Silver Valley Cemetery
Silver Valley, Coleman County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Silver Valley Cemetery The first known grave here is that of Helen A. (Crocker) Averitt, who, like her husband, John C. Averitt, was an early area spiritual leader and educator. Her burial in 1881 predated the purchase and designation of the land as a cemetery by 20 years. Originally called Robinson's Peak Cemetery, the burial ground contains the graves of other early settlers and their families. Veterans from every branch of the U.S. military were laid to rest here, as were the families of Mexican railroad workers in the early 20th century. An association organized in 1958 maintains the cemetery, which is still in use and remains a link to the history of Silver Valley. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2002
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The first known grave here belongs to Helen A. Averitt, an early spiritual leader and educator buried in 1881, two decades before the land was formally designated a cemetery. Originally called Robinson's Peak Cemetery, it holds early settlers, veterans of every branch of the U.S. military, and the families of Mexican railroad workers who came to the region in the early 20th century. An association formed in 1958 keeps the still-active grounds.
Why it matters
The cemetery reflects how frontier settlers, soldiers, and immigrant railroad labor together built the ranching communities of West Texas.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Coleman County lies in west-central Texas, rolling ranch country where the post-Civil War cattle era gave way to settled farms and small communities. In the decades after the Civil War, settlers moved into the region as the frontier pushed west. Ranching came first, and farming families followed.
Railroads changed everything here, as they did across Texas. Tracks brought markets, towns and new people. Railroads needed large crews to build and maintain the lines, and in the early twentieth century many of those workers were Mexican. Some came north during the upheaval of the Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910, and many settled with their families near the rail lines they worked on.
In rural communities like Silver Valley, a shared cemetery was often the most lasting public institution. Schools merged, churches moved and post offices closed, but the burial ground stayed and kept the community's memory in one place.
People & events
The story begins with Helen A. (Crocker) Averitt. She and her husband, John C. Averitt, were spiritual leaders and educators in the area's early days. On the frontier, that often meant teaching children and leading worship long before formal schools or church buildings existed. When Helen died in 1881, she was laid to rest here, the first known grave on the site.
Remarkably, her burial came twenty years before the land was formally bought and set aside as a cemetery. In other words, the community gathered around her grave over the years, and the paperwork caught up later. It was first known as Robinson's Peak Cemetery, after a local landmark, and over the decades it filled with early settlers and their families.
Over time the cemetery came to reflect a broader community. Veterans of every branch of the U.S. military are buried here. In the early twentieth century, the families of Mexican railroad workers were also laid to rest here, their stories now part of Silver Valley's. Since 1958 a local association has cared for the grounds, and the cemetery is still in use, so new chapters are still being added.
Its place in the American story
Silver Valley Cemetery tells, on a single hillside, a story that played out across the American West: the frontier was settled by many kinds of people, not one. Settlers, schoolteachers and preachers, soldiers and sailors, and immigrant railroad workers and their families each had a part in building rural Texas.
The presence of Mexican railroad families is especially meaningful. Mexican labor built and maintained much of the Southwest's railroad network in the early twentieth century, yet those workers' names rarely show up in official histories. A cemetery that holds their families quietly corrects that gap and records that they were part of the community, not just passing through.
The veterans buried here link this small place to the nation's wars, a reminder that much of America's military service came from rural communities. And the 1958 cemetery association reflects a long American tradition of neighbors organizing themselves to care for their shared past.
If you visit
Expect a peaceful country cemetery in open ranch land, the kind of place where wind and birdsong are the main sounds. Because it is still in use, you will see a span of gravestones, from weathered nineteenth-century stones to recent markers. Walking through it is like walking through the community's whole timeline.
As you look around, watch for the threads the marker describes: early settler families, military markers for veterans, and Spanish-language names and inscriptions that may point to the railroad families of the early 1900s. Look for the oldest stones and think about Helen Averitt, whose single grave started it all.
This is an active cemetery cared for by a local association, so be respectful: stay on paths, leave graves and decorations undisturbed, and give space to anyone visiting family. It makes a reflective stop on a back-roads drive through Coleman County, a quiet look at how one small Texas community came together.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Helen A. Averitt
- · John C. Averitt
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Robert M. Coleman
Coleman, TX
Kentucky-born Robert M. Coleman came to Texas in 1832 and threw himself into the revolution, commanding volunteers at the Siege of Bexar in December 1835. As a delegate he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836 and then served as aide-de-camp to General Sam Houston at the decisive Battle of San Jacinto. He later took up arms as a Texas Ranger on the frontier before his death in 1837.
Ruins of Camp Colorado
Coleman, TX
Camp Colorado was established by the U.S. Army to guard the Texas frontier against raids, moving to this site in 1856 before Federal troops abandoned it as the Civil War began in early 1861. In 1870 the land passed to Henry Sackett, who built his home on the old post grounds. From here in 1874 Sackett rode with Maltby's Rangers in pursuit of the Comanche bands of chiefs Big Foot and Jape.
Santa Anna Cemetery
Santa Anna, TX
When the Santa Fe Railroad arrived in 1886, Santa Anna boomed as a cattle-shipping point, and this cemetery grew with it—its oldest dated monument marking sixteen-year-old Mary Ashley, who died in 1885. Among the buried are the town's first station agent and Texas Rangers John R. Banister and John Benecke Bachman, along with veterans from the Civil War through Vietnam. Fraternal sections for Masons, Odd Fellows, Woodmen of the World, and the Eastern Star reflect the social fabric of the community.
Route of Old Military Road
Santa Anna, TX
Opened in the 1850s, this military road carried supply trains and cavalry along the chain of U.S. forts that guarded the Texas frontier, running from Fort Belknap on the Brazos down toward Fort Mason and Fort Clark near the Rio Grande. Notable soldiers traveled its route, among them Col. Robert E. Lee, who a decade later would command Confederate armies. The road knit together the far-flung outposts meant to shield settlers.