DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker at Woodville Magnolia Cemetery has to say, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, every good story needs a beginning, and this one starts with a single acre of East Texas ground. In 1855, a man named M.
Priest deeded one acre of land — land that already held several graves — to serve as a public burial ground. Just four years later, in 1859, a woman named Jane Bean donated another acre. More land came after that.
What started as one acre grew into something the town of Woodville would lean on for generations: the Magnolia Cemetery. And once you step inside a place like this, you start to feel the weight of who's resting there. Pioneer settlers.
Early community leaders. Folks who carved a life out of this part of Tyler County when it wasn't easy to do so. Some of the older graves don't have headstones at all — just handmade bricks laid out around them.
Patient, quiet markers. Among those outlined in brick: five wives of George Van Vleck, and several of his children. Now, Van Vleck himself is not buried here — he's over in Houston's Glenwood Cemetery — but his family is woven deep into this ground.
And the man left his mark on Tyler County in other ways. He served as the first district clerk of Tyler County, and he held that post for sixteen years. He also rose to serve as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Texas, A.
F. & A. M., in 1862. A man of considerable standing, and yet the ones he loved most lie here beneath those handmade bricks.
Then there's Captain Charles Bullock, born in 1825, died in 1902, who raised a company of soldiers for the Confederate army. And the Reverend Acton Young — born 1823, died 1873 — an early Methodist minister who tended to souls across this region. These are the kinds of men who show up in the first chapters of a place's story.
And here's a thread that runs from this cemetery all the way to the Governor's Mansion in Austin. Nancy Shivers, who died in 1890, is buried here — a widow who brought her family to Texas before the Civil War. One of her descendants is Allan Shivers, who served as Governor of Texas from 1949 to 1957.
It's something, isn't it — to think that a widow making her way to Texas with her family, resting now beneath this East Texas soil, has a descendant who'd one day govern the whole state. And the veterans. Lord, the veterans.
Interred in this cemetery are men who served in the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, and the Vietnam Conflict. Generation after generation, answering a call, and coming home to this ground. One acre, deeded by M.
Priest in 1855. That's how it began. What it became is a whole portrait of a community — its founders, its faithful, its fighters, and the families that bound them all together.
Woodville Magnolia Cemetery holds all of it, quiet and steady, right there in Tyler County.
What the marker says
In 1855 M. Priest deeded one acre of land, containing several graves, for use as a public burial ground. Another acre was donated by Jane Bean in 1859, and additional land was acquired later. Woodville Magnolia Cemetery contains the graves of numerous pioneer settlers and early community leaders. Handmade bricks outline some of the older graves not marked with headstones, such as the graves of five wives of George Van Vleck and several of his children. Van Vleck, who is buried in Houston's Glenwood Cemetery, served as the first district clerk of Tyler County for 16 years and as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Texas, A. F. & A. M., in 1862. Among the other pioneers buried here are Captain Charles Bullock (1825-1902), who raised a company of soldiers for the Confederate army, and the Rev. Acton Young (1823-1873), early Methodist minister in this region. Also located here is the gravesite of Nancy Shivers (d. 1890), a widow who brought her family to Texas before the Civil War. Allan Shivers, Governor of Texas from 1949 to 1957, is one of her descendants. Veterans of the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, and the Vietnam Conflict are interred here.