Take time to learn some history. There is a Deming's Bridge Historical Marker inside the cemetery grounds. The Old Hawley Cemetery HM is at the beginning of Hawley Cemetery Road,
Welcome to
Formerly Deming's Bridge Cemetery
1854 - 1900 721 CR 436 Hawley Cemetery Road 28°53'55.75"N 96°10'46.39"W
OLD HAWLEY CEMETERY
KNOWN 1838-1899 AS DEMING’S BRIDGE CEMETERY. BURIED HERE ARE THE BROTHERS JONATHAN E. AND ABEL H. (“SHANG”) PIERCE AND MANY OTHER FAMOUS EARLY CATTLEMEN. ALSO MORE THAT 50 VETERANS OF CIVIL WAR AND ALL U. S. WARS SINCE 1865. POST OFFICE IN MATAGORDA COUNTY WAS LOCATED NEARBY IN 1858.
TWO ACRES DONATED BY EMELIUS SAVAGE AND HIS SON NORMAN FOR THE CEMETERY AND TRES PALACIOS BAPTIST CHURCH. FOUNDED IN 1852. MORE LAND GIVEN BY JONATHAN E. PIERCE, WHO IN 1900 NAMED AREA HAWLEY, HONORING UNITED STATES SENATOR ROBERT BRADLEY HAWLEY.
Hawley Cemetery
Hawley Cemetery, first known as Deming’s Bridge Cemetery, was established in 1854. It is located on Tres Palacios River, two miles east of Blessing, in the Thomas Jamison League of Matagorda County, Texas. The name Deming’s Bridge originated from the cemetery’s proximity to Deming’s Bridge and was in the churchyard of Tres Palacios Baptist Church. The original two acres were donated by Emelius and Norman Savage to Tres Palacios Baptist Church which was founded in 1852. An additional 1 ½ acres were donated by Jonathan Edwards Pierce in 1893. The cemetery association purchased an additional 3 ½ acres along the south side of the cemetery and the south fence was moved to enclose the new acreage. The names of the community and post office were changed from Deming’s Bridge to Hawley by Jonathan Edwards Pierce in 1899. In 1913, Jonathan Pierce and his two daughters, Pearl Pierce Smith and Grace Pierce Heffelfinger deeded an additional 13 acres to the Hawley Cemetery. The earliest recorded burial was Sarah Tone October 30, 1857. The upkeep for Hawley in the early days was the responsibility of church and family members. During the 1930s, during a cleanup effort, a brush fire got out of control and burned the existing wooden markers. 80 oblong concrete markers were placed on the graves where the wooden markers were burned and most of the names of those marked with the concrete markers are still unknown. The Hawley Cemetery Association was formed in 1939. A map of the cemetery with all graves was made in 1940. The current Hawley Cemetery Association keeps the cemetery grounds and records in excellent condition. There are six sections in the cemetery, A-H. Burials at Hawley include brothers, Abel Head “Shanghai” Pierce and Jonathan Edwards Pierce and their extended families which includes William Walter “Pudge” Heffelfinger, All-American guard on a Yale University football team in the 1800s . In 2010 there are 1729 known burials and an undetermined number of unknowns. Included in the 1729 burials are seven war casualties 375 veterans and seven Gold Star Mothers.