Wharton Cemetery
Center Point, Kerr County, Texas
Marker Inscription
One of the earliest settlers in Kerr County, William Watson Wharton (1799-1871) purchased 640 acres when he came here in 1857 with his wife Thankful (1803-1885) and their three sons. The family's cabin stood near this cemetery. Wharton's is the oldest marked grave in the plot. Among other graves are those of his wife, his sons William G'Laspie (1841-1919), deputy sheriff of Kerr County for over 50 years, and David Newton (1846-1938), and several grandchildren. Other pioneer settlers buried here include members of the Tatum and Love families. Wharton descendants maintain the site. (1977) Incise in base: Marker Sponsor: Descendants of David N. Wharton
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
William Watson Wharton was among the first settlers of Kerr County, arriving in 1857 with his wife Thankful, their three sons, and a claim to 640 acres in the Texas Hill Country. The family cabin stood near this plot, where Wharton's is the oldest marked grave. Among those resting here is his son William G'Laspie Wharton, who served as a county deputy sheriff for more than half a century, alongside members of other pioneer families.
Why it matters
Family burial grounds like this preserve the names and lifespans of the first Anglo settlers who opened the Texas Hill Country to farming and ranching.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the 1850s, the Texas Hill Country was a true frontier. Kerr County was created in 1856, just a year before the Wharton family arrived, and it was still sparsely settled. Its limestone hills, clear rivers, and cedar and oak groves drew families willing to take on isolation, hard work, and real danger. Native peoples still contested the region, and the nearest help could be many miles away.
Settlement in the Hill Country came from several directions. German immigrants founded towns such as Fredericksburg and Comfort not far away. Anglo-American families, many from the Southern states, took up farms and ranches along the rivers and creeks. Land was the great draw. Texas offered large tracts, and a family with determination could build a life on them.
The Whartons arrived just a few years before the Civil War, which split the Hill Country in painful ways. They lived through that upheaval and the long decades of frontier settlement that followed.
People & events
William Watson Wharton was nearly sixty when he came to Kerr County in 1857. That was no young man's adventure. He brought his wife, Thankful, and their three sons, bought 640 acres, and built a family cabin close to where this cemetery now lies. Starting over in the wilderness at that age took uncommon resolve.
William died in 1871, and his is the oldest marked grave here. Thankful lived until 1885. Their son William G'Laspie Wharton, born in 1841, served as a deputy sheriff of Kerr County for more than fifty years. That is a remarkable span, running from frontier days into the twentieth century and covering enormous change in how law was kept in rural Texas. Another son, David Newton Wharton, lived from 1846 until 1938, long enough to see the automobile and the modern age reach the hills his family had helped settle.
Several Wharton grandchildren are buried here, along with members of other pioneer families, the Tatums and the Loves. Together they form a small community of the dead that mirrors the one they built while living. It is fitting that descendants of David N. Wharton sponsored the marker and that the family still cares for the site.
Its place in the American story
The Wharton Cemetery captures a pattern that repeated across the American frontier. A family arrived, claimed land, built a cabin, and set aside a corner of their property for burials. Over generations those family plots became community cemeteries, and they often preserve the most detailed surviving record of who settled a place and when.
The long career of William G'Laspie Wharton reflects something else: how local government took root on the frontier. County sheriffs and their deputies were often the only law for miles, and a lawman who served a single county for half a century was a thread of continuity through generations of change.
The lifespans recorded here tell a national story too. Someone born in 1799 and someone who died in 1938 lie in the same small plot. The family's time here runs from a young republic to the eve of the Second World War, and it covers westward expansion, civil war, and modernization.
If you visit
This is a small family cemetery, quiet and personal, in the heart of the Hill Country near Center Point. Look for William Watson Wharton's stone, the oldest marked grave, and then find those of Thankful and their sons. Reading the dates side by side lets you trace nearly 140 years of one family's life on this land.
The site is still maintained by Wharton descendants, so please treat it with care. Stay on paths, leave everything as you found it, and respect any nearby private property.
The drive through this part of Kerr County is beautiful: rolling hills, live oaks, and the nearby Guadalupe River. Combine this stop with visits to Kerrville and the surrounding Hill Country towns for a day that mixes scenery with a real sense of the families who first made their homes here.
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
- · William Watson Wharton
- · Thankful Wharton
- · William G'Laspie Wharton
- · David Newton Wharton
Themes & tags
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