Masonic Cemetery
Gonzales, Gonzales County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Masonic Cemetery The Gonzales Masonic Lodge No. 30 A.F. & A.M., chartered January 1847, purchased 11 acres here for use as a cemetery in 1849, adding to the property in 1903. Two graves, those of Calligula Walker (d. 1846) and Allen Walker (d. 1848), predate the lodge's ownership of the site. Since that time, notable burials include those of Texas Revolution veterans Jesse Davis, Edward Dickinson, Charles Mason, William Matthews, Eli Mitchell, Thomas Polk, Andrew Ponton and Amasa turner. Others buried here include three men who served as Texas Masonic grand masters--J.F. Miller, B.R. Abernethy and W.M. Fly--as well as prominent local businessmen. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2002
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Gonzales Masonic Lodge No. 30 bought eleven acres here in 1849 for a cemetery, though two graves already predated the lodge's ownership. Buried among the grounds are veterans of the Texas Revolution—men like Andrew Ponton and Amasa Turner—along with three Texas Masonic grand masters and prominent local citizens. The lodge expanded the site in 1903.
Why it matters
The cemetery links Gonzales, the "cradle of the Texas Revolution," to the fraternal and civic networks that shaped early Texas towns.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Few Texas towns carry as much revolutionary weight as Gonzales. In the fall of 1835, settlers here refused a Mexican demand to return a small cannon. The skirmish that followed is remembered as the first fight of the Texas Revolution, and it gave Texans their famous "Come and Take It" flag.
The town paid heavily for its role. Gonzales men answered the call to reinforce the Alamo, and in March 1836, as Texian forces retreated eastward, the town was burned. When the war ended, the survivors came home and rebuilt.
This cemetery comes from that rebuilding period. In the 1840s, as Texas moved from republic to statehood, frontier settlements began creating lasting civic institutions such as churches, schools, courthouses and fraternal lodges. The Gonzales Masonic Lodge, chartered in 1847, was one of them, and in 1849 it bought eleven acres here as a permanent burial ground.
People & events
Two graves were here before the lodge was. Calligula Walker died in 1846 and Allen Walker in 1848, and their burials predate the Masons' purchase. They are a reminder that this ground was already sacred to someone before it became an institution's property.
In the decades after 1849, the cemetery became the resting place of men who had lived through the Revolution. The marker names Jesse Davis, Edward Dickinson, Charles Mason, William Matthews, Eli Mitchell, Thomas Polk, Andrew Ponton and Amasa Turner as Texas Revolution veterans. Andrew Ponton stands out: as the local alcalde, or chief municipal official, during the cannon dispute of 1835, he was at the center of the confrontation that started the war.
The lodge's own story continues in the graves of three men who rose to lead all of Texas Freemasonry as grand master: J.F. Miller, B.R. Abernethy and W.M. Fly. Prominent local businessmen lie here too, the people who kept Gonzales growing as a market town long after the revolutionary generation was gone. In 1903 the lodge expanded the grounds, showing that the cemetery remained a living part of town life into the twentieth century.
Its place in the American story
Freemasonry was woven into the founding of Texas, as it was into the founding of the United States. Many leaders of the Texas Revolution were Masons, and the Grand Lodge of Texas was organized during the republic years. Lodges gave frontier towns structure: meeting halls, mutual aid, charitable work, and sometimes a dignified place to bury the dead.
A lodge-owned cemetery shows how Americans on a frontier turned temporary settlements into permanent communities. Volunteer associations did work that no government yet provided. That pattern of self-organizing civic life, which observers of nineteenth-century America noticed again and again, is visible here in eleven acres of Texas ground.
The veterans buried here also tie Gonzales to the larger story of Texas independence and, eventually, Texas's entry into the Union. In a quiet way, the men whose defiance helped start a revolution lie beside the men who built the ordinary institutions of the state that came afterward.
If you visit
Wander the older sections and watch for Masonic emblems carved on headstones, especially the square and compasses. Notice how markers change from the mid-1800s into the early 1900s as the town grew more prosperous. Some Texas Revolution veterans' graves have received special recognition over the years, so look closely at the markers you pass.
Treat it as an active cemetery: walk respectfully and leave everything as you found it. The old trees and quiet paths make it a good place to slow down after the busier historic sites in town.
Gonzales rewards a full day. Pair this stop with the town's Texas Revolution sites and museums, its historic squares and its old homes, and you'll come away with a real feel for the place that bills itself as the birthplace of Texas independence. Then come back here to see where some of that story's participants were laid to rest.
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
- · Amasa Turner
- · Andrew Ponton
- · Eli Mitchell
- · J. F. Miller
Related events
- · Texas Revolution
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Eli Mitchell
Gonzales, TX
Eli Mitchell was among the Anglo-American colonists drawn into the Texas independence movement in the 1830s, serving as a delegate to the 1833 Convention that pressed Mexico for reform. When fighting erupted at Gonzales in 1835 — the "come and take it" opening clash of the Texas Revolution — he took up arms and supplied the fledgling Texian army.
Dr. Thomas Polk
Gonzales, TX
This grave marker honors Dr. Thomas Polk, born in 1792, who served the Texan cause during the fight for independence from Mexico. He aided the men who fought at the Siege of Bexar in late 1835 and through the decisive San Jacinto Campaign of 1836. The bronze Star and Wreath denotes a citizen recognized by the State of Texas for service during the revolution.
Dr. John Turner Tinsley
Gonzales, TX
Dr. John Turner Tinsley left Tennessee for Gonzales in 1834, settling in the town on the eve of revolution. A physician who also served as alderman, mayor, and justice of the peace, he took part in the 1835 Battle of Gonzales—the 'Come and Take It' clash that opened the Texas Revolution—and helped Sam Houston's army during the panicked civilian flight known as the Runaway Scrape.
Jesse Kencheloe Davis
Gonzales, TX
Jesse Kencheloe Davis was an Alabama-born soldier who fought at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, the decisive clash that won Texas its independence from Mexico. He lived out his years in Gonzales County — the very town remembered as the flashpoint of the Texas Revolution — and is buried here with his wife Eliza.