Cobb Cemetery
Thornton, Limestone County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Brinkley Davis and his family, including his daughter Mary Ellen, moved to this area from Indiana in 1833. Brinkley Davis received a land grant of about 4500 acres from the Mexican government in 1835, and the surrounding area became known as Davis Prairie. A native of Alabama, Pinckney Cobb came to Texas in the early 1840s. He married Mary Ellen Davis in 1845, and they eventually had nine children. This cemetery was established on Cobb family land in the 1850s. Brinkley Davis died in 1852 and his is the earliest marked grave. William Neri, the second child of Pinckney and Mary Ellen Cobb, died at the age of six in 1855. Pinckney Cobb died at age 45 and was interred here in 1866, seven months before his youngest son was born. Another Cobb son, George Levi, was 20 when he died and was buried here in 1872. County Judge l. B. Cobb donated a parcel of land joining the west side of the cemetery in 1887. Many early settlers of the surrounding communities are interred here. The site was cared for by family and community members until the area population decreased during World War II and it became necessary to pay for cemetery maintenance. Other burials of interest include that of Nathaniel G. Hudson, who came to Texas in 1836, joined the Santa Fe expedition in 1841 and was held prisoner in Mexico from 1841 to 1843. Nathaniel P. Hudson, a veteran of the Spanish American War, also is interred here, as are seven Confederate veterans. At the dawn of the 21st century, 964 graves (227 unidentified) graced the cemetery grounds. Many early graves are those of infants and small children, testaments to the harsh conditions of pioneer life. (2000)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Brinkley Davis brought his family from Indiana in 1833 and received a Mexican land grant of some 4,500 acres in 1835, giving the surrounding 'Davis Prairie' its name. His daughter Mary Ellen married Alabama-born Pinckney Cobb in 1845, and the family cemetery was established on Cobb land in the 1850s, with Davis's 1852 grave the earliest marked. Its stones tell hard pioneer truths — many infants and children — alongside veterans of the Santa Fe Expedition, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War.
Why it matters
The cemetery gathers a full century of frontier settlement into one plot, from Mexican-era land grants through the wars and everyday losses that shaped early Limestone County.
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Related people
- · Brinkley Davis
- · Pinckney Cobb
- · Nathaniel G. Hudson
Related events
- · Santa Fe Expedition
Themes & tags
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