Pond Springs Cemetery
Jollyville, Williamson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This graveyard was begun for members of the Pond Springs Community in the 1860s. The oldest grave is believed to be that of Mrs. Asenath M. Stewart (d. 1862). Also interred here is Mexican War veteran William P. Rutledge, Sr. (1815-1890), and Lavinia Hyland Chapman (1844-1929), a citizen of the Republic of Texas. Although the land was in use as a graveyard years earlier, it was not officially deeded as such by Thomas L. and H. M. Rutledge until 1872, and did not appear in deed records as a cemetery until 1877. It serves as a reminder of early Pond Springs history. (1988)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This Williamson County graveyard began serving the Pond Springs community in the 1860s, its oldest grave believed to be that of Asenath M. Stewart (d. 1862). Among those resting here are Mexican War veteran William P. Rutledge and Lavinia Hyland Chapman, a citizen of the Republic of Texas. Though used earlier, the land was formally deeded as a cemetery by the Rutledge family in 1872.
Why it matters
Its graves link a small Texas farming community to the Republic era and the Mexican War, making the cemetery a record of early settlement.
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Related people
- · Asenath M. Stewart
- · William P. Rutledge, Sr.
- · Lavinia Hyland Chapman
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Pond Springs Community and School
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After James O. Rice settled near a spring-fed pond in the 1850s, a log schoolhouse rose beside it by 1854, doubling as church and social hall for the little community of Pond Spring. A store, post office, and blacksmith shop clustered nearby until the post office closed and the railroad bypassed the settlement in 1882, sending it into decline. The school itself endured, moving, consolidating, and finally joining the Round Rock district in 1969.
Jollyville Community and School
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Settlement here began in the 1840s with Henry Rhodes and pioneers like Elisha Prewitt, a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto. After the Civil War, Confederate veteran John G. Jolly established the community that bears his name, running a store and blacksmith shop and donating land for a cemetery and a school. The school served local children until it merged with nearby Pond Springs in 1903, and the area later grew as Austin's suburbs spread north.
Jolly Cemetery
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This pioneer burial ground was formally set aside by John Grey Jolly and his wife Nancy Isabel, for whom the community of Jollyville was named and who both rest here. The earliest marked grave dates to 1872, and among those buried are five citizens of the Republic of Texas from the Strode family, who settled the area in 1841. The last burial, a Confederate veteran, came in 1929, closing nearly a century of the community's history.
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