1024 FM 521
28°47’18.40”N      96°11’41.65”W


Yeamans Family Cemetery

Horace Yeamans Family

By Jean Wilkinson Wales

One of the well known early settlers of Matagorda County was Horace Yeamans, son of Asa and Jerusha Wightman Yeamans, who was born at Elmira, New York, on July 5, 1811. In 1829, at the age of 18, he came to Matagorda with a group of colonists from New York brought by his uncle, Elias Wightman. Besides his parents, his brothers, Daniel, Joseph, Erastus and Elias Robert and his sister, Esther, made the trip down the Mississippi on a flatboat to New Orleans, where they boarded the schooner Little Zoe for the remainder of the trip. Also among the colonists were his grandparents, Benjamin Wightman, a veteran of the American Revolution from New York, and his wife, Esther Randall Wightman. His paternal grandparents were Daniel Yeamans, a veteran of the American Revolution from Connecticut, and his wife, the former Esther Sterling.

Shortly after his arrival at Matagorda, Horace Yeamans moved to Brazoria County with his parents, where he farmed with much difficulty for one year, and then they moved to Kenner’s Prairie on Caney Creek, near the present town of Sargent. The formal education of Horace and his brothers in New York had been under the pedagogy of their uncle, Elias Wightman, who had also taught them surveying.

When the harassment of the Mexican government became intolerable, he joined Aylett C. Buckner’s Fayette Company and participated in the Battle of Velasco on June 26, 1832. This marked the beginning of the struggle for Texas independence.

Nearly four years later, on October 6, 1835, Horace Yeamans joined the Texas army as a private in Captain Bird’s Company of Texas Volunteers, and was at the Siege of Bexar. On December 20, 1835, he signed the First Declaration of Independence at LaBahia in Goliad. He was honorably discharged and re-enlisted in April, 1836, under Captain Bell. The company was proceeding to join the army of General Sam Houston, when the schooner on which the company was sailing ran aground on Red Fish Bar in Galveston Bay, thus preventing their joining the army at San Jacinto. Sacrifices for the victory were great. Asa Yeamans sent five sons off to war; only three returned. His two youngest sons, Erastus, age 20, and Elias Robert, age 18, were among the number massacred with Colonel James W. Fannin’s Company at LaBahia, Goliad, on Good Friday, March 27, 1836.

On May 11, 1844, Horace Yeamans married Eliza Baxter, daughter of Robert and Margaret Tate Baxter of Manchester, England. She was born February 3, 1828, in Manchester. Her paternal grandparents were Williams and Catherine Watkins Baxter. She, her brother and sister are believed to have come to Matagorda with their uncle, William Baxter, an early Matagorda settler, when their father died leaving them orphans.

For his services in the Texas army, Horace Yeamans received Bounty Warrant #1862 for 1/3 league of land on Cash’s Creek in Matagorda County. It was here that he and his bride built their home. The original house was a small structure, but as their family grew, an upper story and other rooms were added. Completed in 1854, it is one of the oldest homes continuously occupied in Matagorda County. The two-story structure with its handmade brick chimney has weathered numerous storms and now bears a Texas Historical Medallion. It is situated on Farm Road 521, two and one-half miles east of Highway 35, north of Palacios.

Members of the Yeamans family were faithful Baptists, being lineally descended from prominent early colonial clergymen, the Reverend Roger Williams, the Reverend Obadiah Holmes and the Reverend Valentine Wightman. Horace and Eliza Baxter Yeamans became members of the Trepalacios Baptist Church, which was situated near present Hawley Cemetery. Horace served faithfully for over forty years as church clerk. Until he was too feeble to attend, Horace Yeamans regularly attended the Hawley camp meetings, where he would put two benches together and spread a blanket over himself and sleep soundly through the night. He is said to have awakened as refreshed and cheerful as the youngest among the campers.

Horace and Eliza Baxter Yeamans had seven children, three sons and four daughters: Benjamin Asa, born in 1846; Jerusha Ann, born in 1848; Margaret Jane, forn 1849; Daniel Wightman, born 1853; Horace Moore, born 1854; Sarah E., born 1858; and Eliza Baxter, born 1859.

During the nearly ninety-three years of his life, Horace Yeamans saw many changes in Matagorda County. He died April 30, 1904, in Matagorda, at the home of his daughter, Margaret Jane Yeamans Bruce and was buried in Matagorda Cemetery.

Historic Matagorda County, Volume I, pages 105-106
 

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