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Oxford
History in a Pecan Shell
The area was first settled in the mid-1850s and was home to the Bedford Academy,
which received students from anywhere within riding distance.
A.J. Johnson
laid out the town of Oxford around 1880, naming it for his hometown in Mississippi.
A post office was opened that same year and the town was surveyed.
The
cemetery was built in 1881 and a sign marks the date the way some businesses do:
Oxford Cemetery
"Since 1881" The
town prospered for a short time - attaining a population of around 300 by the
mid-1890s. The jobs in and around Llano
along with improved roads drained the population. There's nothing left of a town
center today.
The Moss Family who had substantial land holdings in southern
Llano County are interred here, as is the town's founder - the previously mentioned
A. J. Johnson. |
| | Three
Obelisks in the Moss family plot.
TE photo |
Oxford has never been
written about without mentioning its nickname of Cat Town. This name is
derived from an incident where a cat was thrown into a large pot of coffee at
a dance. It must be remembered that entertainment was hard to come by in the
19th century.
The cat may have cursed the town for Oxford started
its decline before it even reached a high point. By the early 1900s it lost population
and the post office closed in 1924.
The pages of Oxford's history from
1924 until 1968 are blank, and the only entry for 1968 was that the population
had dropped to a mere 33 inhabitants. This figure stood until the late 1980s when
they stopped counting.
© John Troesser |
 |
Historical
Marker TextOxford
Cemetery The Oxford
community was founded in 1880 when Confederate veteran A. J. Johnson came to Llano
County and laid out the townsite. In 1881, a burial ground was established near
this site for the use of the families of Oxford. Burials date from 1883, although
some of the graves that were moved from a neighboring cemetery bear earlier death
dates. Among those interred there are the town's founder, A. J. Johnson (1832-1924),
who captained the Packsaddle Mountain fight, an 1873 battle that drove raiding
Indians out of Llano County.
(1985) |
Oxford
Cemetery Tombstones
TE
photos |
"The
Oatman Creek Baptist Church went into private hands in 2004 after the last service
was held. The church is pretty much across the highway from the cemetery."
- William
Beauchamp, June 2011 photo |
"Found
this little barn off a county road close by. Many of the old log out buildings
are hidden by tin now."
- William
Beauchamp, June 2011 photo |
"This
old well was a rare sight, retired now but probably a workout for someone to fill
the water trough."
- William
Beauchamp, June 2011 photo |
"A
little cactus clings to rock on the highway near Oxford."
- William
Beauchamp, June 2011 photo |
Oxford,
Texas Forum "I
havn't been able to research how or why this happened, but inside the Oxford cemetery
there are the graves of twins: Lola and Ida Maupin. [ Being twins they ] were
naturally born on the same day (November 1, 1891), but they also died on the same
day (November 7, 1898). I just thought you should know. I visited the cemetery
at night and it is truly a creepy place." - Will Creedle
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