Historical Period: Early Statehood (1845-1861)
Historical Topic: Frontier Settlements, Mob Justice
Species: Live Oak (Quercus virginiana)
County: Hays
Public Access: Yes, the tree is located in the Kyle City Cemetery, about 200 feet to the right of the entrance.
During the 1840s, Kyle Ranch cowboys rounding up stray cows discovered a man hanging from a limb of a lone oak, about a quarter mile from Col. Claiborne Kyle’s home. Not knowing who he was or why he had been hanged, they cut the body down and buried it beside the tree in an unmarked grave.
Later, in 1849, Willie Parks, an orphan boy whom the Kyles had befriended, was also buried near the tree. Eventually, Colonel Kyle donated the 15-acre plot of ground that included the graves as a community cemetery.
The cemetery is also the final resting place for some of the earliest settlers of Hays County, including Col. John Bunton, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence; Maj. Edward Burleson, veteran of the Mexican War; and Colonel Kyle’s son, Capt. Ferguson Kyle, for whom the town is named.