The Munsons of Texas — an American Saga
Chapter Twenty-nine
THE MUNSONS OF TEXAS TODAY — 1987
The date was June 13, 1987. The occasion was the forty-second annual Munson Family Reunion. Over 150 descendants of Henry William Munson and Ann Binum Pearce had gathered for their annual reunion at the Brazoria County Fairgrounds.
Suspended on the wall were two giant charts on artist canvas, each four feet high and twenty feet long. One chart showed the descendants of Henry William Munson and Ann Pearce Munson through their son Mordello. The other showed the descendants of Henry William Munson and Ann Pearce Munson through their son George P. Munson, plus the descendants of Ann Pearce Munson Caldwell and James P. Caldwell through their son Robert Milam Caldwell. The second chart was so organized because there were two intermarriages between the children of George P. Munson and Robert Milam Caldwell.
The first chart contained the names of all the descendants of Mordello and Sarah Munson, (and their spouses), a total of approximately 430 names, and the second chart contained almost as many. There have been, therefore, approximately 800 members of the Munsons of Texas over eight generations beginning in 1793.
The Munson Cemetery
A letter dated April 30, 1857, from Sarah K. Munson to her husband, Mordello, who, as a state representative, was attending a session of the legislature in Austin, reads in part: “Mr. Strobel wrote me a note this morning asking permission to deposit the body of Mr. Stallworth, late overseer of the Retrieve Plantation, in the grave yard on our place. They bury him this evening at 4 o’clock.” No record of an earlier burial has been found, but the letter sounds as if this had previously been designated as a graveyard.
When James P. Caldwell died at the home of Mordello and Sarah on November 16, 1856, he was buried at the Peach Point Cemetery near his Oakland Plantation home. After the Civil War, however, and for the next forty-five years, when Munson family members died in Brazoria County they were usually buried at the Bailey’s Prairie burial plot. Before this the family burial grounds had been at Peach Point, where Henry William Munson I, William Benjamin Munson, Gerard Brandon Munson, and James P. Caldwell had been buried, as well as Stephen F. Austin and the early Perry and Bryan family members.
Possibly the first Munson family member to be buried in the Munson Cemetery was Claude, the young daughter of George P. and Agnes Munson, who died in about 1878 at about the age of four. The next may have been Lydia, the first child of George and Hannah, who died at birth. During these years the cemetery may not have been a formal cemetery at all, but just an informal family burial ground on the plantation. An entry in Sarah Munson’s diary dated March 13, 1882, states, “I went out to the graves this evening for the first time since we came from Tenn.” She had returned from Tennessee in the summer of 1881. After George Poindexter Munson I was buried there in 1878, Sarah K. Munson I in 1887, Kate Cahill Munson in 1899, and Mordello S. Munson in 1903, it had certainly taken on more importance.
Many of the Munson babies who died in childhood — Laura, Stephen Olin, and the Kennedy and Murray children — were buried there around the turn of the century. Hillen Armour Munson and Emma Mary Murray were buried there in 1909, but thereafter, with no one living on the Bailey’s Prairie property and with the new Angleton Cemetery having opened, the Munson Cemetery became a victim of neglect and fell into disfavor with most of the family. Many family groups purchased lots in the Angleton Cemetery and have continued to use this as their burial grounds. Family members who were buried in the Angleton Cemetery during these years include Sarah “Doll” Munson Kennedy in 1913, Adelaide “Addie” Munson in 1916, Joseph Waddy Munson I in 1917, Henry W. Munson III in 1924, Walter Kennedy in 1926, George C. Munson in 1931, Lilla Cox Munson in 1934, Hannah Adriance Munson in 1937, and Mary Corinne West Munson in 1939. Only the Murray family continued to use the Munson Cemetery during these years. The Reverend Joseph Murray was buried there in 1919 and his son, Mordello Stephen Murray, in 1923.
In 1935 some senior members of the Munson family took steps to improve the Munson Cemetery. On August 31, 1935, they filed a charter for a Texas non-profit cemetery corporation under the name “The Munson Cemetery Association”. The signatures on the filing and the three initial directors were M. S. Munson, Mrs. Emma M. Murray, and W. B. Munson. It may have been at about this time, or earlier, that the sturdy cement wall was built around the small, original cemetery plot — no one seems to remember. After this date the use of the cemetery increased, with Emma Munson Murray being buried there in 1936; Mary Munson Williamson and her husband, Byron, (who had died in 1940) in 1943; George Poindexter Munson II in 1944, and his wife, Louise Underwood Munson, in 1946; Milam Stephen Munson I in 1950, and numerous others in later years.
