Rich in History: Magnolia Cemetery, a resting place for many veterans, invited by Uliana Trylowsky

William McFaddin, County Pioneer and Texas War for Independence Veteran, started a private graveyard for his family as well as relatives and friends on some of his land that rested on the highest knoll in Beaumont overlooking Brakes Bayou back in the 1840’s. The first recorded burial was made in 1847 when John D. Gilbert was laid to rest. The first recorded burial on the McFaddin plot was William’s son John Andrew McFaddin killed at the battle of Fordoche Louisiana during the Civil War on September 29, 1863.

During the 1860’s another burial area adjacent to the McFaddins was marked for the Odd Fellows Lodge. Then once again shortly after the reconstruction of the South, William saw the need for another addition to the hill so that other Southeast Texans would have a place to bury their loved ones. He deeded two and a quarter acres of his land that was adjacent to his private graveyard to the town of Beaumont in 1876 and was used in the beginning primarily for civil war veterans and their families. Many people rest on the hill including another Texas War for Independence veteran, union soldier, deputy sheriff of Beaumont killed in the line of duty on September 25, 1881, and many victims of the Great Flu Epidemic of 1918.