near where the Pedernales River joins up with the Colorado.

That is the kind of country that gets into a person. Now here is where the story takes a turn that asks you to go quiet for a moment. In 1873, a three-year-old boy named Alfred Maxey, James's grandson, died from a poisonous snake bite.

On a shaded knoll on the land belonging to Walter Lee Maxey, little Alfred became the first burial in what would come to be known as Maxey Cemetery, or Pleasant Grove Cemetery. That knoll held him first, and it would hold others. James himself went on to serve as the first postmaster of the Mud post office in 1887.

The Pleasant Grove School operated nearby until 1917. The post office closed in 1934. In the end, James and ten family members came to rest on that same knoll, along with two friends.

The last burial dates from 1969. A shaded knoll, a family's name on the land, and more than a century of keeping. That is the whole of it, right there.

What the marker says

Between 1855-1859, James Edward Maxey (1831-1908) moved from Arkansas to Bosque Co., Texas, with his mother, two sons and a daughter. During the Civil War James was a private in the frontier militia. By 1870, he moved his family to western Travis Co. near where the Pedernales River joins the Colorado. James’ three-year-old grandson, Alfred Maxey, died from a poisonous snake bite in 1873. On a shaded knoll on Walter Lee Maxey’s land, his was the first burial in Maxey (or Pleasant Grove) Cemetery. James was the first postmaster of the Mud post office in 1887. The nearby Pleasant Grove School operated until 1917, and the post office closed in 1934. James and ten family members are at rest here, along with two friends. The last burial dates from 1969. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2010