Cypress Creek Cemetery
Leakey, Real County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established in the 1870s, Cypress Creek Cemetery served a scattered community of pioneers along Cypress Creek in what was then Bandera County before the founding of nearby Leakey in Edwards County. The land on this site belonged to settler John Bunyan Stidham, Sr., whose son, John Bunyan Stidham, Jr., gave land for a school nearby. Legend surrounds this graveyard. The earliest grave in the cemetery is believed to be that of four-year-old James Beauford Bybee (1875-1879). His burial site is marked by two flat rocks in the ground according to Bybee family practice. Records indicate that the second burial is that of Polly A. Smart (1847-1881). Also buried here is Laura (Turner) Stidham, wife of John Bunyan Stidham, Jr. She and their son Alonzo (b. 1877) were killed when a tornado destroyed their home in 1927. They were buried in a common grave marked only with stones. The graves of several infants and children bear witness to the harsh conditions of pioneer life. Ten known veterans of U. S. and foreign conflicts are interred here. The cemetery contains more than 75 marked and many unmarked graves. Still in use in 1998, Cypress Creek Cemetery continues to serve the descendants of the pioneer settlers of Real County. (1998)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Begun in the 1870s, Cypress Creek Cemetery served a scattered community of pioneers along Cypress Creek before the town of Leakey existed, on land belonging to settler John Bunyan Stidham, Sr. Its earliest graves reach back to the late 1870s, and its markers tell hard stories, including Laura Stidham and her young son Alonzo, killed when a tornado destroyed their home in 1927 and buried together beneath plain stones. More than seventy-five marked graves, many unmarked ones, and ten veterans lie among the descendants of the region's first families.
Why it matters
The graveyard preserves the memory of the pioneer families who first settled the Texas Hill Country, and the natural disasters and hardships that shaped their lives.
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Related people
- · John Bunyan Stidham, Sr.
- · John Bunyan Stidham, Jr.
- · Laura Stidham
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Real County Courthouse
Leakey, TX
When Real County was carved from neighboring counties in 1913 and named for rancher and state senator Julius Real, its residents wrangled for years over where to seat the government. Judge D. D. Thompson pushed for a permanent courthouse, and in 1918 architect H. A. Reuter's Classical Revival design rose from native limestone quarried nearby at Tucker Hollow. Its rusticated, fortress-like walls still anchor the square in Leakey.
Real County
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In the rugged canyon country of the Edwards Plateau, the settlement of Leakey straddled a county line, forcing residents to trek over mountains and rivers to conduct official business after the county seat moved to Rocksprings in 1891. After a rejected 1895 petition, the legislature finally created a new county in 1913—named, by amendment, for rancher and senator Julius Real. Farming and ranching sustained a rural way of life until highways arrived in the 1930s and, later, tourism and hunting reshaped the local economy.
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