Big Eye Cemetery
Comanche, Comanche County, Texas
Marker Inscription
George William Montgomery moved to Comanche County from Mississippi in 1855. In 1869, George and Nancy C. (Hicks) Montgomery purchased 480 acres in the Andrew Crier Survey from Jessie and Alice Mercer. George built a log church, which was also used for a school called “Big Eye.” He was the community’s school teacher, doctor and minister. Near the church was Big Eye Cemetery, established in 1872 with the last known burial in 1894. Measuring 150 feet on each side, the cemetery contains five marked graves, six unknown crypts in a row, and approximately sixty unknown burials marked with concrete markers. One grave is for a Civil War veteran. Big Eye Cemetery is all that remains of the community, church and school.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1869, Mississippi transplant George William Montgomery bought 480 acres in Comanche County, where he built a log building that served at once as church, school, and gathering place — a school known as "Big Eye," where Montgomery taught, preached, and practiced medicine. The nearby Big Eye Cemetery was established in 1872 and holds five marked graves, a row of unknown crypts, and roughly sixty unmarked burials, including one Civil War veteran. The last known burial came in 1894, and the cemetery is now all that remains of the vanished community.
Why it matters
Big Eye is a poignant example of the frontier settlements where a single dedicated man served as teacher, doctor, and minister — communities that flickered and disappeared, leaving only a burial ground behind.
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Related people
- · George William Montgomery
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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