Old Cemetery on the Hill

Duane's take

This one comes straight from the official marker — here's how I tell it. There's a hill near San Patricio, and that hill has been holding the dead for longer than most folks care to reckon. The marker says this cemetery is believed to have been used for generations — generations, mind you — by Indian tribes and Mexican settlers, long before Anglo colonization ever reached this stretch of Texas.

The ground was already sacred before anyone thought to put a name on the town below it. Then came 1830, and empresarios John McMullen and James McGloin established San Patricio de Hibernia, and the new colonists didn't look for a fresh patch of earth. They climbed that same hill.

They kept right on using the old cemetery. According to local oral tradition, the early graves were marked with wooden crosses and stones bearing Spanish and English inscriptions — two languages side by side in the dirt, which tells you something about who was layin' down up there. Now here's where the hill starts collecting history in a hurry.

Lieutenant Marcelino Garcia is buried on that hill — he was killed at the battle of Lipantitlan in 1835. And then came February 27, 1836, and the battle of San Patricio, and soldiers who died in that fight were brought to the same ground. James McGloin himself — one of the very men who founded the colony — is buried there too.

His grave was never marked. The man who helped build the town rests in it anonymously. There are victims of scarlet fever up on that hill.

Men who died fighting duels. Early settlers. Their descendants.

Layer upon layer upon layer. For decades, the old cemetery on the hill did its quiet work. Then 1872 came along, and Father Antoine Maury consecrated a new cemetery at San Patricio, and folks started making their way there instead.

The hill grew quiet. The years piled on. The place was neglected for a long time — tombstones destroyed, tombstones lost, the whole hilltop slowly going back to grass and silence.

It wasn't until the 1960s that restoration efforts finally began. Some of what was lost stayed lost. But the graveyard is maintained now.

That hill has been keeping its people since before anyone wrote down a single name — and it's still at it.

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)