Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Tombstone Tuesday: One of the "Old Three Hundred"

 Morton Cemetery, Richmond, Ft. Bend Co., Texas



William Morton was one of Stephen F. Austin's "Old Three Hundred," [which you can find more about in my companion blog, "Texas Family Stories" here].  The Morton Cemetery is located in Richmond, Fort Bend County, Texas., on part of the land grant that William first received when he and his family came from Alabama.  He drowned in 1833 in the Brazos River Flood.  However, before that in 1825, a fellow Masonic brother by the name of Robert Gillespie [from Scotland] died suddenly at William's home, and William, being a skilled brick and stone mason, built this monument for him.  When Santa Ana's army stopped off here right before the Battle of San Jacinto [where Sam Houston defeated Santa Ana, leading to Texas' independence from Mexico], they began to destroy the memorial until they were stopped by a Masonic officer.  The Morton Lodge No. 72 A.F. & A.M. restored the monument in 1936, and in 2001 a marker was dedicated on the 150th  anniversary of the Morton Lodge in memory of William Morton.  There are inscriptions on each side of the monument.












Caroline

Sources:
1. The William Morton Marker located i
n Morton Cemetery in Richmond, Texas.
2.
The Handbook of Texas Online
3. All pictures in the designs are of the private collection of Caroline Pointer.


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