The State of Texas has placed over this famous son a lovely red granite
marker, and from this marker we learn that General Ochiltree was Judge
of the Fifth District in 1842, Secretary of the Treasury in 1844, and
Attorney General of the Republic of Texas in 1845; also that the County
of Ochiltree was named for him.
Another monument that passersby regard with reverence is that of D. B.
Culberson, long a Senator from this District and father of the Texas
Governor, Chas. A. Culberson. The inscription on this monument is
simple: “David B. Culberson, Sept. 29, 1830—May 7, 1900—Erected by his
sons.”
OTHERS: Nancy Ann Waskom, Dated 1819-1852.
Lucy Eason, 1853.
Talbot P. Amos, 1852.
Sarah N. Owens, 1857.
Ross Hammett Spellings, father of S. A. Spellings, was buried in 1871.
While an overground iron vault is unique in the story of burials, it
houses the body of a two-year-old baby, George Hoffman, and is dated
1870.
“DIAMOND BESSIE”
Almost everyone in the state has heard the story of “Diamond Bessie” and
her murder, but not every one knows that a few years ago the Cemetery
Committee, Mrs. Arch McKay and Mrs. H. A. Spellings, working late on the
grounds, returned early the next morning with their crew of men and
found erected on the grave of “Diamond Bessie” a new monument with the
simple inscription, “Bessie Moore—12-13-1876.” The monument that had
marked the grave was entirely removed. The marking of this old monument,
having been done in indelible ink, had faded away.
The first stone is said to have been placed over the grave by
noble-hearted citizens of Jefferson, but no one, other than the person
who placed it on the grave, knows just when the last stone was erected
or by whom, though various reports have been circulated—all different.
We only know that it was placed between the setting and rising of the
sun.