Cistern Public Cemetery

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Marker Text: Starks S. Cockrill (1795-1862), son of Christopher and Susanna (Starks) Cockrill, was born in Loudon County, Virginia. After their father died, Starks and several brothers moved to Fayette County Kentucky. He enlisted in the Kentucky Militia and fought in the War of 1812. Starks later lived in Manchester, Missouri, and married twice (Barbary Cotton, d. 1830; Hanna Williams, d. 1853), and in 1854 purchased 2340 acres in the J.T. Whitesides League in western Fayette County, Texas. He migrated here with several of his children, family slaves, and livestock. The Cockrills and the Harrisons were among the oldest settlers in the community first known as Whiteside's Prairie, then Cockrill's Hill or Milton, and finally Cistern when a post office in 1858. Starks built a two story residence and general store and his crops included corn, sweet potatoes, and apples and peach trees. 
​    When Starks S. Cockrill died in May 1862, reportedly of yellow fever, his burial because the first in a community graveyard with an entrance facing Manchester Street. His daughter, Mary Jane (Cockrill) Michaelis (1838-1862), was buried here two months later. Cistern Public Cemetery became the main burial ground for the community, including early German and Czech Immigrants. African American and Catholic graveyards also developed further south along Manchester Street. Burials include veterans of the War of 1812, Civil War, WWI, WWII, and the Vietnam War. Gravestones are primarily granite. marble and limestone, with some fieldstones and metal funeral home markers. Several family plots include concrete curbing, still in use, the burial ground continues to be a cherished place of memory and heritage. (2017) 

Marker No: 22762

Texas Historical Cemetery Marker 

Geographic: ​29.81849, -97.21884

Location: ​Manchester Street, Cistern