FIRST Burials in Eureka Cemetery - Itasca, TX - First of its Kind on Waymarking.com

The historical marker provides some background:

This burial ground served the early residents of the agricultural Eureka community. Eureka was settled in the 1870s mostly by residents looking to farm cotton in the region's rich, blackland soil. The community did not have a cotton gin or store, depending on nearby Lovelace and Itasca, but it did have a school and Cumberland Presbyterian church. Early Eureka settlers included the Kimmons, Eagleston, McDaniel, Faries, Clack, London, Hambright, Priddy, Hamilton and Wilson families.

Oral tradition relates that the first burial here was of a young niece of William R. Kimmons (d. 1931), who owned the property. The earliest documented burial in Eureka Cemetery, though, is of Willie D. Kimmons (d. 1887), the infant son of W.R. and Ella (Eagleston) Kimmons (d. 1934). After this interment, the Kimmons opened the graveyard to their friends and neighbors.

Eureka Cemetery features interior fencing, curbing and vertical stones in a wooded setting. Of the 20 marked graves in Eureka Cemetery, 13 are for children less than 10 years of age. From the mid-to-late 20th century, the Kimmons-Eagleston family cared for the graveyard. In 2008, the Eureka Cemetery Association formed to maintain the burial ground after interest was spurred by state and county preservationists. Today, with the old schoolhouse and church building gone, Eureka Cemetery is the only physical reminder of the community’s early history, and remains as a chronicle of its pioneers.

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While a Texas Historical Marker may be approved in a given year, it may be some years later before it is actually placed. The 2009 date on the marker reflects when it was approved, and it appears that there has been a development regarding that "oral tradition" since the marker's narrative was cleared: There are headstones for both children here. That newer headstone could be a cenotaph, but there is nothing on Findagrave to suggest that it is anything other than a grave marker. It is very much like some of the headstones for recent burials, made of granite, and its inscription reads:

Clara Belle
McDaniel

Feb. 27, 1882
Oct. 31, 1882

Daughter of W.T. and Margaret
Kimmons McDaniel

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Clara Belle was indeed a niece of W.R. Kimmons, as referenced on the marker, and her death year of 1882 matches up with the sign at the cemetery gate, preceding that of her cousin Willie, who is buried just a few feet away. The listed coordinates are between them. Take your pick, but they're both firsts. Clara Belle was the first according to oral tradition, while presumably, there's documentation somewhere for Willie besides his headstone. Willie and a sister, Hattie, are buried next to their paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Kimmons -- their parents are buried up the road at the Itasca Cemetery -- and their final resting places are marked by a more contemporary headstone which reads:

Children of
W.R. & Ella Kimmons

Hattie Blanco

Born
Sep. 12, 1892

Died
Jan. 7, 1901

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Willie D.

Born
Sep. 26, 1886

Died
Apr. 3, 1887

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The epitaph on Hattie's side reads:

Beautiful, lovely
she was but given
A fair bud to earth
to bloom in Heaven

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The epitaph on Willie's side reads:

Our darling one
hath gone before
To greet us on
the blissful shore

FIRST - Classification Variable: Person or Group Date of FIRST: 10/31/1882 More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]

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