Noel Moses Baine (1800-1864)

    Moses Baine, early colonist, soldier, and planter, was born in 1800 at Hamilton's Bawn, County Armagh, Ireland, the son of George and Sarah Baine. One source, however, lists his parents as Noel M. and Mary Baine. He immigrated to America in 1818, settling at Baltimore, Maryland. In Baltimore, on February 13, 1830, he married Cecilia Inglesby, daughter of William and Alicia MacKernan Inglesby. On March 6, 1830, they sailed for Texas, landing in New Orleans on April 1, and from there proceeded by water to Brazoria, arriving on April 6. They stayed several weeks with the James Lynch family, then went on to San Felipe de Austin. Moses Baine received a sitio of land granted him by the Mexican government through empresario Stephen F. Austin on April 26, 1831. The land was in what is now Brazos County, on the east side of the Brazos River. 

    According to Moses Baine's family records, they resided nine miles from San Felipe, and according to family tradition, their house was the only one in the colony that had glass panes in its windows. Also according to family records, they had twelve head of cattle, three horses, and plenty of hogs; it was also noted that Moses Baine taught the children of the colony and in addition farmed. During the Texas Revolution, on March 5, 1836, Moses Baine enlisted in the Texas army. He also participated in the battle of San Jacinto, and his name is listed on the bronze plaque at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historical Park. He received a bounty certificate for 320 acres of land for this service; the bounty warrant was dated March 19, 1839. On October 17, 1842, Moses Baine enlisted in the Army of the Republic of Texas under Philip Haddox Coe, Company A, First Regiment, and marched to Bexar, and then to the Rio Grande. For this service in the Somervell expedition, he received $67.50. Moses and Cecilia Baine made their home near San Felipe de Austin until 1837, when he purchased land in Washington County from Obadiah Hudson; they settled there permanently. The couple had ten children, two of whom died young. Moses Baine was a successful planter in Washington County until his death on May 28, 1864. His wife died on October 16, 1872. Both are buried in marked graves in Prairie Lea Cemetery, Brenham, Texas. The grave of Moses Baine is further marked with a Texas Historical Commission marker dedicated in the early 1980s. Source 

Section 3
Prairie Lea Cemetery
Brenham

COORDINATES

30° 09.328, -096° 24.517

Mills M. Battle (1800-1856)

    Mills M. Battle, early settler and public official, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on February 20, 1800. He was a partner of M. Berry and John Williams, Sr., as one of the families of the Old Three Hundred. One sitio of land now in Matagorda County was deeded to them by the Baron de Bastrop on August 10, 1824. Battle was a carpenter and contractor in business with Berry at San Felipe de Austin, where he voted in alcalde elections as early as December 1824, and where he himself was alcalde in 1827. The census of March 1826 listed him as a married man with a small daughter. His wife, Mary, died before August 26, 1837. Battle was president of the election at Stafford's Prairie to choose delegates to the Convention of 1836. He was justice of the peace of Fort Bend County in 1837-38 and in 1839 was deputy clerk of the probate court. He met with other citizens of the county at Richmond in 1839 to appoint delegates to a railroad meeting at Fayetteville. Battle married Mrs. Treasy-Springer on December 29, 1842. He was notary public in Fort Bend County in 1843 and county clerk in 1851. He participated in meetings to nominate Sam Houston for president in 1841 and James B. Miller for governor in 1847. Battle died at Richmond on January 15, 1856, and is buried in Morton Cemetery. Source

Division B
Morton Cemetery
Richmond

COORDINATES

29° 35.133, -095° 45.824

Paul Francis Buskirk (1923-2002)

    Paul Buskirk, mandolin player and multi-instrumentalist, was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, on April 8, 1923, the son of Lottie Mamel and John Everett Buskirk. He lived much of his life in the Houston area. Paul was a popular multi-instrumentalist who appeared on the Grand Ole Opry and at many other venues throughout the United States and around the world. He performed with a number of prominent musicians, including Chet Atkins, Tex Ritter, Roy Acuff, Lefty Frizzell, Ray Price, Eddy Arnold, and Rex Allen. However, he is perhaps best-known for his close personal and professional relationship with singer-songwriter Willie Nelson. Paul began playing music at the age of eleven and performed with his parent’s family band. He learned violin and applied those lessons to learning the mandolin. He became an accomplished guitarist and later worked for Gene Austin. He also mastered the banjo and dobro. However, it was his skill on the mandolin that garnered him the greatest fame.

    He has been described by country music historian Bill Malone as a “superb mandolin player...who was one of the first "modern" exponents of that instrument (that is, jazz-influenced) in country music...” Fellow mandolinist Red Rictor recalled “that during an era when bluegrass king Bill Monroe totally dominated the instrument, Buskirk had a reputation for actually having figured out a different way of playing on mandolin”. He was a member of the Blue Ridge Mountain Folk (in Texas), which included the Callahan Brothers (Joe and Bill), and toured the Southwest. The group recorded for Decca in 1941. During World War II he served in the United States Army. Back in Texas, reportedly while operating a music store in Pasadena, Buskirk gave a young Willie Nelson guitar lessons and later gave him a job teaching music lessons. Thus began a longtime musical association between Nelson and Buskirk, who is credited as having helped give Nelson his start in the music business. Paul purchased the rights to Nelson’s gospel song Family Bible for fifty dollars. They co-wrote the song Night Life. Originally recorded in Houston with Nelson and the band Paul Buskirk and His Little Men, the song went on to be a country hit for Faron Young and was covered by numerous other artists. At a number of his state fair performances, Buskirk's opening act was a young Elvis Presley. He helped produce and he performed on Nelson’s Somewhere Over the Rainbow album in 1981. In 1992 Nelson helped produce Buskirk’s record Nacogdoches Waltz. Later in life and after retirement, he lived in Nacogdoches. He was a Mason as well as a Shriner. Buskirk died of cancer in Nacogdoches on March 16, 2002, at the age of seventy-eight. Source 

Lower Melrose Cemetery
Nacogdoches

COORDINATES

31° 33.913, -094° 28.933

Darrell K. Royal (1924-2012)

    Darrell K. Royal, born in Hollis, Oklahoma, on July 6, 1924, helped Coach Bud Wilkinson build the post-World War II University of Oklahoma (OU) Sooners football dynasty, and later went south of the Red River to build his own dynasty with the University of Texas Longhorns. He coached Texas to twenty consecutive winning seasons, including sixteen bowl appearances, three national championships, and six consecutive Southwest Conference titles. His teams were undefeated twice and won eight bowl games among ten appearances in the Cotton Bowl, three in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, and one each in the Orange, Sugar, and Gator bowls. Royal joined the Sooners as a player in 1946 and became an All-American quarterback. He also played defensive back and was a punter in 1948, when the Sooners went undefeated and beat Louisiana State 35-0 in the Sugar Bowl. His ninety-six-yard punt return remains an OU record, and the Sooners earned a 36-6-1 record during his four years as a player. He worked as an assistant coach at North Carolina State University, University of Tulsa, and Mississippi State University. 

    He coached Edmonton in the Canadian Football League for one season and then returned as head coach at Mississippi State University. He coached at the University of Washington for one year before going to Texas in 1957. In 1962 he also took over as the athletic director and continued this role for three years after retiring as coach in 1976. Royal's honors include Coach of the Year twice each from the Football Writers Association and American Football Coaches Association. He is a member of the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame and was named to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983. Coach Royal died on November 7, 2012, in Austin, Texas. Source

Monument Hill

Texas State Cemetery

Austin

COORDINATES

30° 15.969, -097° 43.582