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GAY
HILL, TEXAS
Fayette County,
Central Texas S
Highway 71
7 Miles E of La Grange
Population: Unknown
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View of Highway
71 from the cemetery
TE photos, November 2006 |
History in
a Pecan Shell
This town was named after James Gay, whose brother Thomas founded
another town named Gay Hill
(in neighboring Washington County). This Gay Hill grew around a Republic
of Texas plantation and stretched along a high ridge overlooking the
Colorado River (a few miles south).
The town is indeed a hill - rising 370 feet above the level of the
river but the cluster of houses and church isn't marked by any highway
community sign. In the mid 1980s the community was comprised of 12
families and Gay Hill has no fewer than three cemeteries - one being
an iron fence enclosure and marked as the Gay Hill Cemetery. It is
reported that the cemetery is close to Indian burial grounds. |
| The Gay Hill
cemetery is in an Oak mott on the ridge on the southside of the highway
just west of the turn-off to the power plant. Access is difficult. |
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Monument
honoring Christian Wertzner, first permanent German settler in Fayette
County |
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| A 1936 Centennial
marker stands outside the fence - marking the grave of Christian Gotthelf
Wertner - a German immigrant from Saxony who, as a veteran of the
battle
of San Jacinto, was awarded a Fayette County land grant for his
service to the Republic of Texas. Wertner is believed to be the earliest
permanent German settler in the region and this is noted on the marker
- as well as his status as a citizen of the Republic of Texas. |
| Tombstone
of Private Rufus King Gay, CSA |
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Tombstone
of Mary Guthrey |
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| Herr Wertzner,
who had helped to co-found the Biegel Settlement (now underwater at
the power plant lake), died in a accident while working as part of
a surveying crew at nearby Shaw's Bend (seven miles east of this spot).
The graves within the enclosure are mainly of the Munn and Gay families. |
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