Milam County Historical Commission
Milam County, Texas
Milam County, Texas
Daniel & Precilla Gilleland
From Rockdale US 79: north on FM 487
9.9 miles to cemetery on left
Daniel & Precilla Gilleland
Among the first Anglo American settlers to come to
Texas with colonizer Stephen F. Austin, Daniel (b.
1795) and Precilla Boatwright (b. 1803) Gilleland
were members of Austin's Old Three Hundred colony.
The couple and their infant daughter, along with
relatives in the Kuykendall and Boatwright families,
left their homes in Arkansas Territory and arrived in
Texas in December 1821. Making his living as a
farmer, Daniel Gilleland received land grants in
present colorado and austin counties. During the
1830s and 1840s the family moved frequently, farming
in Wharton, Fayette, Washington, Harrison, and
Montgomery counties. By 1847 they had settled in
present Milam County. Daniel Gilleland was
instrumental in the growth of the Methodist Church in
Texas, assisting several congregations. He and
Precilla were the parents of thirteen children, three
of whom died in childhood. Six Gilleland sons served
in the Confederate army. The family cemetery (2.8
miles SW) was established in 1848 and serves as the
final resting place of Daniel and Precilla Gilleland,
both of whom died in 1873 after more than 50 years
spent as pioneers in Texas.
Erected 1988
