The  little  cemetery  situated  near  the banks  of the  placid stream know as Spring Creek near  Harper in western Gillespie County is an important link in the  history  of the  Texas Frontier.   A number of graves are unmarked, and some are known only  to  God.

Perhaps the beginning of this burial  spot  was  the  result  of a tragic incident during the War Between the States.   In 1862, Colonel James Duff's Confede- rate  Regiment overtook and  hanged  four  men who would not disavow their allegiance to the United States.  The victims were Sebird Henderson, Hiram Nelson, Gus Tegener, and Frank Scott.  They met a brutel death by beating and hanging.   The bodies  were tossed  into nearby  Spring Creek,  and  their womenfold and children buried the victims here.  A grim reminder of the inci- dent is a granite monument erected at the mass grave.

At least five  persons slain  by  Indians  during  Depredations  across  the  hill country  are  interred  in  this hallowed spot.   Those  martyrs  of  the frontier included Eli  McDonald,  Gillet  "Gilead"  McDonald  Taylor,  Elizabeth Frazier Joy,  Atwilda Joy McDonald,  and Peter  Hazelwood.

FRONTIER TIMES,   June 1927,  Volume 4,  Number 9,  chronicled  recol- lections of Monroe McDonald  on  page 4,  and  we  quote  in  part:  "Getting togeather what help we could,  my  father and  I  had  the  bodies  (Elizabeth Frazier Joy and Alwilda Joy McDonald)  taken  down to Spring Creek  and buried.  There is a little graveyard there, and in it we laid them to rest."

FRONTIER TIMES,  May 1927, Volume 4,  Number 8:   In his story, "The Tragedy of the Pedernales",  Leonard Passmore related on page 6:   "Mr. Mc- Donald (Monroe) took the corpses (Eli McDonald and Gillet Taylor) down to Spring Creek and buried them in a little vale on the west bank of the stream --a plot afterwards set apart as a public cemetery." In continuing his article,  Mr. Passmore told on page 7:  "The last time I saw this frontier mother  (Hannah Axley Taylor, wife of Matthew Taylor) was down on Spring Creek  in the  autumn of  1891....she died a few years after- wards  on  Little  Devil's River  and  was  buried  in  the  cemetery  at Spring Creek."

FRONTIER TIMES, "Memories of Lafe McDonald" gave this bit of insight: "Hut Taylor (William Hudson Taylor), hearing the wagon....went  with the others and loaded the corpse (Peter Hazelwood) on the wagon, and  he was taken down to the Spring Creek and buried".   Hazelwood had  been  slain by Indians in a confrontation in October, 1873.  Thus  Caroline Taylor  McDon- Hazelwood lost two husbands (Eli McDonald and Peter Hazelwood)  to the taming of  the Texas Frontier.   Caroline and  her children  were  held captive eight months (1864-65) by  the Indians.   One son  (Eli, Jr.) was  born  while the group was in captivity.

The cemetery is located on Survey No. 147,  Original  Grantee,  Joseph  Mc- Cormick.  Reference is mad to the  cemetery  in a deed dated August 3, 1880 from L. M. McDonald  to E. Maier.   A  later deed dated November 6, 1901, conveyed two acres of  land for the cemetery.  Grantor was L. M. and Hester Ann McDonald, grantee was the Methodist Espiscopal Church North.

NOTE:  The dynamic heritage of this area intrigued me, and I began a search to establish the identity of those who are at rest here.  Much of the history of Spring Creek has been written,  but I found little information  about  the  little cemetery.  From  all evidence,  the  last  burials  were  before  the turn of the century.  This compilation is the result of data gathered hither and yon. It is my desire that this cemetery, a spot that hold the secret of much hill country history, will not be forgotten by futer generations

Frederica Burt Wyatt P.O. Box 271 Junction, Tx 76849-0271
 
 

Anderwald, Joyce McDonald - Family Lineage Charts

Deed of Records of Gillespi County, Texas

Harper  (Texas)  Centennial  Committee, 1963,  HERE'S HARPER, pp 2-13

Harper (Texas) The Sesquicentennial Committe, 1986, HERE'S HARPER II pp. 173, 327

Hunter, J. Marvin, FRONTIER TIMES

Kimble Historical Commission,   FAMILIES OF KIMBLE COUNTY, VOLUME II, 1998, pp. 130-132

McCullough, Jerry - Family Files - Banta, Taylor, McDonald

Pharis, Doris,  The Joseph McDonald Family, Vol. II, FAMILIES OF KIMBLE COUNTY, Kimble Historical Commission

Rigler, Frank, McDONALD and TAYLOR FAMILIES, (The Highlander,                                    Marble Falls, Texas), 12 Nov 1972

Wilbarger, J. W., INDIAN DEPREDATION IN TEXAS, 1889, pp 648-649

Wyatt, Frederica Burt, On-Site Visit to Spring Creek, 1996