| Four WWHA members spend a day visiting historic Texas cemeteries |
12/20/2008 |
By Chuck Parsons
December 10 was a special day for several western history "buffs" in the Central Texas area. Doug Dukes, Donaly Brice, Pat and Chuck Parsons chose that day as "Cemetery Day" and visited a number of last resting places of individuals who have a strong connection to the outlaw-lawman past.
One important stop was the McCracken Cemetery near the line between Gonzales and Wilson Counties, but unfortunately the small cemetery hidden in a pasture far from any traveled road could not be located. Thus the quartet was unable to visit the final resting place of State Police Captain and victim of John Wesley Hardin - Jack Helm. This initial failure did not discourage the group. Next on the list was Asher Cemetery, located in Karnes County, which cemetery holds the earthly remains of Jane Bowen Hardin, as well as her grandmother. Here again, it was finding a small cemetery in the middle of a pasture along a gravel road.
Better luck smiled on the group this time and Jane's grave was located and photographed.
Jane Hardin actually has two headstones, one probably installed shortly after her death, and one from the 1980s provided by the Solansky Funeral Home of Gonzales, Texas. Her "claim to fame" rests on the fact that she married John Wesley Hardin.
Also in the Asher Cemetery is the grave of her grandmother, Nancy Bowen; the stone now is in two pieces but held together for the photographer here.
Thomas J. Haldeman was killed in 1872, either by J.R. "Brown" Bowen or else his brother-in-law John Wesley Hardin. Each man accused the other of the foul murder, but Bowen was tried, convicted, and legally hanged in 1878 in Gonzales. Bowen's grave stone has been broken in several pieces and is now stored in the Gonzales Jail Museum. Haldeman's grave stone is located in the Old Davy Cemetery not far from Yorktown. Here again, it is in the country with few signs to indicate its location. Shown here is Doug Dukes at the grave of Thomas J. Haldeman.
Haldeman may have been murdered because Hardin and/or Bowen believed he was a spy for the Tumlinson forces, part of the ongoing Sutton-Taylor Feud. Two men who participated in that feud were James M. "Doc" Bockius and George Culver Tennille. Both men are buried in the Billings Cemetery. Tennille was shot down in July 1874, but Bockius narrowly escaped death from a lynch mob that same year and died an old man of natural causes. Shown here, are Dukes and Parsons in the Billings Cemetery. Also is a close up of the headstone of Civil War veteran Doc Bockius.
A further tragedy of the Sutton-Taylor Feud was the death of Henry Gonzalvo Woods, shot down with three others by a mob. Woods is buried in the neatly kept Woods Cemetery a few miles east of Yorktown. His stone is shown here.
Among the last cemeteries was the Pridgen Cemetery near Thomaston. This is an important cemetery as this holds the final remains of Senator Bolivar J. Pridgen, an active participant in the Sutton-Taylor Feud siding with the Taylors. His grave stone is shown here with Donaly Brice.
To make the day complete, almost all dealing directly with the Sutton-Taylor Feud victims, was a visit to the Evergreen Cemetery in Victoria. Here, among thousands of other graves, are those of William E. Sutton and his companion Gabriel Webster Slaughter, both men killed by Jim and cousin Bill Taylor on March 11, 1874.
Visiting cemeteries is not only a good grass roots experience in western history, but it also provides an opportunity for good exercise.
All photos courtesy Pat Parsons.
