Bastrop County, TX
established 1836

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DUTY CEMETERY aka Webberville Ebenezer Baptist Church Cemetery

Last Updated: Thursday, January 1, 2009

Webberville, Travis County, Texas

LOCATION: Located on the right side of FM969, southeast of Austin in Travis County, 1 mile past the Webberville Grocery Store. The cemetery is to the left of the Webberville Ebenezer Baptist Church and is in part of a pasture.

There is an iron fence around the Duty and Nash graves. The headstone for Glover is located under a tree a few feet from the others. Surveyed 7/31/98.

There are two plaques from the Historical Commission located by the property.

Duty, Infant none none Infant of John Tyler Duty. age 2 yrs

Duty, Infant none none Infant of John Tyler Duty. age 3 yrs

Duty, Joseph 3/6/1801 9/11/1855 Son of Soloman Duty.

Duty, Matthew 1793 1837 b. Sumner Co, TN., d. Webberville, Bastrop, CO. Republic of Texas, Austin Colony Pioneer 1839-1837, Son of Solomon Duty, an early Texas Pioneer, Scalped 1837. GS of Matthew & Amy Ballard Duty

Duty, Milton T. 2/3/1836 2/22/1867 Son of Joseph & Louisa Turner

Duty Glover, S.N. 1800 1852 age 52 yrs Nash III, Francis M. 1/16/1848 4/7/1855 Son of Francis M. Nash, II

WEBBERVILLE EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH CEMETERY Texas Historical Commission Plaque Webberville Ebenezer Baptist Church This church traces it's origin to the plight of Anglo-American John F. Weber who along with his African American wife & children settled in this sparsely populated area of Texas in 1839 to escape the racism they had experienced in towns & cities. A community known as Weber Prairie consisted of plantation owners & their slaves developed here. Racial prejudices caused Webber to sell his land to Col. John Banks in 1851 & move his family to Mexico. In 1868 Matthew Duty donated an acre of land here for the purpose of building a church for the areas recently emancipated Americans. That year the Webberville Ebenezer Baptist Church was organized as a mission of St. John. Regular missionary Baptist Association Charter members included Thomas Reads, Suns Johnson, Lowens Berry & Mary Green. The Rev. Wesley Barrow served as Ebenezer's first pastor. In 1956 several members of the congregation left Ebenezer church to form a church in Austin which became known as the New Light Ebenezer Baptist Church. Ebenezer Baptist Church remains active dispite the relocation of many of Webberville's families to nearby urban centers. Former members gather here on special occasions & Holidays. 1994 This community named for John F. Weber 1793-1882 who received a land grant in 1827 & settled in this area with his African American wife & children. A post office was established in 1846 for Webber's Prairie and by 1853 the name changed to Weberville. Based on a cotton farming economy the town later included grist mills, cotton mills, general stores, schools, churches & a cemetery. The post office was discontinued in 1903. A ferry crossing on the Colorado River ceased operation in 1920's. 1997

There is a web site that gives more of the history of the Weber and Duty families: http://www.erols.com/hardeman/lonestar/olbooks/smithwic/otd.htm Click on Chapter's 17 & 18.