James Washington Winters

Bigfoot, TX

William A. A. Wallace—known far and wide as "Big Foot"—became a legend of the Texas frontier as a soldier, ranger, and mail rider. Through decades of hard service he helped guard the advancing line of settlement against raids and danger until his death in 1899. His nickname and exploits made him one of the most storied figures of nineteenth-century Texas.

Bigfoot, TX

William Carvin Winters was born in Tennessee in 1809 and came to Texas in 1834, on the eve of its war for independence. He was among the men wounded at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, the decisive fight that won the Republic of Texas its freedom. He lived on until 1863, one of the early Anglo settlers whose lives spanned the birth and growth of Texas.

Lytle, TX

Established in 1870 on land given by pioneer James M. Jones, this was the first public cemetery in the once-thriving frontier town of Benton City, known in its day for a fine school, busy businesses, and its own newspaper. Jones and his family had settled here in 1869, when Atascosa County was still a raw edge of South Texas. Buried in its grounds are pioneers and veterans reaching from the Indian-frontier era through the Civil War and both World Wars.

Devine, TX

Washington Allen Tomerlin set aside this ground for family and neighbors when this corner of Medina County was still remote and thinly settled, the earliest marked grave dating to 1875. Beneath its stones rest veterans of four American wars, three brothers said to have ridden as Texas Rangers, and the Brackens family, freed slaves who made their home nearby. Many older markers bear only initials, their stories now half-remembered.