A Nearly Accurate History of Sunrise Beach
By Dick Hart (deceased)
Written for the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the City in November of 1998
recovered and updated in 2005 and continued by others (I hope, hjs)
Page 17 of 19
district No. 10 called the “Sandy Mountain School District", (4) this one
room board and batten school house was located just across the road
north of the Cemetery, and it served the community until sometime in
the 1930's when schools in Llano County were consolidated after which
the school building was demolished or moved to another location.
The Llano County Courthouse burned in 1892, and many of the records
were destroyed but according to the earliest deeds found, on January
1, 1874, a Mr. D. P. Allen deeded to Mr. William E. Wootan a portion of
land out of the Middleton M. Hill League, but it is uncertain how many
acres were deeded at this time. (5) On January 7, 1874 Mr. William E.
Wootan sold 800 acres of this land from the Middleton M. Hill League,
#360, survey No. #104 to Mr. G. Solomon "with exception of one acre
of land reserved by William E. Wootan for (a word not discernable) to
his heirs and assigns etc.-". (6) On the 11th day of November 1875,
Mr. G. Solomon signed a deed to Mr. Benjamin Phillips for the above
property "with exception of one acre of land reserved by G. Solomon
for Wootan's family graveyard." (7) The oldest marked grave in this
cemetery is for a child, Marion Walter Allen, son of D. P. and M. M.
Allen. (8) One of the older graves is marked "Mary M. Wootan, born
September 28, 1823, died July 13, 1875." She was the wife of William
E. Wootan according to family records of Mrs. Mary Fay Wallace of
Llano, Texas. (9) Mrs. Wallace's great-grandmother, a daughter of the
Wootan's is also buried nearby. She was Cornelia I. Cates, wife of Rev.
R F. Cates. She was born July 25, 1850 and died February 24, 1876
(10). Benjamin Phillips who served in the Texas Revolution and with
the Texas Rangers, and his wife, Melissa Crownover Phillips who came
to Texas with Austin's first colony, are also buried in this cemetery.
(II) The graves of Samuel W. Tate and his wife, Martha and a number
of their descendants are some of the older graves marked. (12)
Nothing is known about the unmarked graves recognized by large
stones, but some of the "old timers" of the community stated that
there were "squatters" buried in this cemetery, possibly people who
were traveling through this part of Texas in the early days.
The Sandy Mountain Cemetery is located in what is now the City of
Sunrise Beach, Texas, incorporated in 1973. The Cemetery measures
198 feet by 220 feet which is exactly one acre, and there are 216
graves within the fenced area. A chain link fence and sign over the
entrance gate were erected in the 1960's (13) and part of the enclosed
area is reserved for descendants of the earlier settlers. Many of the
Sunrise Beach citizens are being buried in the cemetery also without
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