HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Locklin Cemetery

San Gabriel, Milam County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Abigale McLennan Fokes acquired a Mexican land grant here in 1835. Peter M. Mercer established a blacksmith shop in this area in the early 1840s. His burial in 1844 is the first recorded in this cemetery. Fokes later set aside this site for cemetery purposes. The cemetery is believed to be named for the extended family of early area settler William Lawson Locklin. It presently contains about 400 burials including many of this area's frontier settlers and their descendants and veterans of the Texas revolution and Republic of Texas Army. It continues to serve the area. (1994)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

This burying ground grew from the earliest days of Anglo settlement in Milam County, on land tied to a Mexican grant Abigale McLennan Fokes acquired in 1835. The first recorded burial, in 1844, was blacksmith Peter M. Mercer, and Fokes later set the site aside as a cemetery. Named for the family of pioneer William Lawson Locklin, it holds some 400 graves, including veterans of the Texas Revolution and the Republic of Texas Army.

Why it matters

It is a quiet archive of Texas's founding generation, preserving the resting places of the frontier settlers and soldiers who built the young Republic.

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Related people

  • · Abigale McLennan Fokes
  • · Peter M. Mercer
  • · William Lawson Locklin

Themes & tags

Westward ExpansionFrontier HistoryMemorial

Nearby & related markers

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Lilac Cemetery

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