Powell-Tull Cemetery

Duane's take

The way I tell it here comes straight from the official marker for Powell-Tull Cemetery in Falls County. Let me walk you through what it says. Out here in Falls County, there's a patch of ground that holds the stories of families who put down roots and never let go.

It starts, as so many things do, with a death. John Powell, born in 1826, was the first to be interred on this land, in 1889. And it was that very event, the marker tells us, that caused the Powell family to set aside this ground as a burial place.

Not just for themselves, mind you. For the Bolton family, the Busby family, the Greer, the McRae, the Sims, the Suggs, the Sylvester, the Taylor, and the Tull families too. One piece of land, carrying all those names forward through time.

Now among those Tulls, one man stands out on the marker. Thomas Marion Tull, born in 1836, was a Confederate veteran who made his way here from Arkansas, where he had served in the state legislature and as a justice of the peace. He didn't come alone.

His wife, Amy Caple, born in 1835, made that journey with him. Thomas Marion Tull died in 1921. Amy Caple Tull in 1919.

Pioneers, the marker calls them. Falls County pioneers. And their descendants, to this day, continue to care for this site, tending the ground that chronicles their families' heritage.

That's the thing about a cemetery. It looks like an ending. But sometimes, it's exactly where a family's story keeps on living.

What the marker says

John Powell (1826-1889) was the first to be interred here in 1889. It was this event that caused the Powell family to set aside this land as a burial ground that was to serve them, as well as the Bolton, Busby, Greer, McRae, Sims, Suggs, Sylvester, Taylor and Tull families. One of the Tulls, Thomas Marion (1836-1921), was a Confederate veteran who, with his wife, Amy Caple (1835-1919), came here from Arkansas, where he had served in the state legislature and as a justice of the peace. The lives of these Falls County pioneers are remembered by descendants who continue to care for this site that chronicles their families' heritage. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2001