Huffman Cemetery
Valley Spring, Llano County, Texas
Marker Inscription
James Jackson Larremore brought his family to Llano County in 1853. Daughter Martha met and married James S. Huffman in 1856, and the couple resided along the Llano River, rearing their seven children. Following service in the Civil War, Huffman purchased 300 acres in this vicinity, spanning from the western slope of Smoothin' Iron, or San Fernando, Mountain westward past Cold Creek. The Larremores lived nearby, and the families and many other settlers in the area soon needed a burial ground. The first recorded grave is that of Huffman granddaughter Laura Sessom (d. 1884). Other family members buried here include James and Martha Larremore Huffman, who both died in 1917. That year, daughter Maria Jane Simpson officially dedicated the existing burial plot as Huffman Cemetery. Family members maintained the burial ground throughout the 20th century, forming a cemetery association in 1980. The graveyard, which serves as a resting place for several veterans, chronicles the lives of Llano County's early settlers and the contributions of the Huffmans and their descendants. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When James Jackson Larremore led his family to the Texas Hill Country in 1853, Llano County was raw frontier along the Llano River. His daughter Martha married Civil War veteran James S. Huffman, who acquired 300 acres running from Smoothin' Iron Mountain past Cold Creek, and as settlers put down roots they needed a place to bury their dead. The first recorded grave dates to 1884, and by 1917 the family formally dedicated the ground as Huffman Cemetery, tending it across the century until forming an association in 1980.
Why it matters
Small family burial grounds like this chronicle the arc of frontier settlement in central Texas, preserving the names of the pioneers, veterans, and descendants who built a county from open range.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
When James Jackson Larremore brought his family to Llano County in 1853, the Texas Hill Country was still open frontier. This was rugged, beautiful, and hard land — granite hills, clear streams, and the Llano River threading through country that demanded a great deal of anyone who tried to settle it.
The families who came here in the 1850s and the years after the Civil War were building lives from scratch along the rivers and creeks, where water and grass could support a household and a herd. Settlement was slow and scattered, measured in single families claiming a few hundred acres and neighbors who might live a good ride away.
This is the Reconstruction and Gilded Age era as it looked far from any city — not railroads and factories, but ranch land taking shape one homestead at a time. In such places, the rhythms of life were elemental: marriage, children, work, and, inevitably, death. And a community that had a place to live soon needed a place to bury its dead.
People & events
The heart of this story is a family knitting itself into the land. Larremore's daughter Martha met and married James S. Huffman in 1856, and the couple made their home along the Llano River, where they raised seven children. After Huffman served in the Civil War, he bought 300 acres in this vicinity — land that ran from the western slope of Smoothin' Iron, or San Fernando, Mountain westward past Cold Creek.
With the Larremores living nearby and other settlers putting down roots, the need for a burial ground grew out of ordinary life and loss. The first recorded grave is that of the Huffmans' granddaughter, Laura Sessom, who died in 1884 — a reminder of how often the frontier's earliest griefs were for its children.
James and Martha Larremore Huffman both died in 1917, and that same year their daughter, Maria Jane Simpson, formally dedicated the plot as Huffman Cemetery. The family tended the ground across the whole of the twentieth century and organized a cemetery association in 1980 to carry the responsibility forward, keeping faith with the generations laid to rest there.
Its place in the American story
Small family burial grounds like this one are among the most honest records the frontier left behind. Where courthouses burned and paper was scarce, the names cut into these stones preserve the actual arc of settlement — who came, who stayed, who was born, and who was mourned.
Huffman Cemetery also carries the memory of service. It is the resting place of several veterans, tying this quiet Hill Country plot to the larger sacrifices that run through American history and reminding visitors that national stories are ultimately made of local lives.
The long stewardship of the ground — a family maintaining it for a century, then forming an association to continue the work — is itself part of the American story. It reflects the deep instinct to honor ancestors and to keep a place where a community's roots remain visible and cared for.
If you visit
Huffman Cemetery lies in the granite-and-oak country near Valley Spring in Llano County, with Smoothin' Iron Mountain — also called San Fernando — giving the land its distinctive shape. The Hill Country here is quiet and rolling, and a small historic cemetery fits it perfectly: a still place under a big sky.
Walk the rows slowly and read the names and dates as a kind of local chronicle. The earliest marked grave reaches back to 1884, and the family names repeat across the generations, so that the ground itself tells you who built this corner of the county. Cemeteries reward patience; give the stones time and they'll give you the story.
As a Texas Historic Cemetery, this is a place to visit with respect — leave everything as you find it. Paired with the wider sweep of Llano County's Hill Country history, it makes a moving stop on a back-roads trip, the sort of spot where you feel the frontier not as legend but as the real people who lived and died on this land.
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
- · James Jackson Larremore
- · James S. Huffman
- · Martha Larremore Huffman
Themes & tags
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