Alley Cemetery
Alleyton, Colorado County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Alley Cemetery, also known as the Glaiser Cemetery and Alley Family Cemetery, is the final resting place for some of the first Anglo settlers of Texas. The cemetery was not officially established until November 2, 1881, when the land was deeded by Nicola and Elizabeth Glaiser; however, earlier burials exist. The Alley Cemetery was named for Rawson Alley (1793–1833), the surveyor for Stephen F. Austin’s original expedition in 1821, surveying much of the land around the Colorado River. His family, including brothers Abraham (Abram) and Thomas, came to Texas in 1822 with the ‘Old Three Hundred’ settlers. Rawson died of illness during a flood on the Colorado River in 1833 and was buried here. Abraham (Abram) Alley (1803-1862), Texas Revolution veteran, is buried next to his wife, Nancy (Millar) Alley (1817-1893). Generations of Alleys were buried at the Alley Cemetery, including Shelly Lee Alley (1894-1964), WWI veteran, famed bandleader, and founder of the “Alley Cats,” a country blues band. Shelly was inducted into the Western Swing Hall of Fame in 1994. While named for the Alley Family, the first burials at the cemetery were those of Dr. John Millar (1787-1831) and his youngest children, William and Julia Millar. The Millars settled on the west bank of the Colorado River in 1831 and, shortly after, several succumbed to smallpox that same year and were buried at the cemetery. Under these oak trees are the graves of generations of Texans, some predating the Texas Revolution. The Alley Cemetery remains as a testament to the people who helped shape the history and heritage of Colorado County since its settlement. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2021
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Beneath these oaks lie some of the earliest Anglo settlers of Texas, members of Stephen F. Austin's colonizing venture. Rawson Alley, a surveyor on Austin's 1821 expedition, was buried here in 1833, and his family had come west with the famed 'Old Three Hundred' in 1822. Though the cemetery wasn't formally deeded until 1881, its first graves—those of Dr. John Millar and his children, lost to smallpox in 1831—predate it by half a century, and generations of Alleys, including a Texas Revolution veteran and a Western Swing bandleader, followed.
Why it matters
This quiet family burial ground holds the remains of the very colonists who opened Texas to Anglo-American settlement, linking the frontier of the 1820s to the state that grew from it.
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Related people
- · Rawson Alley
- · Abraham Alley
- · Shelly Lee Alley
- · Dr. John Millar
Related events
- · Austin's Old Three Hundred settlement
- · Texas Revolution
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Alleyton Cemetery
Alleyton, TX
Alleyton grew from the settlement of the Alley brothers around 1822 and became Colorado County's largest town after William Alley donated railroad right-of-way in 1859. Blocks marked as a graveyard on the 1860 town map were formally established as a cemetery by 1880, when an adjacent Colored Cemetery was also created for the community's African American residents. Burials here span a yellow fever epidemic of 1867 and veterans of wars from the Civil War through Vietnam.
Alleyton
Alleyton, TX
Alleyton was once the oldest permanent settlement and largest town in Colorado County, founded by the Alley brothers—William, John, Rawson, Thomas, and Abraham—all members of Stephen F. Austin's original 300 colonists. Its prominence grew when it became the terminus of the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railroad from 1860 to 1867.
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