DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm passing it along to you just as it stands. Out here on the edge of San Augustine, there's a piece of ground that's been holding stories since before Texas was Texas. The San Augustine City Cemetery — but it didn't start out belonging to the city, or anybody's association, or the public at all.
It began as the private cemetery of the J. C. Anderson family, right there near their residence on a nearby lot.
Private ground. Family ground. The kind of place where a family plants its roots in the deepest way imaginable.
And then the ground just kept filling up. Five hundred to seven hundred graves, by best count — and the oldest of them reach all the way back to the 1830s. Think about that.
The 1830s. Texas wasn't even a republic yet when somebody first laid a loved one down in that soil. Now, the marker calls out a few of the prominent citizens resting there, and each name carries its own considerable weight.
There's Colonel Stephen William Blount, born 1808, died 1890 — a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The man put his name on the document that said Texas would be its own. Then there's Dr.
George L. Crocket, 1861 to 1936, Episcopal clergyman and historian — a man who spent his life both tending souls and recording what happened to them. And there's B.
F. Benton, born 1827, died 1862 — a Confederate captain killed in the Civil War. That's a short span between those two years, and the marker doesn't soften it.
Killed. The city of San Augustine bought the cemetery in 1911, and a maintenance association formed in 1921 has been keeping watch over it ever since. From a family's private plot to a city's shared memory — and somewhere underneath all of that, the 1830s are still right there, quiet as ever, waiting for someone to stop and listen.
What the marker says
This burial ground originated as the private cemetery of the J. C. Anderson family, whose residence stood on a nearby lot. The oldest of the 500 to 700 graves date from the 1830s. Prominent citizens buried here include Col. Stephen William Blount (1808-1890), signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence; Dr. George L. Crocket (1861-1936), Episcopal clergyman and historian; and B. F. Benton (1827-1862), Confederate captain killed in the Civil War. Bought by the city in 1911, the cemetery is maintained by an association formed in 1921. (1977)