Shiloh Cemetery
Leming, Atascosa County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The first burial in this graveyard, that of fourteen-year-old John Uzell, took place in 1857. The land at that time belonged to Isaac H. Cavender, Sr., who was related to Uzell. Cavender allowed other burials on his property and soon the graveyard became known as the Shiloh Cemetery, taking its name from the surrounding community. For many years the cemetery was associated with an adjacent schoolhouse that also was used for Baptist church services. The log cabin, built in 1868, served the Baptist Church until the congregation built its own sanctuary in 1898. The Shiloh community also was served until the end of the nineteenth century by a general store that was operated by Robert M. Long. Many of the graves in the Shiloh Cemetery date from the 1800s. Some of the family names appearing on the tombstones include Kennard, Williams, McAda, Cavender, Black, Young, Musgrave, May, Coble, and Johnson. Many of the descendants of these pioneer families still live in the area. The Shiloh Cemetery, which contains both marked and unmarked grave sites, is cared for by the Shiloh Cemetery Association. (1985)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Shiloh Cemetery began in 1857 with the burial of fourteen-year-old John Uzell on land owned by his kinsman Isaac H. Cavender, who then opened his property to other graves. The burial ground took its name from the surrounding community, which centered on a log cabin built in 1868 that served as both schoolhouse and Baptist meeting place until a proper church rose in 1898. Family names on the old stones—Cavender, Williams, McAda, and others—still belong to descendants living nearby.
Why it matters
A pioneer cemetery preserves the genealogy of an entire settlement, mapping the families who cleared, farmed, and endured on the South Texas frontier.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · John Uzell
- · Isaac H. Cavender, Sr.
- · Robert M. Long
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Battle of Medina
Leming, TX
In August 1813, amid the upheaval of Spain's collapsing empire, the Republican Army of the North—American volunteers, Tejanos, Mexicans, and Native Americans who had seized San Antonio in the name of an independent Texas—marched south and was ambushed near the Medina River. Spanish General Joaquín de Arredondo crushed them in the bloodiest battle ever fought on Texas soil; fewer than 100 of some 1,400 escaped, and most captives were executed. Among Arredondo's officers was a young Antonio López de Santa Anna, who would return decades later.
Thomas Ransdell Brite
Leming, TX
Born in Missouri in 1824 and raised in Bastrop County, Thomas Ransdell Brite came of age amid the conflicts of early Texas. He volunteered against Mexican incursions in the 1842 Vasquez, Woll, and Somervell campaigns, served in the Mexican War under Captain McCulloch in 1846, and joined the Texas Rangers in 1855 to counter frontier raids. Settling in what became Atascosa County, he was elected its first tax assessor-collector and later county treasurer before his death in 1859.
Robert E. Neill
Leming, TX
Robert E. Neill came to Texas as a small boy in the 1830s and, though a childhood accident crippled his left arm, went on to soldier through three of the era's conflicts. He served in the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War of 1847, rode with the Texas Rangers on frontier duty, and closed his military life fighting for the Confederacy. Afterward he returned to ranching in Atascosa County, where he raised five children and died in 1878.
Brite Cemetery
Leming, TX
Brite Cemetery has served Atascosa County since the 1850s, formally set aside when pioneer Thomas Ransdele Brite died in 1859, though his infant son's 1854 grave is the earliest marked burial. Brite came to Texas in 1839, served in the Republic of Texas Army campaigns and the Mexican-American War, and became the county's first tax assessor-collector. Among those buried here are Texas Ranger and Mexican-American War veteran Robert E. Neill and San Jacinto veteran Alfred Kelso, alongside many other early settlers.