Riverside Cemetery

Among the pioneers buried here is John Robertson Jefferson, born in Cumberland, Virginia, in 1804, whose grandfather was a cousin of President Thomas Jefferson. For some twenty-five years he ran stage lines across the South, and he served as a brigadier general of the Mississippi militia. Bankrupt, he moved to Seguin in 1853, kept a tavern and ran Texas stage lines until 1858, and by 1860 held more than thirty enslaved people. Jefferson Davis made him Confederate marshal of the Western District of Texas in 1862. He died in 1888; Jefferson Avenue bears his name.

What the plaque says

Riverside Cemetery This cemetery traces its origin to the Smith family graveyard established by early settlers to this area. Ezekiel (1781-1854) and Susanna (1774-1848) Smith and their four sons migrated to Texas from Virginia. In 1837 Ezekiel was granted land in present day Guadalupe County. Their son, French Smith (1809-1880), was one of the first shareholders of the city of Seguin. He donated land for a city park, high school, and Methodist church. In 1880, French Smith deeded the family cemetery to the City of Seguin. A public cemetery north of the Smith Cemetery was founded, and later called Riverside. George B. Hollamon deeded additional land to the city for the cemetery in 1888, and in 1896 a third parcel was deeded by W. E. Goodrich. These cemeteries were combined for a total of 15 acres. Among the more than 2000 burials are those of pioneer settlers, veterans, elected officials, business leaders, clergy, and former slaves. Although well maintained at times, over the years the cemetery fell into disrepair. In 1994 Friends of Riverside Cemetery undertook a complete restoration of the site through voluntary efforts of concerned citizens and descendants of those buried here. The Riverside Cemetery continues to serve the community. (1996)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sophienburg Museum and Archives — 14 mi
  The hilltop where Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels raised the Adelsverein's headquarters in 1845, now the museum and archive of the German colony that became New Braunfels.
• Gruene Historic District — 15 mi
  A cotton town on the Guadalupe that the boll weevil emptied, rescued in the 1970s by a kayaking architecture student, with a dance hall that says it has never closed.
• Spring Lake and the Meadows Center — 23 mi
  The headsprings of the San Marcos River, among the longest-inhabited places in North America, once an amusement park with a swimming pig and now seen from glass-bottom boats.
• Natural Bridge Caverns — 25 mi
  The largest known cavern in Texas, found in 1960 by four college cavers under a ranch family's land, entered beneath a 60-foot limestone bridge and still growing.

More markers nearby

• Claiborne West — steps away
• Colonel John Ireland — 0.5 mi
• Second Baptist Church of Seguin — 0.5 mi
• Guadalupe County, C.S.A. — 0.5 mi