Davis Cemetery
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
George W. Davis (ca. 1809-1884), his wife Eiline P. Moore Davis (1810-1872) and family arrived in Texas in 1835. George served in Captian Mosely Baker's company at the Battle of San Jacinto while Emiline spent six weeks with the children on the banks of the Sabine River in the Runaway Scrape. Davis received a patent for 3154 acres of his deadright in 1841 and built a home north of the cemetery. The earliest dated grave is that of infant John H. Vann who died March 25, 1851, but the burial ground may have been in use as early as 1845. It remains a chronicle of Davis family members and neighbors and is cared for by descendants and friends. Historic Texas Cemetery-2000
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
George W. Davis brought his family to Texas in 1835, on the eve of revolution. He fought in Captain Mosely Baker's company at the Battle of San Jacinto while his wife Emiline sheltered their children on the Sabine River during the Runaway Scrape. Davis received a large land patent in 1841 and built a home near this burial ground, which holds Davis family members and neighbors and is still cared for by descendants.
Why it matters
The cemetery links an early settler family to the Battle of San Jacinto and the flight of the Runaway Scrape, the events that won Texas its independence.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
George W. Davis and his family arrived in Texas in 1835 — on the very eve of revolution. Texas was then a far northern frontier of Mexico, filling with Anglo-American settlers whose growing tensions with the Mexican government were about to erupt into open war. To come to Texas in 1835 was to arrive just as the ground began to shake.
Within months, the Texas Revolution was underway. Settler families found themselves caught between the demands of a fight for independence and the ordinary need to protect their children and hold onto their land. The year 1836 would become the hinge of Texas history, and the Davis family lived through its most dangerous hours.
The cemetery that bears the family name sits in what is now Austin, in Travis County — but its story begins with a household that helped win Texas its independence and then, like so many others, set about building a permanent home on land secured by that struggle.
People & events
When war came, George W. Davis (ca. 1809–1884) served in Captain Mosely Baker's company at the Battle of San Jacinto — the decisive clash of the Texas Revolution. While he fought, his wife, Emiline P. Moore Davis (1810–1872), faced a different ordeal: she spent six weeks with the children on the banks of the Sabine River during the Runaway Scrape, the frantic civilian flight eastward ahead of the advancing army. Their two experiences, the battlefield and the refugee camp, together capture what the revolution demanded of settler families.
With independence won, the Davises turned to building a life. In 1841 George received a patent for 3,154 acres of his headright — a substantial grant — and built a home north of what became the cemetery. It was the reward of a settler who had risked everything and stayed.
The burial ground itself may have been in use as early as 1845, though its earliest dated grave is that of an infant, John H. Vann, who died on March 25, 1851. From those beginnings it grew into a record of the Davis family and their neighbors, and it is still cared for today by descendants and friends — a living link between the revolutionary generation and our own.
Its place in the American story
The events woven into this marker — the Battle of San Jacinto and the Runaway Scrape — are cornerstones of the story of the Republic of Texas. San Jacinto secured Texas independence, giving rise to a republic that would, within a decade, join the United States and set in motion consequences that reshaped the map of North America.
What makes this site meaningful is how it grounds those large events in one family's experience. George Davis's service in the fight and Emiline's weeks of flight with the children are the human texture behind the textbook dates. This is how the winning of Texas actually felt: not as an abstraction, but as risk borne by ordinary households.
And then comes the second American story — the transition from soldier to settler. The land patent, the home, the neighbors, the family burial ground: these are the marks of a frontier turned into a homeland. In a single cemetery you can trace the arc from revolution to rooted community, a pattern at the heart of how the American West was settled.
If you visit
Approach Davis Cemetery knowing that the people buried here lived through the founding drama of Texas. That knowledge transforms a quiet plot of ground into something charged with history — a place where the revolutionary generation and their neighbors rest side by side.
Look for the oldest markers, including the grave of an infant from 1851 that stands as the earliest dated burial, and consider that the ground may have received its first graves even earlier, in the mid-1840s. The family name recurring across the stones tells you that this was, above all, a family's ground before it was anything else.
The cemetery is cared for by descendants and friends, so visit with the respect that ongoing devotion deserves. Set within present-day Austin, it makes a thoughtful stop for anyone drawn to the deep roots beneath a modern Texas city — a chance to stand near where a San Jacinto veteran built his home and to feel how close the founding of Texas still is, just beneath the surface of the everyday.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · George W. Davis
- · Emiline P. Moore Davis
- · Mosely Baker
Related events
- · Battle of San Jacinto
- · Runaway Scrape
Themes & tags
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