DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, so let me give you my version of the story. Out here in Frio County, there's a patch of ground with a lot of history pressed into it — and it all started with a gift. James E. and Amanda R.
Bandy gave the original one point eight six acres, and that land became the Tehuacana Cemetery. The first burial came in 1875. Someone was laid to rest in that quiet ground, and the community started to gather around it the way communities do — not just in grief, but in purpose.
By 1880, they weren't done yet. The community acquired an adjoining three point six acres, and on that ground they raised a log church and started a day school, a writing school, and a music school. Think about that for a moment — out here on the Texas frontier, somebody decided that reading, penmanship, and music all mattered enough to build a place for them.
Then, one year later in 1881, they added six point two more acres. On that land went a frame parsonage and a church — this one carrying two names: Wilson Chapel and Salem Sunday School. The community kept growing, kept building, and then in 1900, the Tehuacana Church picked up and moved to Medina County.
The congregation carried on, but the cemetery stayed behind, holding everyone who had already gone ahead. And the list of those buried here — well, it speaks. Early pioneers who broke this land open.
Victims of the smallpox epidemics of 1882 through 1884, when the illness swept through and took people fast and hard. Twelve Confederate veterans, men who had survived a war and come to make a life in South Texas. And Levi Wilson himself — one of the three original church trustees, one of the very people who helped set all of this in motion.
The land was given. The church was built, named, and eventually moved on. But Tehuacana Cemetery remains — keeping the names of the ones who were here first, and the ones the epidemics claimed, and the veterans, and Levi Wilson — all of them still out there in Frio County, in ground that was always meant for them.
What the marker says
Original 1.86 acre site given by James E. and Amanda R. Bandy. First burial was in 1875. Community acquired adjoining 3.6 acres in 1880 for a log church and a day, writing, and music school; added 6.2 acres in 1881 for a frame parsonage and church called Wilson Chapel and Salem Sunday School. Tehuacana Church moved to Medina County in 1900. Buried here are early pioneers: victims of 1882-1884 smallpox epidemics; twelve Confederate veterans; Levi Wilson, one of three original church trustees. 1967