Colony Cemetery
Flatonia, Fayette County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Colony community, settled in the 1870s by former residents of Mississippi, at one time included three churches, several stores, and a post office. John A. and Margaret Young donated land at this site in 1876 for a Methodist church and cemetery. The graveyard became the primary burial ground for the community. The oldest documented grave is that of Methodist minister Samuel J. Brown (1813-1879). Also interred here are numerous other pioneer settlers, infants and children, and military veterans. The cemetery serves as a reflection of the area's pioneer heritage.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the 1870s, families uprooted from post-Civil War Mississippi carved a new community called Colony out of the Fayette County countryside, complete with three churches, stores, and a post office. In 1876 John A. and Margaret Young gave land here for a Methodist church and its burial ground, where the Reverend Samuel J. Brown was laid to rest in 1879. Generations of pioneers, children lost too young, and military veterans followed him into this quiet graveyard.
Why it matters
The cemetery is a lasting record of the great post-war migration that scattered Southern families westward into Texas to rebuild their lives on new soil.
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Related people
- · John A. Young
- · Margaret Young
- · Samuel J. Brown
Themes & tags
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