Columbus' Old City Cemetery
Columbus, Colorado County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Date of earliest burial is not known: oldest headstone, 1853. Site (7 A.) was deeded to the city in 1870 as an existent graveyard. Burials here included Benjamin Beason, one of Austin's "Old 300" colonists: W. B. DeWees, also in "Old 300," founder of Columbus; 1830s historian Dilue Rose and husband, Sheriff Ira Harris; Gen. Augustus Jones, War of 1812 and Texas War for Independence veteran; Dr. John G. Logue, known as founder of the first drugstore in Texas, 1845; The Rev. Jacob Scherer, founder, in 1857, of Colorado College; many Confederate soldiers; and victims of 1873 yellow fever epidemic.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Columbus's old cemetery holds the founders of one of Texas's oldest towns, with its earliest headstone dating to 1853 and the city taking title to the seven acres in 1870. Among the buried are Benjamin Beason and town founder W.B. DeWees, both of Stephen F. Austin's "Old 300" colonists, early historian Dilue Rose, a War of 1812 and Texas Revolution veteran, and numerous Confederate soldiers and victims of the 1873 yellow fever epidemic.
Why it matters
It is a physical roll call of Anglo-American Texas's founding generation — the Austin colonists, revolutionaries, and settlers who built the state.
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Related people
- · Benjamin Beason
- · W. B. DeWees
- · Dilue Rose
- · Ira Harris
- · Augustus Jones
- · Dr. John G. Logue
- · Rev. Jacob Scherer
Related events
- · 1873 yellow fever epidemic
Themes & tags
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