Old Hawley Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just as it stands. Out here in Matagorda County, there's a patch of ground two acres wide that carries a lot of Texas in its soil. For most of the nineteenth century, folks knew it as Deming's Bridge Cemetery, a name it held from 1838 all the way to 1899.

But before we get to the name it carries now, let's talk about what grew up around it. Two acres of this land were donated by Emelius Savage and his son Norman, set aside for the cemetery and for the Tres Palacios Baptist Church, which was founded in 1852. Not far from here, in 1858, the second post office in all of Matagorda County found its home nearby.

Think about that. The second one. This corner of the county was putting down roots early.

Then came Jonathan E. Pierce. He gave more land to the place, and in 1900 he named the area Hawley, honoring United States Senator Robert Bradley Hawley.

That's when Deming's Bridge Cemetery quietly became the Old Hawley Cemetery, and the name has stuck ever since. Now, the ground itself. That's where the story gets reverent.

Buried here are two brothers, Jonathan E. Pierce and Abel H. Pierce, who went by the nickname Shang, and they rest alongside many other famous early cattlemen.

The kind of men who shaped this part of Texas when it was still being shaped. And then there are the veterans. More than fifty who served in the Civil War, and more who answered the call in every American war since 1865.

Two acres. A church founded in 1852. A post office in 1858.

A new name in 1900. And beneath it all, the cattlemen and the soldiers who made Matagorda County what it became. Some ground just earns its keep.

What the marker says

Known 1838-1899 as Deming's Bridge Cemetery. Second post office in Matagorda county was located nearby in 1858. Two acres donated by Emelius Savage and his son Norman for the cemetery and Tres Palacios Baptist Church, founded 1852. More land given by Jonathan E. Pierce, who in 1900 named area Hawley, honoring United States senator Robert Bradley Hawley. Buried here are the brothers Jonathan E. and Abel H. ("Shang") Pierce and many other famous early cattlemen; also, more than 50 veterans of Civil War and all U.S. wars since 1865. (1967)