This news article will explain and observe the Caperton Family Cemetery in Austin, Texas. Caperton Family Cemetery is one of Austin’s lesser known cemeteries dating back to the mid-19th century. Caperton Family Cemetery was also known as Caperton-Perry-Thaxton Cemetery, Perry-Caperton Cemetery, and Thaxton Cemetery. These are the names which have been used to refer to the Caperton Family Cemetery over the years.
The Caperton family (Andrew T. Caperton and Milton Thompson Caperton) first bought the land 10 miles south of the city limits of Austin from the State of Texas around 1855. Caperton Family Cemetery was established on a hill bluff near the Thaxton Road and Colton-Bluff Springs Road about 10 miles south of the city limits of Austin, Texas around 1855. However the Caperton Family Cemetery was not used until 1870. It would not be until the mid-1870s until members of the Caperton family would use their property for a small private family cemetery. The earliest death year inscribed on any gravestone at Caperton Family Cemetery was 1878 and that gravestone belonged to Amanda M. Caperton. (Ref: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2540486/caperton-family-cemetery)
The gravestone of Amanda M. Scrivner Caperton (Amanda M. Caperton) is the only standing gravestone and marker at Caperton Family Cemetery. Only this gravestone with two names had survived. The gravestone of Amanda M. Scrivner Caperton was the earliest known burial at Caperton Family Cemetery. (Ref: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/129694287/amanda-m_-caperton)
Amanda M. Caperton is a daughter of Mary Ann Estiell and Reubin Thomas Scrivner of Rowan, North Carolina and Franklin County, Tennesee. Her mother was born in Virginia. Amanda M. Caperton married the Reverend Milton Thompson Caperton about 1832 in Franklin County, Tennessee. Her first child, Reuben Scrivner Caperton was born in Tennessee 2 April 1835. (Ref: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/129694287/amanda-m_-caperton)
The gravestone of Estell Bell Caperton shares the same gravestone with her grandmother Amanda M. Scrivner Caperton (Amanda M. Caperton). She was the infant daughter of Bell Thaxton and Reuben Scrivner Caperton. His daughter, Estell Bell Caperton was born less than three months after the death of Grandmother Amanda, and then died at two years old. Estell Bell Caperton’s inscription may be on her grandmother's gravestone. (Ref: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/129694411/estell-bell-caperton)
One of the people buried at Caperton Family Cemetery was Mary Ann (Caperton) Robertson’s father Andrew W. Caperton. (Ref: https://www.austingenealogicalsociety.org/data/2004.3.pdf)
Andrew was born in 1814 in Tennessee. He died at about age 40 in 1854 in Travis County and was buried on his place. Cause of his death is still unknown. Andrew and Jane were the parents of eight children, but four small infants may be buried there with Andrew, although names and dates are unknown. Four other children were Mary Ann Caperton who married William Franklin Robertson; Lucy S. Caperton who married Marion Montgomery Hudson, a Caldwell County sheriff; Sallie “Sarah” Jane Caperton who married David “Dave” Lafayette Cardwell; and Amanda Rebecca Caperton who married Richard Henry Cardwell. David and Richard were brothers of Anthony Rucker Cardwell and Mary C. “Polly” Perryman who came to Texas from Tennessee with 11 other children in 1855 and settled in Caldwell County. (Ref: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth39870/m1/31/)
Jane T. Caperton is another one of the people buried at Caperton Family Cemetery during the 1900s. Jane T. Caperton is buried with her first husband Andrew W. Caperton. (Ref: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth39870/m1/32/)
Rebecca C. Cardwell was buried at Caperton Family Cemetery in 1902. Rebecca C. Cardwell’s obituary appeared in the Austin Day Statesman that year. “Mrs. Rebecca C. Cardwell died last Monday, leaving a husband. Mr. Henry Cardwell, a daughter and two grandchilaren, besides a hose of friends to mourn her loss.” (Ref: Austin Day Statesman, Page 12, Sunday, September 4, 1902)
The second owner of Caperton Family Cemetery was W.H. Thaxton in 1938 when Milton Thompson Caperton sold the property to W.H. Thaxton. He owned the land including the cemetery for several decades. W.H. Thaxton was a highly respected citizen of Bluff Springs in Travis County. He owned a tract of 600 acres ten miles south of Austin. He had 400 acres under cultivation, the whole being under his personal supervision. (Ref: Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties, 1938)
The third owner of Caperton Family Cemetery was Dr. H.V. Siegmund. H.V. Siegmund purchased the land and Caperton Family Cemetery from W.H. Thaxton in 1948. H.V. Siegmund was a dentist and president of Texas State Bank in the 1950s. Caperton Family Cemetery was under his care for a short stint. Later Edward J. Gillen bought land and Caperton Family Cemetery from H.V. Siegmund around 1969. (Ref: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth39870/m1/27)
Texas Historical Commission certified that Caperton Family Cemetery is listed as an Official Historic Texas Cemetery in January 2000. It was also known as the Caperton-Perry-Thaxton Cemetery. It is believed that 16 to 30 unmarked graves exist in this cemetery. Unmarked graves may exist beyond the 100 foot by 100 foot boundaries. (Ref: Travis County Real Estate Deeds, Instrument #200000343)
Ronnie Pitman and Suzanne Pitman transcribed burials and gravestones at for Caperton Family Cemetery the Austin Genealogical Society in March 2007. They both discovered the gravestone of Amanda M. Scrivner Caperton was the only remaining gravestone in marker of 2007. Estell Bell Caperton’s inscription may be on her grandmother's gravestone which was still standing in March 2007 as that was the only surviving stone at that date. Her's is the only surviving tombstone in the recently rediscovered cemetery. When it was transcribed in March 2007 by Ronnie Pitman and Suzanne Pitman for the Austin Genealogical Society, the Austin Genealogical Society had determined that there may be as many as 20 to 30 graves located in the Caperton Family Cemetery. (Ref: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2540486/caperton-family-cemetery)
A request for the approval of the request is for the approval of the Skyline 2-D Preliminary Plan was submitted to the City of Austin by AJ Zorn for/of Carma Easton, LLC on November 24, 2020. The plan is comprised of 308 lots on 62.407 acres, proposing 295 residential lots, 1 cemetery lot (existing Caperton cemetery tract), 7 park lot and 5 other lots for landscape/drainage easement, and approximately 9,850 linear feet of right-of-way/streets. Sidewalks are proposed on all streets. The proposed lots comply with the PUD zoning requirements for use and lot size. Parkland will be in compliance with the PUD. Water and wastewater will be provided by the City of Austin. The Caperton Family Cemetery will remain untouched and protected as required by Texas state law. (Ref: https://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=350571)
The Caperton Family Cemetery grounds are privately owned. Access is not allowed without permission of the owner(s). Carma Easton, LLC is the current owner of Caperton Family Cemetery.
Caperton Family Cemetery is surrounded by thick trees and no fence around the perimeter. Caperton Family Cemetery is on a high hill from which you can see a far distance. (Ref: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth39870/m1/27)
Caperton Family Cemetery is located 8321 Thaxton Road, Austin, Texas, US 78747.
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