DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at Rector Chapel Cemetery has to say. Now settle in, because this is one of those stories where friendship outlasts everything — even the buildings. William Robert Wiseman, born in 1816, was the kind of man a county remembers.
Successful farmer. Owned the first cotton gin in La Vernia. That right there puts him in a particular category of Texan — the kind who gets things moving before anybody else even thought to ask.
But the man who really sets this story in motion is his close friend, William Claiborne Rector, born in 1805. Rector was a hero of San Jacinto — and if you know your Texas history, you know that's not a title thrown around lightly. Beyond the battlefield, Rector farmed, served as postmaster, and kept the local stage line in horses.
Two very different kinds of men, you might say — one with a cotton gin, one with a heroic past and a stable full of horses — and yet, somehow, close friends. In 1852, the two of them sat down together and organized the Cibolo Presbyterian Church. That's what good friends do: they build something.
Then comes 1873, and Rector dies. Now here's where the story takes its quiet, aching turn. Wiseman — grieving his friend, that much seems plain — built a new chapel on his own farm and named it after the man he'd lost.
And then, in 1877, he did something that makes you stop and think. He set aside four acres, in his own words, 'for church and burying purposes.' Four acres, formal and deliberate, held in trust for the community and for the memory of William Claiborne Rector. The chapel itself was moved to La Vernia in 1891.
Moved on down the road, as things sometimes have to do. But the gravestones — they stayed. They're still there, standing in those four acres Wiseman set aside, a record, the marker says, of La Vernia's rich heritage.
One man named a place after another man. The building left. The ground held.
Some friendships are like that.
What the marker says
Rector Chapel Cemetery William Robert Wiseman (1816-1888) was a successful farmer and owned the first cotton gin in La Vernia. William Claiborne Rector (1805-1873), a hero of San Jacinto, farmed, served as postmaster and provided horses for the local stage line. The two men were close friends and together organized the Cibolo Presbyterian Church in 1852. Following Rector's death in 1873, a new chapel was built on Wiseman's farm; he named it after his good friend and, in 1877, set aside four acres "for church and burying purposes." The chapel was moved to La Vernia in 1891, but these gravestones remain, a record of La Vernia's rich heritage. Historic Texas Cemetery-2002