A HUNDRED AND TWENTY ODD YEARS
AFTER THE FACT
The Shiloh-McCutcheon Cemetery Association website
On May 27, 1881, at the young age of 47, Margaret, mother of all known descendants of James E. Hutto Sr., died and was buried along side her youngest daughter, Mary Margaret, in the Shiloh Cemetery some three miles southeast of the town of Hutto, Texas.
We visited the Shiloh
Cemetery in March, 1998 and found it an old and forgotten 
cemetery
that is occasionally attended too. It sits on a hill that rises
20 ft above the surrounding terrain and is next to Brushy Creek.
It is said that one could drive across the creek at the old
Shiloh crossing, which is just down from the cemetery, in a car a
few years back. The location was supposed to have been on the
Chisom trail and cattle drives crossed at this point frequently
in years gone by. Shiloh was the primary town in the area before
the Railroad was put in, resulting in the founding of the town of
Hutto. Over the years Shiloh became a ghost town as Hutto
prospered and the only reminder that the town ever existed now is
the cemetery. The hill that the cemetery 
sits
on seems oddly out of place on the banks of the Brushy Creek,
which flows year round. It is a clear cool stream that provides
ideal backdrop for ones final resting place. I wondered if the
hill, might have been an old Indian mound of sorts. We have since
learned that an old Spanish mission was located on the banks of
Brushy Creek and as far back as the early 1800s was identifiable
mostly as a large mound. Could the Shiloh graveyard be built on
this old Spanish Mission?
The grave of Margaret is over grown with saplings and weeds and the tombstone, a large tall pyramid styled marker lies on the ground. The base of the tombstone is tilted forward slightly as a result of the soil moving over the many years since it was placed there some 117 years ago.
The family plot is guarded by an old ornamental iron fence about 6' x 6' in width and length and 3 1/2 ft tall, reflecting the style used in the late 1800s. Generally the enclosing of a grave plot with such a fence would have been some indication of wealth on the part of the family.
Three and 1/2 year old little Mary Margaret is buried next to her mother. Her mother, followed her daughter a short 8 years later in death. Little Mary Margaret's tombstone is still in an erect position but somewhat soiled from the 125 years of weathering it has withstood.
Hugh
Davenport, a local resident and friend of the Hutto family,
shared that on occasion the sheriff's department would bring
inmates out to clear the weeds and clean up the cemetery, but
those activities have been sparse.
The iron fence surrounding
the gravesite is bent on the north end from a crushing fall of a
large tree reported Hugh. Hugh said he burned the old tree stump
out of the plot leaving a 15 inches diameter, gapping hole,
staring back at you as one views the scene. I thought maybe a
wild animal had dug a borrow there, but it is simple the absence
of the tree that had once stood tall there for so many years
shading and protecting our ancestral loved ones grave site. It
too has returned to ashes after sharing its beauty and 
grace
in the panorama of life. It too has faded from the present,
leaving only an indentation in the ground where it had prospered
in a more glorious and productive day; much as the pioneer souls
whose graves it had guarded for so many years. Time has a way of
measuring us all and we too will join them when our days are
over.
Hugh said that he cleaned the gravesite up 3 or 4 years ago, which for a man of 90 years of age currently, must have been quite an effort. Hugh still gets around surprisingly well.
The gate that allows entrance to the site is entangled in trees, saplings of 2 and 3 inch diameter. I could not open the gate. We wanted to get a closer look at the grave stones so Becky, my sister, climbed the fence as I held her hand steady to provide her with some support as she made her ascent. We took pictures and viewed the tombstones for detail as we searched to discover who our Great Great Grandmother was.
We plan to go back this summer and clean the site up. Maybe we can reposition the head stones base and reset the head stone of our ancestor.
There was strangeness about
seeing this old cemetery and in particular, our Great Great
Grandmother's grave site in a state of decline. But then it was
stranger finding this old gravesite and establishing a connection
to a person that I had never known but now seem closer too. It
seems odd to mourn someone you never new..... 
A hundred and twenty odd years after the fact.
Marvin Schubert
We later went back to Hutto in June and cleaned up the grave site. Our car broke down and we all caught a bad case of Poison Ivy. Here are some pictures from that excursion. Oh by the way we had fun?
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In the fall of 1999 several cousins contributed 200 dollars and we had Margaret's headstone reset. The following picture also show the results of the Shiloh Cemetery organization's cleanup efforts. |
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The picture to the left
was taken in May of 2000, after the headstone was reset.
It might be noted that The Stone is the largest and
tallest in the Cemetery! A reflection of the families
status in the community at the time I'm sure. Its
intresting to note that the picture angle looks back
toward Hutto. The fence around the cemetery could use
some repairs also. If anyone want's to contribute to
that, let me know. Marvin More pictures of the Reset stone are at this site should you wish to see them. Note: All are designated as hutto_1.jpg, hutto_2.jpg, hutto_3.jpg etc |
Contact for more family information
Subnote: I have since learned that there are two graveyards in the Shiloh area. One North and South of the Brushy Creek crossing. Evidently the South side was the colored grave yard as I recall from reading. The graveyard mentioned in the writing above is on the North side.
Visit the The Shiloh-McCutcheon Cemetery
Association website
for more information
You can send donations to The Shiloh-McCutcheon Cemetery
Association Contact
txelder@sbcglobal.net
for more information
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