On June 10, 1967, a Texas State historical marker designating and describing the Munson Cemetery was placed on State Highway 35 beside the cemetery. In 1971 George P. Munson III was elected president of the Munson Cemetery Association, and many improvements were made under his leadership during the next eight years. Additional land was added by a gift from W. Bascom Munson II; the entire grounds were surveyed, fenced, and platted for future use; regular maintenance was provided; and a financial fund was started with the aim of building the fund to a sufficient size to provide permanent care for the grounds. The sources of income for this fund were lot sales, gifts, and investments.
Thurmond Williamson was elected president in 1979, and the program of maintenance, improvement, and financial management has continued. The current directors of the Munson Cemetery Association, besides the president, are George McCauley Munson, George P. Munson III, Milam Munson, Henry W. Munson V, Mary Emma Stasny, Frank W. Stevens, Ligon Foster, Alice Ball, Frances Caldwell, Darren Morehead, and Mary Nuhn. The family is fortunate that a large number of interested young members serve on this committee.
The Munson Name
Even though Henry William Munson I had seven sons, his son Mordello had six, and his grandson George Poindexter Munson II had four, the Munson name is becoming rare among the younger generations of the Munsons of Texas.
In the George Poindexter Munson family, the youngest generation has sixteen members, but only two are sons with the Munson name. These are the two grandsons of Joe Underwood Munson — Joseph David Munson and Robert Powell Munson.
In the Mordello Munson family, in the fourth generation, there are 104 great-great-grandchildren, but there are only nine “sons” with the Munson name; and, at this time, only two great-great-great-grandsons named Munson. Of Mordello’s nine “Munson” great-great-grandsons, three are in the George C. Munson family: Henry William Munson V, Mordello Stephen Munson III, and Jimmy Munson. Also his two Munson great-great-great-grandsons are here — Luke Mordello Munson and James Stephen Munson.
Three of the nine Munson great-great-grandsons are in the Joseph Waddy Munson branch — Thurmond Edward Munson, David Robert Munson, and Thomas Armour Munson; one is in the Walter Bascom Munson branch — Houston Cotton Munson III; and two are in the Milam Stephen Munson branch — William Stratton Munson and James Stephen Munson Jr.
In another several generations, the Munson name could conceivably disappear altogether.
The Annual Munson Family Reunion
World War II sent many young Munson men and a few women to faraway parts of the world. One of these men, George McCauley Munson, was engaged on the Burma Road in the China-Burma-India Theatre. In 1945, during one of his many homesick moments, he wrote to his great-uncle, Judge Milam Stephen Munson, and to his aunt, Ruth Munson Smith, suggesting that the family have an annual family reunion after the war was over. Judge Munson, at the age of 77, adopted the idea and organized the first reunion on October 12, 1946. It was scheduled to be held at the old home place at Bailey’s Prairie, but inclement weather forced it to be moved to the Brazoria County Fair Grounds in Angleton. The second reunion was then scheduled for Bailey’s Prairie on April 25, 1947, in commemoration of Mordello Stephen Munson’s 124th birthday anniversary. It is thought that this reunion was held at the home of Judge Munson, probably due to inclement weather. This date was not convenient for out-of-town relatives, so the date was changed to twelve o’clock noon on the second Saturday in June. The reunion has since been held on that date each year, either at the old home place at Bailey’s Prairie, or the Brazoria County Fair Grounds in the event of rain.
Many young men of the family spend the entire night and morning before the reunion barbecuing beef over open coals, telling tales, and preparing the grounds for a barbecue dinner served picnic style under the live oak trees. The Munson ladies bring their favorite salads and desserts. This delicious, old-fashioned Texas barbecue and the selection of homemade pies and cakes made by some of the best cooks in the South is a treat never to be forgotten.
At the conclusion of each reunion meeting, a short business meeting is held at which a committee of twelve is chosen to manage the reunion arrangements for the next year. There has always been a solid corps of stalwart workers who participate each year. During the past decade, the annual attendance has varied between about 160 and 190, with Munson descendants coming from Boston, New York City, Delaware, Washington, D.C., Tennessee, Colorado, Arizona, California, and Hawaii. It is a great time to visit old, dear relatives and to meet new ones. It is what holds this family, the Munsons of Texas, together.
