|
 Polley Cemetery
N 29° 19.104 W 098° 03.481
14R E 591468 N 3243630
Look for a well kept family cemetery surrounded by a wrought iron fence that is along FM539 near Sutherland Springs, TX. It is North of the old Whitehall homestead mansion. The TX historical marker is inside the fence but accessible through the gate.
Waymark Code: WM18T1C
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 09/21/2023
Views: 3
The pioneer family of Joseph Henry Polley was a hardy group of men and women who helped develop and shape this local area and contributed greatly to the early founding of Texas. Mr. Polley came from New York and he named his local mansion built here in this area after his old hometown of Whitehall, New York. The Polley family were highly capable folks who were long time residents of this area in and around Sutherland Springs, TX. The Polley family was an original member of the Old 300 and survived the Texas Revolution from Mexico.
Marker Number: 13806
Marker Text:
Joseph Henry Polley (1795-1869) was born in Whitehall, New York to Jonathan and Rachel Hubbard Polley. He later moved to Missouri, where he was a friend of Moses Austin, with whom he traveled to Texas in 1820. The next year, he returned to Texas with Stephen F. Austin as one of the original "Old 300" colonists. Polley settled in the Brazoria District and wed Mary Augusta Bailey, daughter of pioneer Brit Bailey. The couple built a home that they named Whitehall. Polley served as sheriff and assisted retreating settlers during the Runaway Scrape, 1836; Mary helped mold candles for use by the first Texas Congress.
Polley moved his family in 1847 to this area, then a part of Guadalupe County. The family established a cemetery as this site in 1848, when Emeline Elizabeth Polley James, one of the eleven Folley children, died while giving birth. Two years later, her daughter of the same name was interred next to her.
The family completed the Whitehall home about 1850. Over the years, several family members, including Joseph Henry Polley, were laid to rest in the cemetery. Mary Bailey Polley (d. 1888), the family matriarch, was the last to be buried here.
Historic Texas Cemetery - 2005
|
Visit Instructions:
Please include a picture in your log. You and your GPS receiver do not need to be in the picture. We encourage additional information about your visit (comments about the surrounding area, how you ended up near the marker, etc.) in the log.
|