FIRST Burial in Harrington Cemetery - Irving, TX
N 32° 51.918 W 097° 00.923
14S E 685690 N 3638099
A 2008 Irving Heritage Society Landmark sign at the Harrington Cemetery, a remnant of the days of Estelle, TX, now part of Irving, indicates that the first burial here took place in 1891, that of a niece of Bryant Harrington, the land owner.
Waymark Code: WM16DZP
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 07/10/2022
Views: 1
The Irving Heritage Society Landmark sign stands just inside the open gateway into the cemetery, and it provides some history:
Bryant and Ryan Harrington, twin brothers born in 1829, left their native Kentucky by ox team for the California Gold Rush of 1849. The brothers came to Texas in 1855 and started a tintype photography business in Dallas. By 1859 they were driving and guarding stagecoaches for the Butterfield-Crocker Company. Later they began to purchase horses in Mexico for use on family ranchlands in Palo Pinto County until the threat of Indian raids forced them to cease operations.
As a Texas Ranger in 1860, Ryan participated in the capture of Cynthia Ann Parker. While the twins were serving in the Confederate army during the Civil War, Ryan was captured by Union soldiers, but a Union colonel who was a fellow Mason helped him escape disguised in a federal uniform.
In 1883, Bryant donated land for a Masonic lodge and school in the Estelle community, where he lived. He donated adjacent land for this family cemetery. His infant niece, who died in 1891, was the first family member to be buried here. Bryant and his wife, Mary Lucetta Woods, their children, a brother-in-law, and a sister-in-law were subsequently buried here. Ryan and his wife, Mary Lousetta Witten, are buried in the Witten Cemetery in Pleasant Glade.
Findagrave refers to the cemetery as the "Harrington-Woods Cemetery", despite the historical marker's title, and while they list the eight burials mentioned on the marker, they omit the infant niece. The Woods connection are Bryant Harrington's above-referenced brother- and sister-in-law, Samuel Archibald Woods and his wife, Mary Jane. Samuel Archibald Woods was the brother of Mary Lucetta Harrington.
There's really no information to be found about the identity of the niece, and there is no apparent marker to be found here. Simply step into the cemetery, scan from left to right, and know that she's here somewhere. If information turns up, it will likely be found on Findagrave.
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