DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker reads it, here's the story I've got for you. Out here in Fayette County, there's a piece of ground that outlasted the town it served — and that's a story worth pulling over for. This is the Navidad Baptist Cemetery, and it's been keeping its quiet watch long after the community of Lyons faded from the map.
Now, Lyons was no overnight settlement. The land it stood on was originally granted all the way back in 1831 — granted to a woman named Kesiah Crier, which already tells you something about the caliber of people who put down roots in this corner of Texas. By the 1840s, a real community had taken shape there.
People were building lives, running businesses, raising families on that old granted land. Then came 1853. That year, Seth F. and Caroline M.
Hazel deeded a piece of that ground to the trustees of Navidad Baptist Church and Cemetery. A formal deed, a formal commitment — the kind of act that says we intend to stay. And sure enough, the oldest known burial in that cemetery dates to that very same year, 1853.
The ink on that deed and the first grave in that ground arrived together, near as we can tell. Here's the thing about this cemetery that sets it apart: it didn't just serve the faithful of Navidad Baptist Church. It served everybody in the pioneer community of Lyons — members and non-members alike.
In a frontier town, that kind of open door matters. The cemetery became the common ground, so to speak, for the whole surrounding area. And what a community it was burying.
Among those interred here are relatives of the Old Three Hundred — the first families Stephen F. Austin settled in Texas. That's about as deep as Texas roots go.
Add to that veterans of conflicts dating all the way back to the Texas Revolution, and you've got a burial ground that reads like a chapter of early Texas history lying flat in the earth. But Lyons, for all its history, didn't survive the 1870s intact. That's when the railroad came through — not through Lyons, mind you, but north of it, through a new town called Schulenburg.
And when the railroad arrived, most of the businesses and most of the community members picked up and moved toward it. That's just how it worked in those days. The railroad didn't ask permission; it just drew a new line on the map, and towns either followed or faded.
Lyons faded. Some residents stayed on in the area, but the community as a going concern — the shops, the neighbors, the civic life — that all moved north, and Lyons soon ceased to exist. The church, the businesses, the bustle of a living town — all of it gone.
But the cemetery stayed. It had nowhere to go and, more importantly, no reason to. The people in it were already home.
So today, out in Fayette County, while you won't find the town of Lyons on any current map, you will find this ground. It chronicles the lives of area pioneers — the Hazel family who deeded the land, the relatives of the Old Three Hundred, the veterans of the Texas Revolution, the ordinary folk of an extraordinary frontier era. The community of Lyons is gone, but this cemetery remains.
And some stories, it turns out, are easier to keep than the towns that started them.
What the marker says
In 1853, Seth F. and Caroline M. Hazel deeded land to trustees of Navidad Baptist Church and Cemetery. This cemetery served the residents of the pioneer community of Lyons, whether or not they were members of the Navidad Baptist Church. The community was established by the 1840s on land originally granted in 1831 to Kesiah Crier. In the 1870s, however, most businesses and members of the community moved north toward the new railroad town of Schulenburg, and Lyons soon ceased to exist, although some residents continued to live in the area. The oldest known burial in the cemetery dates to 1853. Many of those interred here are early Texas pioneers, including relatives of the Old Three Hundred, the first families Stephen F. Austin settled in Texas. In addition, veterans of conflicts dating to the Texas Revolution are buried here. Today, though the community of Lyons is gone, the cemetery remains an important reminder of the early town. The burial ground chronicles the lives of area pioneers. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004