DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Somewhere out in Callahan County, there's a patch of ground that's been holdin' secrets since before most of this country was even properly mapped — and it goes by the name Old Cottonwood Cemetery. Pull up a minute.
This one's worth your full attention. It starts, as so many Texas stories do, with a land grant and a man who earned it the hard way. George Washington Glasscock, Sr. — born 1810, died 1868 — served with the Republic of Texas, and for that service he received a land grant that would eventually incorporate the future settlement of Cottonwood.
He didn't live to see how the story turned out, but he set the whole thing in motion. When he died, his will conveyed that land to his daughter, Sarah Jane Glasscock Hall. Now Sarah Jane's husband, Phidello William Hall, was no ordinary farmer — the man served as a Texas legislator from 1870 to 1874.
Power, land, and family roots all running together, the way they tend to do out here. Then in 1875, a man named J. W.
Love came riding through and liked what he saw near the headwaters of Green Briar Creek — a place called Cottonwood Springs — and he homesteaded right there. The land proved well suited for farming, and Cottonwood didn't waste any time becoming something real. Before long, the community was boasting several businesses, churches, a Christian Academy, a post office, and two newspapers.
Two newspapers. Out here on the frontier. That tells you something about the ambitions of the people who settled this place.
In 1884, Sarah Jane and P. W. Hall donated land for what became the Cottonwood Cemetery — and while they were at it, they donated land for Union Baptist and Methodist Churches too.
Generous people. But here's the thing: the burial ground was already in use by then. The first known graves include infants dating from 1877, which means this ground had been receiving the community's sorrow for years before anyone made it official.
Now. The marker doesn't shy away from the harder truths of frontier life, and neither will I. Cottonwood was noted for frontier violence — the inscription says so plainly.
And perhaps the starkest testament to that fact lies in a single shared grave, where two friends, George Franks and Tom Jones, are buried together. They killed each other in December of 1882. Friends, in a common grave.
You can sit with that image for a moment. The frontier had a way of writing endings nobody planned. P.
W. Hall himself died in 1888 and is buried in this cemetery. Sarah Jane Hall is believed to be buried here too, but her grave has never been identified.
After everything she and her family gave to this community — the land, the churches, the cemetery itself — the ground keeps her exact resting place its own quiet secret. Also interred here is Prof. J.
H. Yonley, founder of Cottonwood's Yonley Polytechnic Institute. A polytechnic institute.
On the Texas frontier. The ambition of this place just keeps on surprisin' you. The cemetery holds graves of veterans dating from the Texas War for Independence — so the roots of remembrance here go as deep as Texas roots get.
But communities on the frontier lived and died by forces bigger than any one family's will. Droughts hit hard. Rail transportation never came.
And the land, which had called in farmers, eventually called them back out again as ranching returned. The population of Cottonwood declined. The town faded the way frontier towns do — not all at once, but steadily, like a fire burnin' down to coals.
What remained, and remains still, is the cemetery. Several hundred graves, the marker says. A chronicle of generations of families who contributed to the progress of this community.
From the Republic of Texas land grant that started it all, to the infants of 1877, to two friends who share one grave, to a legislator and a professor and veterans whose wars shaped the very idea of Texas — it's all here, written in stone, out in Callahan County. Some towns leave buildings. Cottonwood left this.
What the marker says
OLD COTTONWOOD CEMETERY FOR HIS MILITARY SERVICE WITH THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS, GEORGE WASHINGTON GLASSCOCK, SR. (1810-68) RECEIVED A LAND GRANT INCORPORATING THE FUTURE SETTLEMENT OF COTTONWOOD. HIS WILL CONVEYED THIS LAND TO HIS DAUGHTER, SARAH JANE GLASSCOCK HALL, WHOSE HUSBAND, PHIDELLO WILLIAM HALL, WAS A TEXAS LEGISLATOR (1870-74). IN 1875, J. W. LOVE VISITED COTTONWOOD SPRINGS NEAR THE HEADWATERS OF GREEN BRIAR CREEK AND HOMESTEADED HERE. THE LAND WAS WELL SUITED FOR FARMING, AND THE COMMUNITY OF COTTONWOOD SOON BOASTED SEVERAL BUSINESSES, CHURCHES, A CHRISTIAN ACADEMY, A POST OFFICE, AND TWO NEWSPAPERS. IN 1884, SARAH JANE AND P. W. HALL DONATED LAND FOR THE COTTONWOOD CEMETERY, AS WELL AS LAND FOR UNION BAPTIST AND METHODIST CHURCHES. THE BURIAL GROUND WAS ALREADY IN USE, WITH THE FIRST KNOWN GRAVES INCLUDING INFANTS DATING FROM 1877. COTTONWOOD WAS NOTED FOR FRONTIER VIOLENCE; FRIENDS GEORGE FRANKS AND TOM JONES WHO KILLED EACH OTHER IN DEC. 1882 ARE BURIED IN A COMMON GRAVE. P. W. HALL DIED IN 1888 AND IS BURIED HERE; SARAH JANE HALL IS BELIEVED TO BE BURIED HERE TOO BUT HER GRAVE HAS NOT BEEN IDENTIFIED. PROF. J. H. YONLEY, FOUNDER OF COTTONWOOD’S YONLEY POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, IS ALSO INTERRED HERE. THE CEMETERY INCLUDES GRAVES OF VETERANS DATING FROM THE TEXAS WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. DROUGHTS, LACK OF RAIL TRANSPORTATION, AND A RETURN TO RANCHING LED TO A POPULATION DECLINE IN COTTONWOOD. THE CEMETERY CONTAINS SEVERAL HUNDRED GRAVES AND IS A CHRONICLE OF GENERATIONS OF FAMILIES WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE PROGRESS OF THE COMMUNITY. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2003