DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. William B. Bridgers.
Now that name might not ring a bell the way some others do, but hold on — because this man's story runs deep in Texas soil, and it starts at the very beginning. William B. Bridgers came over as one of Stephen F.
Austin's Old Three Hundred. That's the original colony, the seed settlers, the ones who were here before here was really here. In 1824, Bridgers received land in Texas.
That's where his Texas story begins. He and his wife, Cynthia Ross — she passed away around 1831 — had three daughters together. Three daughters, a piece of land, and a whole lot of frontier ahead of him.
Then came the Texas Revolution, and Bridgers didn't sit it out. He rode with Captain John Alley's company, one of those outfits that rushed to aid Colonel John H. Moore of Fayette County.
Rushed. You get the picture — no slow deliberation, no waiting to see how the wind blew. After all that, Bridgers married Eliza Lyons Tribble and put down roots in Fayette County.
Between the two of them, they owned land in four counties. Four. And they raised six children.
The man kept busy in every direction — farmer, rancher, and hat maker by trade. Not a combination you hear every day. He also served as a Fayette County justice of the peace and postmaster of Lyons.
A man of the land and a man of the community, both at once. Now here's where the story gets a little bittersweet, the way so many old Texas stories do. William B.
Bridgers' burial site is undocumented. Nobody knows for certain where he rests. But the marker stands here, in the Lyons Family Cemetery, because this is where he possibly lies — possibly, the marker says, and sometimes that's the most honest word history has to offer.
One of Austin's Old Three Hundred, and the ground above him keeps its secret still.
What the marker says
As a member of Stephen F. Austin's "Old 300," William B. Bridgers received land in Texas in 1824. He and his wife, Cynthia Ross (died c. 1831), had three daughters. Bridgers was a member of Capt. John Alley's company, which rushed to aid Col. John H. Moore of Fayette County during the Texas Revolution. He married Eliza Lyons Tribble and moved to Fayette County. They owned land in four counties and were the parents of six children. A farmer, rancher and hat maker by trade, William B. Bridgers served as a Fayette County justice of the peace and postmaster of Lyons. His burial site is undocumented, but possibly he is buried here in the Lyons Family Cemetery. (2001)