Liberty Hill Cemetery
Liberty Hill, Williamson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Weathered gravestones show usage of this spot for burials since 1852, when the earliest settlers were establishing homes in area. The first formal grant of land here as a community burial ground was made by John T. and Amelia Edwards Bryson in 1875, when three and one-half acres were deeded to the Liberty Hill cemetery trustees: T. N. Bryson, C. C. Chance, W. H. Poole, J. B. Roddy, and T. S. Snyder. This acreage was protected by a stone fence built with their own hands by the Brysons and their neighbors. Additions to original plot include land formerly owned by John T. Bryson and donated by Dr. and Mrs. H. L. Fowler. Royal Arch Masons in 1932 established an adjacent three-acre Masonic cemetery, later transferring title to the Liberty Hill Lodge No. 432, A.F. & A.M., which gave it in 1959 to the Liberty Hill Cemetery Association. By later land purchases, the cemetery now contains more than twenty acres. Funds have come by bequests from Walter Gardner, Arthur Gray, and T. L. McDaniel. Many other persons have also contributed to funds for the cemetery. In 1953 the Liberty Hill Cemetery Association was incorporated, with Dr. J. Gordon Bryson as president; C. L. Chance, vice president; C. F. Hickman, treasurer; and Mrs. Letitia Russell, secretary.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Burials at this Williamson County site date to 1852, when the first settlers were building homes nearby, but the ground was formally deeded as a community cemetery in 1875 by John T. and Amelia Edwards Bryson. The Brysons and their neighbors enclosed it with a hand-built stone fence, and later gifts, purchases, and a neighboring Masonic cemetery expanded it past twenty acres. A cemetery association, incorporated in 1953, continues to steward the grounds.
Why it matters
Community cemeteries like Liberty Hill preserve the names and networks of the ordinary families whose labor turned central Texas prairie into settled country.
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Related people
- · John T. Bryson
- · Amelia Edwards Bryson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
William O. Spencer
Liberty Hill vicinity, TX
Illinois native William O. Spencer brought his wife to Bastrop County in 1847, then pushed onto the Williamson County frontier after her death in 1853. He named the Liberty Hill post office—persuading U.S. Senator Thomas J. Rusk to establish it—and became its first postmaster, all while serving Baptist congregations across several counties as an ordained minister. From the early 1870s his Liberty Hill home did double duty as the Spencer Hotel.
Bryson Stagecoach Stop
Liberty Hill, TX
John T. Bryson and his wife Amelia, among the first settlers of Liberty Hill, raised this home in the 1850s from notched and fitted hewn cedar logs with chimneys of native stone. Its open dog-trot plan was classic pioneer Texas construction, built for the heat with a breezeway between two log pens. The house doubled as a stop on the stagecoach line running between Austin and Fort Croghan near present-day Burnet.
First Baptist Church of Liberty Hill
Liberty Hill, TX
This congregation grew from frontier roots, tracing to churches that met in a brush arbor and a country schoolhouse before merging in 1854. When the Austin & Northwestern Railroad was built, the town of Liberty Hill relocated, and the church reorganized on this site in 1882. Its present sanctuary has served worshippers since 1904.
Stubblefield Building
Liberty Hill, TX
Raised in 1871 from hand-cut native limestone, this is perhaps the oldest surviving building in Liberty Hill. It was built by S.P. Stubblefield, an Alabama native and Mexican War veteran, and stayed in his family until 1907, its ground floor holding shops and its upper floor serving as living quarters. Sculptor Mel Fowler bought and restored the structure in 1973.