Mullins Cemetery
San Angelo, Tom Green County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Named for Isaac Mullins (1819-81), one of organizers of Tom Green County, member of first county commission, and state representative in 16th Texas Legislature. Born in Virginia, Mullins came to the Republic of Texas with his parents and their family in 1837. The family cattle brand, "IC", one of most famous in Texas, was registered in Bastrop, Fayette, Lampasas, Brown, Mills, Coleman, Runnels, and Tom Green counties. Mullins trailed herds to markets as far away as California. In the 1860's, he served as captain of a Texas Ranger company. Moving to this area, he bought land near San Angelo and became a leading citizen. He was foreman of noted "Ike Mullins Grand Jury" which indicted nine soldiers for rioting at Fort Concho in 1878. He gave land for a school, and selected this spot as his own last resting place, deeding cemetery site in 1881. Mullins and his wife, Susan Slack (d. 1854), had a son, Charles, and a daughter, Julia (who married H. D. Barron). Some members of his family are buried here, along with Civil War veterans, and many pioneers of former Mullins community, now called Veribest. George Jefferson Byrd, named by Mullins family as trustee, served until his death in 1951, bequeathing the trust to a son, Curtis Byrd, and Frank Johnson.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This cemetery honors Isaac Mullins, a Virginia-born pioneer who came to the Republic of Texas in 1837 and helped organize Tom Green County, serving on its first commission and in the state legislature. His "IC" cattle brand became one of the most famous in Texas as he trailed herds to markets as far as California, and in the 1860s he captained a company of Texas Rangers. He gave land for a school and deeded this site as a cemetery in 1881, where he lies among Civil War veterans and pioneers of the old Mullins community.
Why it matters
His life traces the arc of frontier West Texas — Ranger, cattleman, and county founder — and the settlers who followed the herds and the plow.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
The life commemorated here spans some of the most dramatic decades in Texas history. Isaac Mullins was born in Virginia in 1819 and came west with his family in 1837, arriving in a Texas that was not yet a state but an independent republic, freshly separated from Mexico. To settle here then was to bet your future on a young, unsettled country still defining its borders and its institutions.
By the time Mullins reached the San Angelo area, West Texas was open frontier — vast grazing country where fortunes were measured in cattle and the reach of a family's brand. This was the golden age of the great trail drives, when herds were pushed enormous distances to distant markets, and the men who could organize and protect those drives became leading citizens.
It was also dangerous, contested ground. The Civil War era and its aftermath brought military posts, Rangers, and periodic conflict to the region. Fort Concho anchored the U.S. Army's presence near San Angelo, and the frontier around it was a place where civil order was still being built, sometimes uneasily, alongside soldiers, cattlemen, and new settlers.
People & events
Isaac Mullins packed several careers into one frontier life. He helped organize Tom Green County, served on its first commission, and sat as a state representative in the 16th Texas Legislature — a founder in the most literal sense, helping bring formal government to a raw stretch of country. His family's "IC" cattle brand became one of the most famous in Texas, registered across a whole string of counties, and he trailed herds to markets as far away as California.
He was also a fighting man of his era. In the 1860s he served as captain of a Texas Ranger company, and later, as a settled and leading citizen near San Angelo, he took part in the region's struggle to establish the rule of law. He is remembered as foreman of the noted "Ike Mullins Grand Jury," which in 1878 indicted nine soldiers for rioting at Fort Concho — a striking moment when civilian justice squared off against the military presence on the frontier.
Mullins gave land for a school and, near the end of his life, chose this very spot as his own final resting place, deeding the cemetery site in 1881, the year he died. His wife, Susan Slack, had died back in 1854; the couple had a son, Charles, and a daughter, Julia, who married H. D. Barron. Members of his family lie here, alongside Civil War veterans and many pioneers of the old Mullins community — a settlement now known as Veribest. The family named George Jefferson Byrd as trustee, and he served faithfully until his death in 1951, passing the trust to the next generation.
Its place in the American story
Isaac Mullins's life reads like a compressed history of the American frontier, and that is exactly why this cemetery matters beyond its fence line. In one man you find the immigrant-settler arriving in a new republic, the cattleman driving herds across half a continent, the Ranger captain, the county founder, and the lawmaker. The sweep from Virginia to the Republic of Texas to the open range to a seat in the legislature traces the nation's westward expansion in a single biography.
The 1878 grand jury that indicted soldiers at Fort Concho touches a deep American theme: the sometimes tense relationship between civilian communities and the military stationed among them, and the insistence that even soldiers answer to civilian law. That a frontier grand jury would take such a stand says something about how Americans carried their expectations of self-government into even the roughest country.
And the great trail drives that made the "IC" brand famous were part of the story that fed a growing nation and stamped the cowboy and the cattle frontier permanently into American identity. The pioneers buried here, and the Civil War veterans among them, are the ordinary people whose labor and lives turned open range into settled American communities.
If you visit
A cemetery is a quiet kind of history, and this one rewards a slow, respectful walk. As you move among the stones, remember that this is not just Isaac Mullins's grave but a gathering of the pioneers of the old Mullins community — the settlement that became Veribest — along with Civil War veterans. Reading the names and dates is a way of meeting the people who first put down roots in this corner of West Texas.
Mullins himself chose this ground as his resting place and deeded it as a cemetery in 1881, so there's a real intimacy to standing here: you're on the spot a frontier founder picked out for himself and his neighbors. Take a moment with the wide West Texas sky and grazing country around you, and it becomes easier to imagine the herds, the brand, and the open range that shaped his life.
On a road trip through the San Angelo area, this pairs naturally with the region's larger frontier story, including the military history anchored at Fort Concho. Come prepared for a peaceful, out-in-the-country stop rather than a formal attraction, and treat it, as its founder intended, as honored ground.
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
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Themes & tags
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