White Cemetery
Highlands, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Reuben White (1795-1848), one of Stephen F. Austin's original "Old 300" colonists, acquired a Mexican land grant here in 1824. White was part of a large extended family which settled this area, later known as White Settlement. Although White's is the earliest recorded burial here, older grave sites are believed to exist. Formally set aside as the White Family Cemetery in 1850, this eventually became a community graveyard. Interred here are many area pioneers and their descendants, and veterans of conflicts from the Texas Revolution to the Vietnam War.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Reuben White was one of Stephen F. Austin's original "Old 300" colonists, taking a Mexican land grant here in 1824 as part of a large family that settled the area later called White Settlement. Though his 1848 burial is the earliest recorded, older graves are thought to exist nearby. Formally set aside as a family cemetery in 1850, it grew into a community burial ground holding pioneers and veterans of conflicts from the Texas Revolution to Vietnam.
Why it matters
As the resting place of an Old 300 colonist, the cemetery ties directly to the founding wave of Anglo settlement that would soon transform Texas from a Mexican province into a republic and a state.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Reuben White
- · Stephen F. Austin
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Lorenzo de Zavala
Houston, TX
Lorenzo de Zavala was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and the first vice president of the Republic of Texas. His plank-covered log house near Harrisburg, built in 1829, sheltered the wounded as a hospital after the decisive 1836 Battle of San Jacinto, and it was there that de Zavala died that November.
Peter Jefferson Duncan
San Jacinto, TX
Peter Jefferson Duncan, born in New York in 1799, took part in the capture of San Antonio in 1835 and served in the army during the 1836 campaign for Texas independence. He lived out his life in Harris County, where he died in 1870. His marker commemorates one of the volunteers who fought to establish the Republic of Texas.
Persons Known to Have Been Buried in de Zavala Cemetery
San Jacinto, TX
This burial ground near the San Jacinto battlefield holds the remains of Lorenzo de Zavala (1789–1836), the statesman who served as the first vice president of the Republic of Texas, along with generations of his family. It also received figures caught up in the 1836 revolution, including the Mexican general Manuel Fernández Castrillón, who fell at San Jacinto, and other men who died that pivotal year. The recorded roll of names spans from the republic's founding into the early twentieth century.
Within A Few Minutes, Battle of San Jacinto Site
Houston, TX
This marker captures the stunning arithmetic of the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. By General Sam Houston's own report, the fighting left 630 of Santa Anna's soldiers dead, 208 wounded, and 730 captured, along with money, arms, and equipment—while the Texans lost just 9 killed and 30 wounded. Rarely has so brief an engagement proven so lopsided or so consequential.