Saturn Cemetery
Waelder, Gonzales County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A community began to develop near this site during the 1870s and was known by several names, including Possum Trot, Prickly Pear, and Ettowa before a post office was established under the name Saturn in 1902. Hugh and Elizabeth (Burleson) McMillan sold two acres at this site to the Good Hope Primitive Baptist Church for a cemetery in 1882. The site was already the resting place of their daughter Martha McMillan Dubose, who died in 1880. The burial ground continued to be used by the McMillan and Dubose families, as well as other members of the Saturn community. A cemetery association was formed in 1974 to oversee the operations of the cemetery, which serves as a reminder of early Gonzales county pioneers.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the rolling farm country of Gonzales County, a small community coalesced in the 1870s under a string of homespun names—Possum Trot, Prickly Pear, Ettowa—before settling on Saturn when its post office opened in 1902. The cemetery here began in 1880 with the burial of Martha McMillan Dubose, and in 1882 her parents formally deeded two acres to the Good Hope Primitive Baptist Church for a burial ground. For generations it held the McMillan, Dubose, and other Saturn families, tended by a cemetery association formed in 1974.
Why it matters
Rural burial grounds like this one preserve the names and roots of the pioneer families who settled Texas after the Civil War, long after the towns they built have faded from the map.
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Related people
- · Hugh McMillan
- · Elizabeth Burleson McMillan
- · Martha McMillan Dubose
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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