Prior to 1848, the land around the Yegua Spring, later known as Sam Smith Springs and now Lawhon Springs, was inhabited by Native American tribes. In 1848, the families of John Lewis Smith (1796-1851), and son, Samuel Alexander “Sam” Smith (1826-1860), settled here building log cabins for their families. John Lewis Smith was born in England and came to America with his family in 1806, and grew up in the Shenandoah Valley in Wythe County, Virginia. There he married Hester Ann Warren (1796-1886) in 1820. After their first child was born, they moved to Kentucky, Alabama and then Bastrop County, Texas, in 1838. Once the families settled this area in 1848, they dug out the spring and renamed it Sam Smith Springs. David Burl Lawhon later purchased the Smith land, added two more acres to the original one-acre cemetery and changed the name to Lawhon Springs Cemetery. In 1884, Lawhon sold the cemetery land to trustees to manage the property for the community. The first person interred here was the slave of John Lewis Smith, who requested he be buried next to Smith. He was buried in an unmarked grave above the spring on the sandy hillside and then moved to the northwest corner of the cemetery after John’s death in 1851. The grave is now marked with a carved rock. Other burials include John Lewis Smith and Hester Ann Smith, both with markers adorned with a bronze medallion with the words “Citizen of the Republic of Texas.” Three of their six children are also buried here, along with numerous veterans and prominent citizens. From the early pioneer days in Texas, this cemetery has served the communities of Beaukiss, Siloam and Lawhon Springs. Historic Texas Cemetery – 2016