Author: Terryville Community Cemetery Assn

Milam Terry’s Grave


Milam Terry’s grave was found in the Terryville Community Cemetery during the repair of grave slabs.  He was believed to be the only free black man in Gonzales County Texas in 1860.  There is no documentation of how he got his Freedom or his 30 acres of land .  He was born in Virginia in 1813 and died 15 August 1884.

At the end of the Civil War, the plantation owners in the southern part of Gonzales County wanted their former enslaved people to vacate the plantations lands. The newly freed enslaved people did not want to leave because they had nowhere to go, so the plantation owners got together and gave them a five-acres stretch of land about 8 miles south of Gonzales. The plantation owners evicted them from the plantations to these five acres which included the “burying ground” for the enslaved people who died on the plantations in the southern part of the county, over the years. Those five acres became the center of what was known as the “Terryville Community”, named after Milam Terry.

Update of Activities

To date we have accomplished the following:

  • Opened bank account at Prosperity Bank in Gonzales.
  • Received bid for cleaning brush and tree removal.
  • Capital Monument Co  donated the leveling of grave markers and search for unmarked graves. 
  • Established a website, Face book page and a Go Funding site.
  • Submitted application for Non profit corporation.
  • Identified the boundary of the cemetery and marked all graves.
  • Cleaned off half of the cemetery.
  • Erected fence and gate.
  • Erected Sign.
  • Designated as a Texas Historical Cemetery
  • Installed plaque with the names of the individuals that we know of  are buried in the cemetery
  • Highway marker for the Terryville Community erected.