Hunter
Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales
The nature of this stone indicates that it is probably a footstone for the grave of James M. Hunter. It contains only the bare minimum of a last name, with no personal name or dates. If not a footstone, then it was intended to be a “family†stone to mark the plots where multiple members of the Hunter family were meant to be buried. However, there is no record at present (July 2006) to indicate that anyone other than James M. Hunter was buried in Old Bayview Cemetery. Mr. Hunter was born in Perry County, Alabama and came to Gonzales, Texas in 1857. In 1866 he married Mrs. Mary Fusselman at Banquete and move to Clinton which at that time was the county seat of DeWitt County, Texas. He resided there until 1871 when he moved his family back to Corpus Christi, possibly because of the increased violence caused by the Taylor-Sutton feud which was centered in DeWitt County ultimately killed the city of Clinton. James M. Hunter was a member of Terry’s Rangers during the Civil War and served in Kentucky and Tennessee. After the war he engaged in the livery business (Caller 19 Sept. 1886, page 5, col. 3). In the 1880 census, James is listed with his wife Mary. The record reports that he is 47years old, from Alabama (father from North Carolina and mother from Georgia). Mary is listed as a 38 year old native of Kentucky whose father was from the same state and whose mother was from Pennsylvania (1880 census of Nueces County, page 3A). James M. Hunter left a widow and other relatives when he died in Corpus Christi on 16 September 1886 (see his full obit under “James M. Hunterâ€). It appears that this stone was to mark the general plot for the Hunter family (possibly anticipating the burial also of his wife). It should be noted that there is no headstone that has survived for him at Old Bayview. It is unclear if his widow was buried beside him as she was not included in any early list of burials in the cemetery.
Originally a tombstone was the stone lid of a stone coffin, or the coffin itself, and a gravestone was the stone slab that was laid over a grave. A headstone was a marker placed upright near the head of the coffin. Now usually all three terms are used for markers placed at the head of a grave. Beginning in the 1700s graves also might contain footstones to demarcate the foot end of the grave. Footstones were rarely carved, and they were small enough that most cemeteries removed them to make cutting the grass easier (see article from Wikipedia on gravestones). Footstones consequently are traditionally used only in conjunction with headstones and often (as in the case of Old Bayview Cemetery) bear only initials as inscriptions. The footstones in Old Bayview Cemetery are small flat cubes of this variety (bearing only initials). The identity of the person referred to in the footstone can only be deduced based on the initials given, the existence of the original headstone, and the presumption that the footstone is still in or close to its original site. Unfortunately there is no assurance that footstones have not been misplaced over the years. Consequently any identifying of the footstone’s owner can only be a logical guess.