'Epitaph on Headstone a Small Part of Milam Pioneer’s Story' - Peter Mercer - by Jeanne Williams.Temple Daily Telegram:

Epitaph on Headstone a Small Part of Milam Pioneer’s Story

by Jeanne Williams - Temple Daily Telegram

August 8, 2011

SAN GABRIEL - A hot, dry Texas wind whispers a sad melody as it brushes over the parched

grasses and formations of gravestones in the remote Locklin Cemetery.

The rows of conventional obelisks, monoliths, lichen-coated angels, arches, and crosses

of yesteryear’s burials stand in orderly fashion amid ornate memorials of the 20th

century. But one marker seems to dominate this community of the dead.

The circular headstone of Peter Mercer is an attention-getter in its own right, with the

epitaph that conveys the slings and arrows of the terrorizing era in which this Texas

pioneer lived:

Sacred to the Memory of Peter Mercer

Was born Dec. 25, 1807

and was Killed by Indians June 17, 1844

Relatives of Peter Mercer are buried in the proximity of the first grave opened on the

hill overlooking the San Gabriel River, but the burial site seems to stand alone.

On FM 487 five miles north of Thorndale and 1½ miles south of San Gabriel where Apache

and Comanche and a myriad of other Native American tribes once reigned, a Texas

Historical Marker relays a brief history of the Locklin Cemetery, starting with a Mexican

land grant awarded to Abigale McLennan Fokes in 1835.

Mercer, a Georgia native, opened a blacksmith shop in the area in 1840. His burial in

1844 is believed to be the first recorded on the grounds, the history stated.

Today, the cemetery contains about 400 burial sites, including many of the area’s

frontier settlers, their descendants and veterans of the Texas Revolution and Republic of

Texas Army.

Mercer’s tragic ending was the final chapter of a life that was far from conventional,

though the marker only reveals one incident that took his life.

Though they may have not yet been substantiated, it was Mercer’s actions nearly a decade

earlier that won him a name in Texas history and a biography in history books, including

The Handbook of Texas.

The Handbook-On-Line states that Peter M. Mercer was born in Georgia on Dec. 25, 1807, to

William and Isabella Maloy Mercer and moved to Texas as a volunteer in the Texas army.

While Mercer was living at Washington-on-the-Brazos, he was co-owner of the building

where Texas’ independence was declared in 1836.

According to some accounts, Mercer served under James W. Fannin, but managed to escape

the Goliad Massacre, later fought with Sam Houston at San Jacinto, and after the war

settled on the San Gabriel River in Milam County. Curiously, records on San Jacinto

veterans do not list Mercer.

Randy Billingsley of Cameron - a direct descendant of Capt. Jesse Billingsley, a Texas

Revolutionary War veteran, who shouted “Remember the Alamo; Remem-ber Goliad” — said his

research has found no mention of Peter Mercer on muster rolls or in land grants. Thus,

the question of whether Mercer fought in the revolution remains unanswered.

Also a mystery is whether Mercer was married. Some accounts report that he married a

woman identified by family members as Aunt Celie, but the couple had no children.

A local history reported that Mercer was killed on a knoll now known as Mercer’s Bluff

and his body fell into the San Gabriel River.

Milam County pioneer Sam Locklin wrote in his “The Story of Milam County” that Mercer and

others came to the San Gabriel area and “built a fort on the bank of the San Gabriel

River, where he was killed by the Indians in the year 1844.” Indians killed two others

south of the fort.

When Locklin’s men found out what had happened to him, “they took him and buried him at

what is known as the Locklin grave yard and put a large tombstone at his grave which is

still standing,” Locklin wrote in his published memoirs.

Meanwhile, Mercer’s grand-father arrived from Georgia to live with his grandson and

learned that he had been killed. Mercer, a bachelor according to Locklin, “was living on

the San Gabriel River and it was kind of lonely for him alone.”

But not as lonely as the windswept cemetery on a hill-side beside the San Gabriel River,

where Mercer’s monument stands in honor of one of Milam County’s brave pioneers.

jwilliams@tdtnews.com

E-mail ideas for Backroads stories to the Temple Daily Telegram at

backroads@tdtnews.com