Compiled by Frederica Burt Wyatt - 1999
Curator Kimble County Museum
P. O. Box 271 Junction, TX 76849
Email: [email protected]
(this was updated July 27, 1999)
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
LISTING OF GRAVES
Bell, Julia E. (wife of C. B.) | 1848 | 1876 |
Chesser, Joseph Manley | 1870 | 1886 |
Fairchild, Infant of Erastus & Cynthia | 05-24-1889 | 05-24-1889 |
Fairchild, Infant of Erastus & Cynthia | 08-00-1898 | 08-00-1898 |
Fairchild, Willie E.Vonzzyl (dau. of Joseph & Etna) | 10-10-1915 | 10-21-1915 |
Garcia, Clara "Clarisa Adiline" (married IsaacJacob Banta 03-21-1858 & married Eusebio "Joe" Garcia 10-0501871) | 1843 | 1892 |
Hazelwood, Peter Thomas (married Caroline Taylor 11-24-1868) | no date | 10-00-1873 |
Heicken, John | no date | no date |
Henderson, Sebird | no date | 1862 |
Joy, Elizabeth Frazier (wife of Wiley) | no date | 12-05-1864 |
Knox (Nox), Martha E. Hall (first wife of Douglas) | 03-14-1864 | 05-30-1884 |
Lee, Calvin Curtis (son of A. & G.C.) | 1886 | 1887 |
Maner, Phoebe Eppes (wife of W. A) | 1845 | 1893 |
Maner, William A. | 1825 | 1893 |
Maner, Daughter of W. A. & Phoebe | no date | 1893 |
McDonald, James Eli, Sr. (married Caroline Taylor 11-28-1856) | 1836 | 08-08-1864 |
McDonald, Joseph | 1815 | ? |
McDonald, Lewis Martin, Jr. | 07-26-1866 | 12-23-1888 |
McDonald, Mahala Alwilda Joy (first wife of R. Lafayette "Lafe" wed on 04-10-1864) | 02-16-1845 | 12-05-1864 |
McDonald, Pleasant Aughty (dau. of M. A. & L. E) | 1881 | 1884 |
McDonald, (seven children of Allen & Mahala) | no dates | no dates |
McDonald, Thomas | 06-04-1803 | 1870 |
Nelson, Hiram L. (husband of Olive McDonald wed on 08-09-1855) | no date | 1862 |
Reed, Lena (daughter of L.D. & L.A.) | 09-15-1891 | ? |
Schnerr, Louis, Jr. | no date | 1894 |
Scott, Charles Franklin "Frank" (wed Mary Ann McDonald on 09-16-1855) | no date | 1862 |
Silvers, Angeline "Angie" Banta (wife of James) | 10-05-1865 | 10-11-1890 |
Strong, Mary Ann Elizabeth McDonald (wed John Strong 01-11-1866) | 1850 | 1872 |
Taylor, Elizabeth Banta (wife of Matthew M. Taylor | 1861 | 1888 |
Taylor, Gillet "Gilead" McDonald (wife of James Thomas) | 1843 | 08-08-1864 |
Taylor, Hannah Axley (wife to Matthew) | no date | aft 1891 |
Taylor, Letha Ann (dau. of J. W. & Permelia) | 03-07-1895 | 03-07-1895 |
Taylor, Matthew Modglin | 01-25-1802 | 08-001880 |
Taylor, T. T. | 12-12-1869 | 01-05-1870 |
Tegener, Gus | no date | 1862 |
Banta, Isaac Jacob | 1835 | 07-16-1855 |
Fairchild, Amos "Hez", Sr. | 1825 | 186? |
Hazelwood, Charles | 07-15-1872 | 1897 |
Lacey, Mary Matilda (married James Harvey McDonald) | 09-01-1838 | 11-21-1894 |
Silvers, James | no date | 1895 |
Solomon, Godwin | no date | no date |
Strong, Mary Ann Elizabeth McDonald (married John Strong 01-11-1866) | 1850 | 1872 |
Taylor, Amanda Jane (daughter of W.H. & G. L.) | 08-30-1875 | 08-30-1875 |
Taylor, James (son of Zadock & Margaret) | ca 1854 | ? |
Taylor, Mary Elizabeth (daughter of James & Samantha) | 1872 | 1882 |
Taylor, James Monroe (son of James & Samantha) | 04-00-1881 | 11-00-1881 |
Taylor, Zadock "Zed" | no date | no date |
West, John C. | 1840 | ca 1895 |
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