Plantersville Cemetery
Plantersville, Grimes County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Settlers from the southern United States began arriving in this area as early as the 1830s. A post office opened in 1856 as Plantersville, a name suggested by Sarah Greene to honor local planters. Members of her family are buried here. This site was used as early as 1864 as a burial ground when young H.G. Jameson was interred here; his is the oldest marked grave. At least three other gravesites date to that same year, and there may be earlier ones unmarked. In 1866, landowner and postmaster Peter Walton donated the land for use as a community cemetery, later enlarged in 1911 and 1958. Today, this burial ground is the final resting place of pioneers and their descendants, military veterans, and notable Texas families. Mary Benigna Durst Blake (1830-1864), daughter of Texas Revolution figure John Marie Durst, and her husband Gen. Thomas Walter Blake (1822-1905), a circuit rider and lawyer, were both buried here (he was later reinterred in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin). Still in use, the Plantersville Cemetery remains a link to the community's history. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Settlers from the southern states began arriving here in the 1830s, and a post office opened in 1856 as Plantersville, named to honor the local planters. Burials date to at least 1864, and in 1866 landowner and postmaster Peter Walton donated the ground for a community cemetery. Among those interred is Mary Benigna Durst Blake, daughter of a Texas Revolution figure, making the grounds a resting place for pioneers, veterans, and notable Texas families.
Why it matters
Plantersville Cemetery preserves the memory of the planter society and pioneer families who shaped early Anglo Texas in the decades surrounding the Republic and the Civil War.
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Related people
- · Peter Walton
- · Mary Benigna Durst Blake
- · Gen. Thomas Walter Blake
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The Stoneham Cemetery
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Franklin Jarvis Greenwood, who came to Texas in 1829, donated the land for this burial ground, first called 'High Point' after a nearby settlement. Its earliest known graves hold two of his daughters, lost to cholera in 1856, and victims of yellow fever were specially marked to guard against the spread of epidemics. Many buried here descend from Stephen F. Austin's original colonists; the cemetery and town took the name 'Stoneham' after John H. Stoneham gave land for the railroad in 1879.
Andrew Jackson Montgomery
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Andrew Jackson Montgomery came to Texas around 1830 and took his place in the fight for its independence, serving in Captain James Gillaspie's company at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, the decisive victory that won the Republic of Texas its freedom. The marker, erected by the state in 1957, carries a supplemental plate offering differing dates for his birth and arrival, a reminder of how uncertain early frontier records could be.
John Montgomery
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A native of Alabama, John Montgomery came to Texas about 1830 with his brother Andrew and joined the struggle for independence. Like his brother he served in Captain James Gillaspie's company at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, the battle that secured the Republic of Texas. The state placed this marker in 1957 to honor his part in that founding moment.
Hughey Chapel Cemetery
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The family of Jefferson Edmond Hughey settled a 260-acre homestead in this part of Grimes County by 1859. They laid out a family cemetery whose earliest marked grave, that of Hughey's mother-in-law Mary Ann Garmany Boozer, dates to 1876, and built a nearby chapel that doubled as the community schoolhouse. The land stayed in Hughey hands until 1989, and the burial ground—home to Confederate veterans' graves—still marks the region's earliest settlers.