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Video: Watch it on the 3-17-10 Picayune RoundUp on ThePicayuneTV.com

BURNET — An essay on the Texas State Cemetery written by a Bertram Elementary School fourth-grader has won a recent contest sponsored by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas local chapter.

Nicole Montgomery recently composed “The Texas State Cemetery” for the DRT Jane Wells Woods chapter Fourth-Grade Essay Contest.


IN PICTURE:Bertram Elementary School fourth-grader Nicole Montgomery reads her essay on the Texas State Cemetery as Marble Falls Middle School history teacher Krissy Sralla watches during the Daughters of the Republic of Texas local chapter meeting Saturday at the Herman Brown Free Library in Burnet. Staff photo by Raymond V. Whelan

“She wrote a wonderful essay,” said Marble Falls Middle School history teacher Krissy Sralla, who judged the contest with other DRT members. “We think she did an excellent job, far more mature than a lot of fourth-graders.”

The well-researched essay by Montgomery, who lives with her family in Briggs, includes several details about the Texas State Cemetery in Austin http://www.cemetery.state.tx.us.

Montgomery recited her essay during a DRT meeting Saturday at the Herman Brown Free Library at the Courthouse on the Square.

The cemetery is spread over 22 acres and is the burial site for Stephen F. Austin and hundreds of notable Texans.

In December 1851, Gen. Edward Burleson was the first person to be interned in the cemetery, according to Montgomery.

Her essay also reveals other perhaps not-too-well-known facts about the cemetery.

For instance, Joanna Troutman is one of the few women buried there.

Troutman was born in Georgia and never visited Texas. However, the flag she sewed was carried by a battalion of Georgia volunteers at the Battle of Goliad during the Texas War of Independence.

Troutman was buried in the cemetery in 1913, Montgomery said.

Also buried at the cemetery is Antonio Briones, who fought for the U.S. First Texas Calvary during the Civil War, Montgomery added.

And, the cemetery happens to be the final resting place for an unnamed French sailor who died in 1685 after his ship sank in Matagorda Bay, Montgomery said.

Montgomery’s essay will be judged by DRT members during a district contest, Sralla said.

After the district contest, her essay could earn a $500 scholarship offered in May during the DRT annual conference in Houston, Sralla added.

“Nicole learned a lot from this assignment,” Sralla said. “It is very important for children to be interested in history.”

raymond@thepicayune.com