FIRST Burial in Nelta Cemetery - Nelta, TX - First of its Kind on Waymarking.com

Bertram's small headstone has his name, "Bertram", across the top, with flowers and an inscription on the front:

Son of
R.M. & Eva Bryant

Born
Jan. 21, 1880

Died
Sept. 10, 1883

There is an epitaph on the reverse of the headstone, but time and the elements have not been kind to it, rendering it virtually illegible.

A Texas Historical Marker provides some background:

In December 1842, a wagon train from Warrick County, Indiana arrived near here, led by two Hargrave brothers. Other families arrived in the following months, and the communities of Pleasant Hill and Sulphur Bluff were established near the Sulphur River. In 1878, Greenlief Neely deeded one acre to the Pleasant Hill school trustees for a combination schoolhouse and church open to all denominations. The Pleasant Hill community received a new name when the Nelta post office opened in 1882. The first known area cemetery began with the burial of William Hargrave’s son in August 1843. A community burial ground developed around the site, and when the McFall family later donated an acre including the graveyard, it became known as McFall Cemetery. Eldred Glen Hargrave died in 1859, and his burial on the family farm established Hargrave Cemetery.

In September 1883, Bertram Oscar Bryant, son of Ruffus and Eva (Hargrave) Bryant, was buried on the north side of the Pleasant Hill School and Church, thus establishing Nelta Cemetery. In 1913, Nelta Cemetery trustees purchased two acres for cemetery purposes from I.G. Trent, encompassing the original burial areas. After the school relocated, trustees sold their one acre of land to the Nelta Cemetery. An additional four acres were purchased from G.W. and Lillie Ward in 1920. Graves are oriented east-west in an open prairie dotted with oak trees. Gravestone materials include marble, granite and concrete. There are numerous military burials here, from the U.S.-Mexico War to World War II. The Nelta Cemetery Association maintains this active burial ground, a continuum of the area’s history from pioneer times to the modern day.

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Also, up near the cemetery gate is a small display case with cemetery information, and there is a reference to the first confirmed grave as bearing a date of September, 1883.

FIRST - Classification Variable: Person or Group Date of FIRST: 09/13/1883 More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]

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