Boggy Creek Masonic Cemetery
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
According to local tradition, in the winter of 1859, 23-year-old John Davis joined a community wagon train headed for work in the pine forests of Bastrop County. Davis, sprayed by a skunk during the night, began running wildly through the camp. He was mistaken for a Comanche intruder and accidentally shot to death. His father, Jenkins Davis, buried his son here, on 2.3 acres he purchased near Boggy Creek and his Manchaca home. John's 1859 burial is the earliest recorded here. In 1876 Jenkins Davis, a member of the early area Onion Creek Masonic Lodge No. 220, donated the 2.3 acres to the lodge, and the site became a community graveyard. First called Boggy Creek and later Boggy Creek Masonic Cemetery, the graveyard had become known simply as Masonic Cemetery by the 1960s. Enlarged over the years, the cemetery contains about 6.6 acres and more than 1,200 burials. Among the people buried here are area pioneer settlers and their descendants; members of fraternal organizations such as the Masons and Woodmen of the World; and veterans of the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I & II, and the Korean Conflict. Onion Creek Lodge No. 220, A. F. & A. M., continues to maintain the cemetery. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845 - 1995
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Local tradition holds that this graveyard began in 1859 with the burial of young John Davis, accidentally shot after a skunk's spray sent him running through camp and he was mistaken for a Comanche intruder. His father later donated the land to the Onion Creek Masonic Lodge, and it grew into a community graveyard of more than 1,200 burials on some 6.6 acres. Among those interred are pioneer settlers, fraternal-order members, and veterans from the Civil War through the Korean Conflict.
Why it matters
From a frontier death mistaken for an Indian raid to graves of veterans across a century of American wars, this Masonic cemetery captures the layered history of settlement, fraternal life, and service in central Texas.
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Related people
- · John Davis
- · Jenkins Davis
Themes & tags
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