Tomerlin Cemetery
Devine, Medina County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Washington Allen Tomerlin set aside this burial ground for his family and neighbors in what was at that time an isolated area of Medina County. The earliest dated gravestone is that of Marth Ivy Esary (1856-1875) but many old stones have initials and no dates. Among those buried here are veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and Vietnam, as well as three Littleton brothers said to have been Texas Rangers. The southwest corner of this 1.39 acres holds the Brackens Family, freed slaves who settled nearby. This cemetery remains a chronicle of Medina County pioneers and their descendants. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2000
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Washington Allen Tomerlin set aside this ground for family and neighbors when this corner of Medina County was still remote and thinly settled, the earliest marked grave dating to 1875. Beneath its stones rest veterans of four American wars, three brothers said to have ridden as Texas Rangers, and the Brackens family, freed slaves who made their home nearby. Many older markers bear only initials, their stories now half-remembered.
Why it matters
A single country cemetery gathers the pioneers, soldiers, and freed people whose intertwined lives built rural Texas.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Tomerlin Cemetery took shape when this corner of Medina County was still an isolated, thinly settled place. The earliest dated stone belongs to Martha Ivy Esary (1856–1875), which sets the ground's beginnings deep in the 19th century, in the overlapping worlds of the Early Republic era of Texas and the Reconstruction and Gilded Age years that followed the Civil War.
This was frontier country, and a burial ground here was an act of foresight and community. In remote areas, a family cemetery often became the shared resting place for a whole neighborhood, because the nearest alternative was simply too far. Setting land aside for the dead was one of the first ways scattered pioneers declared that they meant to stay.
The names and dates gathered here span generations and wars, so the cemetery is less a single moment than a long chronicle — a place where the story of rural Medina County accumulated one grave at a time, from the pioneer decades onward.
People & events
Washington Allen Tomerlin set aside this burial ground for his family and neighbors, and in doing so gave the surrounding community something it badly needed. The oldest marked grave, that of young Martha Ivy Esary, dates to 1875, though many of the older stones carry only initials and no dates at all — their stories worn down to a few carved letters.
The people who rest here carried the history of the nation in their lives. Among them are veterans of four American wars — the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and Vietnam — a span of more than a century of service gathered into a single small plot. There are also three Littleton brothers, said to have ridden as Texas Rangers, whose reputation adds a thread of frontier legend to the ground.
In the southwest corner lie the Brackens family, freed slaves who settled nearby and made this part of Medina County their home. Their presence, side by side with the pioneers and soldiers, makes the cemetery a fuller and more honest record of who built this rural community. In 2000 the ground was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery.
Its place in the American story
A small country cemetery like this one is a microcosm of the American story, because it holds so many strands of that story in a single acre and a half. The veterans of four wars trace the nation's long history of service, from the divisions of the Civil War through the global conflicts of the 20th century — an entire arc of American sacrifice represented in one rural plot.
The Brackens family carries a chapter at the very heart of the national experience: the passage from slavery to freedom, and the effort of formerly enslaved people to build independent lives and lasting communities after emancipation. That they settled, worked, and were buried here roots that national transformation firmly in local Texas soil.
And the three brothers remembered as Texas Rangers connect the place to the enduring frontier legend of the American West. Taken together — pioneers, soldiers, freed people, and frontier lawmen — the cemetery shows how the largest themes of American history were lived out, and laid to rest, by ordinary neighbors in one out-of-the-way place.
If you visit
Walk this ground slowly; it asks for patience. Many of the oldest markers bear only initials and no dates, so part of the experience is the humbling awareness that some of the lives here can no longer be fully named. Let the worn stones speak for the reach of time rather than for particular facts.
Seek out the range of stories the cemetery holds. The graves of veterans span the Civil War through Vietnam, more than a century of service in one modest space. In the southwest corner rest the Brackens family, freed slaves who settled nearby — a reminder to take in the whole ground, not just its most prominent stones.
Set on 1.39 acres in the countryside near Devine, this is a place that rewards quiet reflection over quick sightseeing. For a traveler exploring rural Medina County, it makes a moving stop — a single small cemetery where the pioneers, soldiers, and freed people who built this stretch of Texas lie together, their intertwined lives still legible in the grass and stone.
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
- · Washington Allen Tomerlin
- · Brackens family
- · Littleton brothers
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Moore Catholic Cemetery
Moore, TX
Moore Catholic Cemetery began before its land was even formally donated, with the earliest known grave that of Christine Tehas, who died in 1894. Ben Duncan deeded the ground to the parish in 1902, and the headstones—mostly Spanish, but also English and German—reflect the mingled peoples who settled this South Texas frontier. Among those buried here are pioneer settlers, veterans of Indian conflicts and both World Wars, and a Virginia-born formerly enslaved man.
William Carvin Winters
Bigfoot, TX
William Carvin Winters was born in Tennessee in 1809 and came to Texas in 1834, on the eve of its war for independence. He was among the men wounded at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, the decisive fight that won the Republic of Texas its freedom. He lived on until 1863, one of the early Anglo settlers whose lives spanned the birth and growth of Texas.
William Alexander A. Wallace
Bigfoot, TX
William A. A. Wallace—known far and wide as "Big Foot"—became a legend of the Texas frontier as a soldier, ranger, and mail rider. Through decades of hard service he helped guard the advancing line of settlement against raids and danger until his death in 1899. His nickname and exploits made him one of the most storied figures of nineteenth-century Texas.
James Washington Winters
Bigfoot, TX
Born in Tennessee in 1817, James Washington Winters fought at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, the decisive clash that won Texas its independence from Mexico. He lived to age 86, and in 1936 — the centennial of Texas independence — the state erected this marker at his grave.