Thomas Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Thomas Cemetery in San Augustine County. Now settle in, because this story starts with a man reading a piece of paper in Alabama, and it ends with seven generations of family in the ground of East Texas. That's the kind of arc you don't rush.

Benjamin Thomas was a North Carolina native, living in Alabama in 1822, when he came across an advertisement. It was calling for families to settle Stephen F. Austin's colony in Texas.

Benjamin looked at that advertisement, and then he looked at what he had to offer. Himself as head of family. His wife, Mary Ann, known to everyone as Polly, née Dickinson.

Eleven children. And seven slaves. Between all of them, he qualified for more than three thousand acres.

That's not a family making a move. That's a whole world picking up and going somewhere new. So they went.

The family reached Natchitoches, Louisiana in February of 1822. And there they waited. The plan was for Austin himself to come and escort them to their new home.

They waited through the cold months. They waited into the summer. July came, and Austin never came.

Now, at that point, a lesser family might have turned around. Benjamin Thomas did not turn around. The family continued their journey along El Camino Real, that old royal road, and they founded what became known as the Thomas Settlement in San Augustine County.

Other families followed, or were already nearby, and the community grew. The Davis family. The Teel, Horn, Price, King, and Brooks families.

The Fitzgerald, Polk, Bate, and Mathews families. Around them all rose the bones of a real working community. A mercantile store.

A blacksmith. A gristmill and a sawmill. The Thomas children themselves served in the military, in ministry, in law enforcement, in commerce.

They were woven into the early fabric of both county and Texas history. Benjamin Thomas died in 1834. His wife Polly died in 1840.

Their graves, and many others in that cemetery, are believed to be marked by native fieldstones pulled right from the surrounding land. Simple markers for complicated lives. The Thomas Cemetery covers two acres in the James W.

Moss survey, near where the Thomas plantation home once stood. The oldest dated grave belongs to Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, born in 1795 and died in 1840. Among those buried there are veterans spanning from the War of 1812 all the way through Vietnam.

Fifteen of the people resting there were born in the area before the Republic of Texas even existed. In 1946, trustees established a caretaking trust, and that trust manages the cemetery to this day. Here's what the marker wants you to understand before you drive on.

The Thomas Settlement, that whole thriving community with its mills and its store and its generations of labor, is gone. The cemetery is the only remaining physical evidence that it ever existed at all. But it does exist.

Many descendants still live nearby. Some families are represented by seven generations of burials in that ground. Benjamin Thomas read an advertisement in Alabama, Austin never showed up, and a family walked El Camino Real into history anyway.

That cemetery is still keeping the account.

What the marker says

In 1822, North Carolina native Benjamin Thomas, then in Alabama, read an advertisement calling for families to settle Stephen F. Austin's colony in Texas. Between himself as head of family, his wife Mary Ann "Polly" (Dickinson), eleven children and seven slaves, he qualified for more than 3,000 acres. The family reached Natchitoches, Louisiana in Feb. 1822 and stayed there until July waiting for Austin to escort them to their new home. However, Austin never came, so the family continued their journey along El Camino Real and founded the Thomas Settlement in San Augustine County. Other early settlers included the Davis, Teel, Horn, Price, King, Brooks, Fitzgerald, Polk, Bate and Mathews families. A mercantile store, blacksmith, gristmill and sawmill supported the community. The Thomas children served in many capacities in early county and Texas history, including the military, ministry, law enforcement, and commerce. The Thomas Cemetery comprises two acres in the James W. Moss survey, near where the Thomas plantation home stood. Benjamin Thomas died in 1834 and Mary died in 1840. Their graves and many others are believed to be marked by native fieldstones. The oldest dated grave is for Sarah Moore Fitzgerald (1795-1840). The Thomas Cemetery is the final resting place of many citizens instrumental in the development of the Republic and State of Texas, including veterans of the War of 1812 through Vietnam, and fifteen born in the area before the Republic of Texas era. In 1946, trustees established a caretaking trust from which the cemetery is managed today. The cemetery is the only remaining physical evidence of the once-thriving Thomas Settlement. Many descendants live nearby, with some families represented by seven generations of burials in one of the oldest community burial grounds in San Augustine County.