Macune Cemetery
San Augustine, San Augustine County, Texas
Marker Inscription
By the time Texas became a republic in 1836, Nathaniel Hunt had settled in this area with his wife, Mary Elizabeth (White), and their children, including their oldest daughter Clarissa and her husband, John M. Neely. The Hunt and Neely families were active in the early settlement; Nathaniel Hunt served in a variety of public offices, including justice of the peace. His home also served as a mail stop on the San Augustine to Houston route. This burial ground began as the Hunt Cemetery. John Neely (d. 1845) was the first buried here, followed by his father-in-law four years later. As the community grew, other family members and neighbors were buried in the cemetery. The community's first post office opened in 1888. Area farmers active in the Southern Farmers' Alliance suggested it be named for leader Charles Macune. In 1926, John S. Henry donated adjacent land to the community to enlarge the Hunt Cemetery. Today, the burial ground continues to be used by area residents and descendants of settlers buried here. Graves include those of Edwin Oswald LeGrand, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and veterans of military conflicts dating to the War of 1812. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Nathaniel Hunt and his family had settled here by the time Texas became a republic in 1836, and his home doubled as a mail stop on the San Augustine–to–Houston route. The burial ground began as the Hunt Cemetery with John Neely's death in 1845, later taking the name Macune to honor Farmers' Alliance leader Charles Macune when the community's post office opened in 1888. Among its graves are Edwin Oswald LeGrand, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and veterans of conflicts reaching back to the War of 1812.
Why it matters
The cemetery binds together the founding of the Texas Republic, the mail routes of early settlement, and the agrarian Farmers' Alliance movement in a single East Texas burial ground.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Nathaniel Hunt
- · Edwin Oswald LeGrand
- · Charles Macune
Related events
- · Texas Declaration of Independence
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Home of Col. Stephen William Blount
San Augustine, TX
Born in Georgia in 1808, Stephen William Blount came to Texas in 1835 and signed the Texas Declaration of Independence before joining the Army of Texas in the fight for independence. He went on to serve his adopted home as the first county clerk of San Augustine County and the first district clerk of the First Judicial District, living out his life in the town until 1890.
Chapel Hill Cemetery
San Augustine, TX
Chapel Hill Cemetery near San Augustine holds burials reaching back to 1838, beginning with a veteran of the American Revolution whose widow is said to have given land along the old El Camino Real for a public graveyard. Its oldest graves face north-south beneath slabs of hewn native rock, and among those interred is a Cumberland Presbyterian minister who served as chaplain and courier for Sam Houston during the Texas Revolution. The surrounding community lived and worshipped here through the cotton era until World War II drew its people to combat and coastal shipyards.
Old Centerview Cemetery
Pineland, TX
In one of Texas's oldest settled regions, the farming community of Centerview took root in the 1840s around a stagecoach stop, post office, store, church, and school. Its community cemetery holds a dozen or more unmarked graves alongside the oldest dated burial — an infant, Merle Taylor, laid to rest in 1899 — plus community leaders and veterans of every war from the Civil War through Vietnam. Wooden markers, curbed plots, and an arched entryway survive, tended each year by descendants.
Patroon Cemetery
Center, TX
Settlers reached the Patroon area of Shelby County by the 1830s, among them the Nethery family, who came from Alabama in the early 1840s. Their son A.M. began this cemetery on his own land when he buried his infant son John in 1861; while he served in the Civil War, his wife and baby daughter died of fever and were buried here in 1862. Around the growing burial ground rose a community with a post office, churches, and businesses, and generations of residents — leaders, farmers, and veterans reaching back to the Civil War — now rest here.