Old Cemetery on the Hill

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. There's a hill in San Patricio County, and on that hill sits a cemetery older than Texas itself — older, really, than just about any name you'd care to put on this land. The marker says this ground is believed to have been used for generations by Indian tribes and Mexican settlers, long before Anglo colonization ever reached these parts.

That's a long memory for a piece of earth. When empresarios John McMullen and James McGloin established San Patricio de Hibernia in 1830, the colonists who came with them didn't break ground on a new burial place — they climbed that same hill and laid their dead among those who'd come before. Local oral tradition holds that those early graves were marked by wooden crosses and stones bearing Spanish and English inscriptions.

Two languages, side by side, in the soil. Now that tells you something about who was up there on that hill. Among those resting in this ground is Lieutenant Marcelino Garcia, who was killed at the battle of Lipantitlan in 1835.

And there are soldiers here too — men who died in the battle of San Patricio on February 27, 1836. James McGloin himself, one of the very empresarios who helped plant this colony, is buried here — his grave never marked. Think on that a moment.

The man helped build the town, and the town never got around to marking where he lay. Alongside the soldiers and the founders are victims of diseases — scarlet fever among them — and men killed fighting duels, and generations of early settlers and their descendants, all sharing that hill without much fanfare. Things shifted in 1872, when Father Antoine Maury consecrated a new cemetery at San Patricio.

After that, folks made their way to the new ground instead, and the old cemetery on the hill grew quiet. Then it grew neglected. For many years it sat there, patient as hills tend to be, until restoration efforts were begun in the 1960s.

Some tombstones were destroyed over time. Some were simply lost. But the graveyard is maintained now — that old hill holding its generations of Indian tribes, Mexican settlers, Irish colonists, soldiers, founders, fever victims, and duelists all together, the way only a very old piece of ground can.

What the marker says

This cemetery is believed to have been used for generations by Indian tribes and Mexican settlers who lived in this area previous to Anglo colonization. Following the establishment of San Patricio de Hibernia in 1830 by empresarios John McMullen and James McGloin, the colonists continued to use the old cemetery on the hill. According to local oral tradition, early graves in the cemetery were marked by wooden crosses and stones bearing Spanish and English inscriptions. Among those interred here are Lt. Marcelino Garcia, who as killed at the battle of Lipantitlan in 1835. Also buried here are soldiers who died in the battle of San Patricio on February 27, 1836; James McGloin, whose grave was never marked; victims of diseases such as scarlet fever; men killed fighting duels; and many early settlers and their descendants. After a new cemetery was consecrated at San Patricio by father Antoine Maury in 1872, the old cemetery on the hill was used infrequently. The old cemetery was neglected for many years until restoration efforts were begun in the 1960's. Some tombstones were destroyed or lost over the years, but the historic graveyard is now maintained. (1990)