Sandies Chapel Cemetery
Nixon, Gonzales County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This cemetery first served as a burial ground for the family of Joseph and Catherine McCoy, pioneer settlers in the Green DeWitt Colony. It was later used by residents of the Sandies Chapel community. The earliest graves date from the 1860s. Among those interred here are San Jacinto veteran William Taylor, citizens of the Republic of Texas, local Masonic leaders, and Civil War veterans, including members of the Sandies home guard. Also buried here are four pioneer Methodist ministers, A. A. Smithwick, T. G. Russell, James E. Vernor, and C. W. Elkins.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This burial ground began with the family of Joseph and Catherine McCoy, pioneers of Green DeWitt's colony, and later served the Sandies Chapel community, with graves reaching back to the 1860s. Among those laid to rest here are a San Jacinto veteran, citizens of the Republic of Texas, Civil War soldiers of the local home guard, and four pioneer Methodist ministers. In one small plot lies a cross-section of early Texas history.
Why it matters
A pioneer cemetery gathers, in one place, the veterans and settlers whose overlapping lives span the Republic, statehood, and the Civil War—the whole arc of nineteenth-century Texas.
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Related people
- · Joseph McCoy
- · Catherine McCoy
- · William Taylor
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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