DUANE
Duane's take
The way I tell it, this comes straight from the official marker for the Montgomery-Thatcher Cemetery out in Colorado County — so let's see what the ground remembers. Now, two families. Two names cut deep into the story of this place.
James S. Montgomery, born 1788, and George W. Thatcher, born 1808.
Pioneer settlers, both of them. Montgomery had already seen one war — he was a veteran of the War of 1812 — before he ever set foot in Texas soil. But here's where the story takes a turn that'll chill you a little.
The year is 1836. The Alamo has fallen. And Mexican forces are advancing.
What follows gets remembered in Texas history by a name that tells you everything you need to know about the mood of those days: the Runaway Scrape. That's what they called it — an evacuation, families grabbing what they could, fleeing the area in a fear-driven scramble. The Montgomery family went.
The Thatcher family went. They left this land behind. But they came back.
After the Texas Revolution, both men returned and put down roots — real roots, the kind that hold. Both became successful planters. And James S.
Montgomery, he didn't stop there. He went on to represent the county in the Republic of Texas Congress, serving from 1843 to 1844. Now, this burial ground — it holds all of that history quietly inside it.
And the first soul laid to rest here was probably Montgomery's own son, a boy named James, born in 1834, gone by 1836. The same year the world was shaking loose around them. James S.
Montgomery himself lived until 1864. George W. Thatcher until 1867.
Their families, their stories, their struggle — it's all here, in this ground, in Colorado County. Some places earn their keep just by enduring. This cemetery is one of them.
What the marker says
This burial ground served the relatives of pioneer settlers James S. Montgomery (1788-1864), a veteran of the War of 1812, and George W. Thatcher (1808-1867). Their families fled the area during the "Runaway Scrape," an evacuation caused by the advancing Mexican forces following the 1836 fall of the Alamo. Returning here after the Texas Revolution, both men became successful planters. Montgomery later represented the county in the Republic of Texas Congress, 1843-44. The first burial at this site was probably that of his son James (1834-36). (1981) Historic Texas Cemetery