DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker tells it, here's the story of Salado Cemetery — and it's one worth slowing down for. Out on a two-and-a-half-acre piece of ground donated by E.S.C. Robertson, a cemetery took root in 1856.
That's the starting point. And from that beginning, this patch of Bell County soil quietly became one of the most quietly remarkable places in all of Texas. Now, remarkable is a word that gets thrown around.
But consider who's resting here. The Reverend G.W. Baines — great-grandfather of President Lyndon B.
Johnson — is buried in this ground. That's the kind of detail that stops you mid-stride. You're standing in a small Texas cemetery, and the roots of a United States presidency reach down right beneath your feet.
Then there's the Reverend J.E. Ferguson and his wife, both of them interred here. They were the parents of Governor James E.
Ferguson. A family that shaped Texas politics, and here lie the people who started it all. A.J.
Rose is here too — Grand Master of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Texas, and a trustee of Texas A. and M. College. And two men who served as presidents of Salado College during its years of operation from 1859 to 1885 — J.L.
Smith and S.J. Jones — both found their final rest in this same ground they once helped build a community around. But the story doesn't stop with the distinguished names.
Spread across those two and a half acres are the graves of veterans. Men who served in the U.S.-Mexican War. The Civil War.
The Spanish-American War. World War I. World War II.
Five wars. Generations of Texans who answered when they were called. E.S.C.
Robertson gave the land. The years gave it meaning. And Salado Cemetery has been holding all of it — quietly, faithfully — since 1856.
What the marker says
Established 1856 on 2.5-acre site given by E.S.C. Robertson. Distinguished Texans interred here include the Rev. G.W. Baines, great-grandfather of President Lyndon B. Johnson; the Rev. and Mrs. J.E. Ferguson, parents of Governor James E. Ferguson; A.J. Rose, Grand Master of A.F.&A.M. of Texas and trustee of Texas A.&M. College; J.L. Smith and S.J. Jones, both presidents of Salado College (1859-1885). Other graves here are for veterans of U.S.-Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II. (1969)