Willingham Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Willingham Cemetery, out in Bell County. Now, every family that put down roots in early Texas left something behind, and the Willinghams left a few things. A farm.

A name on the land. And a quiet piece of ground where the story comes to rest. The Willinghams were among the original settlers at Salado Springs, the place folks eventually just called Salado, and they were there in the early 1850s.

That's pioneer-era Texas, when staking a claim meant staking everything. But the family didn't stay put at Salado Springs forever. They moved a few miles west and built themselves a successful stock farm operation.

Not a modest little garden patch. A real going concern. Leading that outfit was Archibald Willingham, the patriarch.

Born in Georgia in 1786. A veteran of the War of 1812. By the time he made it to Bell County, Texas, this man had already lived through more history than most people read about.

He died in 1857, and he was the first person to be buried in the family cemetery on their land. First in, as they say. His wife, Ellener, who was born a Belcher, is buried there too.

And so is their son, Sterling Andrew Jackson Willingham. Of the small number of burials in that cemetery, those three are the only ones with marked graves. Everyone else has been swallowed by time.

Now here's the detail that sticks with you. That cemetery goes by another name. People also call it Three Chimneys, after the family home that once stood nearby.

The house is gone. But three chimneys, standing alone out in the Texas landscape, have a way of making a point. They mark where something was.

Same as a grave marker does. Archibald Willingham came out of Georgia, survived a war, crossed into the Texas frontier, built something that lasted, and when it was over, the land remembered him. The graves are still there.

And so, apparently, is the shadow of those chimneys.

What the marker says

Willingham family members were original settlers at Salado Springs (Salado) in the early 1850s. They eventually moved a few miles west and established a successful stock farm operation. Patriarch Archibald Willingham (1786-1857), a Georgian by birth and a veteran of the war of 1812, was the first to be buried in the family cemetery on their land. His wife, Ellener (Belcher), and their son, Sterling Andrew Jackson Willingham, are also buried in the cemetery; their graves are the only ones marked of the small number of burials. The cemetery is also known as Three Chimneys after the family home that was nearby. Historic Texas cemetery - 2003