DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Now if you were to drive through western Austin County today, you might not guess that the land around you was once home to a tight-knit band of Scots who crossed an ocean, then a continent, and finally put down roots right here. But the McGregor Cemetery knows.
It remembers. In the early 1850s, a group of settlers came to this part of Austin County from North Carolina. And here's the thing that sets these folks apart — many of them weren't just neighbors back in Carolina.
They were originally from the same place: Lismore, in Argyleshire County, Scotland. They had immigrated to the United States together, and they kept moving together. Among them were members of the McGregor, Carmichael, McLean, McDougald, and McLeod families.
Names that roll off the tongue like something you'd hear echoing off a highland hillside. They built a community out here. And communities, if they're serious about themselves, need a church.
So in October of 1860, Galatia Presbyterian Church was founded nearby. It served these Scottish settlers and their families for years — until 1883, when most of the congregation had moved on. The church was discontinued, the property was sold, and the proceeds were donated to Austin College, a Presbyterian school.
That school had been founded in Huntsville but had relocated to Sherman in 1878. The church is gone now. But the cemetery endures.
It was established on August 22, 1868, with the burial of Mary McGregor — born in 1793, died in 1861 — wife of Malcolm McGregor. Now you might notice something right there. The cemetery was established in 1868, but Mary McGregor had died in 1861.
Whatever the circumstances of that seven-year interval, the marker doesn't say, and I won't pretend to know. What we do know is that her burial here on that August day made this ground sacred to the community. Two days later — two days — another Scottish settler named Peter John McLean died and was laid to rest in the same graveyard.
Just like that, a community had a place of memory. The cemetery continued serving the small rural community for decades, all the way until 1900. The last person interred here was a child — six-year-old Billy Boy Carmichael.
That's the kind of ending that lands quiet and heavy, the way only real history can. Fifteen marked graves in all. That's what remains of the Scottish settlement of western Austin County.
No church. No congregation gathering on Sunday mornings with familiar Gaelic surnames called out across the pews. Just this ground, maintained by an association of descendants, standing as the last physical remnant of a people who crossed the world together and made something worth remembering.
What the marker says
A group of settlers came to this area of western Austin County from North Carolina in the early 1850s. Many of the pioneers were originally from Lismore, Argyleshire County, Scotland, and had immigrated to the United States together. Included among the group were members of the McGregor, Carmichael, McLean, McDougald, and McLeod families. Galatia Presbyterian Church was founded nearby in October 1860, but was discontinued in 1883 after most of the members moved away from the area. The church property was sold and the proceeds donated to Austin College, a Presbyterian school founded in Huntsville, but relocated to Sherman in 1878. This cemetery, which contains fifteen marked graves, was established on August 22, 1868, with the burial of Mary McGregor (1793-1861), wife of Malcolm McGregor. Two days later another Scottish settler, Peter John McLean, died and was laid to rest in the graveyard. The cemetery continued to serve the small rural community until 1900, when six-year-old Billy Boy Carmighael was the last person interred here. Maintained by an association of descendants, the McGregor Cemetery is the last physical remnant of the area's pioneer Scottish settlement. (1997)