Teel Family Burying Ground
San Augustine, San Augustine County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This family cemetery was established in 1856 when George W. Teel was interred beneath a pear tree planted near his home. He and his wife, Rebecca (Johnson), came from Arkansas to Texas in 1824 as colonists with Stephen F. Austin’s old three hundred. Two years later they relocated from Austin’s colony to this area, where the couple operated a farm and inn. George Teel was also a trustee of San Augustine University, and a participant in the battle of Nacogdoches and the Texas War for Independence. Others interred are related to George and Rebecca Teel, including a son, Wyatt, who served as a confederate soldier, sheriff and county commissioner.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This burying ground began in 1856 when George W. Teel was laid to rest beneath a pear tree by his home. Teel and his wife Rebecca had come from Arkansas in 1824 as colonists in Stephen F. Austin's 'Old Three Hundred,' later settling here to farm and keep an inn; he also served as a university trustee and fought in the Battle of Nacogdoches and the Texas War for Independence. Kin buried alongside him include a son who served as a Confederate soldier and county officeholder.
Why it matters
The Teels were among the very first Anglo-American colonists of Texas, and their family cemetery ties one household to the whole arc of early Texas settlement, revolution, and statehood.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the early 1820s, newly independent Mexico opened its northern province of Texas to American settlers, hoping they would help populate and secure the frontier. Stephen F. Austin received permission to bring in colonists, and the first families he settled became known as the Old Three Hundred, the founding generation of Anglo-American Texas.
Life in Austin's colony was hard, and families often moved as they sought better land or opportunity. East Texas, with its older roads and towns near the Louisiana border, drew many of them.
As more Americans arrived, tensions with the Mexican government grew. Early clashes in 1832, including the Battle of Nacogdoches, foreshadowed the full-scale Texas Revolution of 1835 and 1836, which ended in independence and the birth of the Republic of Texas.
People & events
George W. Teel and his wife, Rebecca Johnson Teel, came from Arkansas to Texas in 1824, among the colonists of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred. That alone places them in the very first chapter of Anglo-American Texas.
Two years later they left Austin's colony and settled here, where they ran a farm and an inn. An inn in this part of Texas would have served travelers passing through the region, making the Teels part of the flow of people and news that shaped early Texas. George also served as a trustee of San Augustine University, a sign of the community's ambitions for education, and he took part in the Battle of Nacogdoches and the Texas War for Independence.
When George died in 1856, he was buried beneath a pear tree planted near his home, and the family cemetery began there. Relatives followed him, including his son Wyatt, whose own life carried the family story forward: he served as a Confederate soldier and later as sheriff and county commissioner.
Its place in the American story
The Old Three Hundred occupy a special place in American history. Their settlement under Mexican authority began the chain of events that led to Texas independence, annexation by the United States, and the war with Mexico that followed, which reshaped the map of the nation.
The Teel family's story touches nearly every stage of that arc in a single household: colonization under Mexico, early resistance, revolution, the Republic, and later the Civil War and the rebuilding of local government afterward.
A family cemetery like this one makes that sweep of history personal. It is not a monument to an abstraction, but the resting place of people who lived through the making of Texas and helped shape it.
If you visit
This is a small family burying ground in the countryside outside San Augustine, and it rewards a quiet, respectful visit. The image at its heart, a grave beneath a pear tree near the family home, captures how intimate these early cemeteries were.
As you stand here, consider that the people buried nearby witnessed Texas under Mexico, as a republic, and as a state. Few places connect you so directly to that entire sequence.
The site fits well into a drive through the San Augustine area, one of the oldest settled parts of Texas. Combine it with the town's many other historical markers for a fuller picture of frontier East Texas, and remember that this is a burial ground, so please treat it with care.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · George W. Teel
- · Rebecca Johnson Teel
- · Stephen F. Austin
- · Wyatt Teel
Related events
- · Battle of Nacogdoches
- · Austin's Old Three Hundred
Themes & tags
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