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Old Nixon Cemetery

Luling, Guadalupe County, Texas

Marker Inscription

This graveyard is the last visible reminder of the Old Nixon Community, which grew up here in the mid-19th century. The settlement was named for Robert T. Nixon and became known as Old Nixon after another town in Gonzales County took the Nixon name. The cemetery, which was first known as Stockton Cemetery, was formally set aside in the deed records by Gabriel C. Stockton. The earliest documented grave is that of Nancy McLean (1802-1867). Also interred here are members of the Nixon, Ramage, Ranft, and other pioneer families. (1989)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Old Nixon Cemetery is the last visible trace of a mid-nineteenth-century community named for settler Robert T. Nixon, which became "Old Nixon" after another Gonzales County town claimed the name. First called Stockton Cemetery for the man who deeded it, the burial ground holds the graves of the Nixon, Ramage, Ranft, and other pioneer families, its earliest documented interment dating to 1867. The vanished settlement survives only in these headstones.

Why it matters

The cemetery is a quiet monument to the countless small Texas communities that flourished briefly and disappeared, leaving their graveyards as the only record of pioneer life.

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Related people

  • · Robert T. Nixon
  • · Gabriel C. Stockton

Themes & tags

Westward ExpansionGhost TownsMemorial

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