EARLIEST Documented Grave in Liberty Cemetery - Martin's Mill, TX
N 32° 22.064 W 095° 47.289
15S E 237656 N 3584616
A 2001 Texas Historical Marker at Liberty Cemetery notes that the earliest documented grave here belongs to Watson McWilliams, who died in 1855.
Waymark Code: WMZZ33
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/26/2019
Views: 0
Mr. Williams and his wife, Amy, share a well-preserved marble headstone which is shrouded with funeral draping, and a book -- a Bible or Book of Life -- at the top. The family name, "McWilliams", can be found on the plinth on one side, while each person has their own side:
Watson
McWilliams,
Born
Oct. 18, 1800
Died
Dec. 15, 1855.
I have glorifide the [sic] on
the earth,
I have finished the work
which thou gavest
me to do.
-----
Amy
McWilliams,
Born 1802,
Died
Oct. 5, 1857
Gone but not
forgotten.
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The historical marker provides some background:
Located along the Tyler-Porter's Bluff Road, a major route for pioneers coming through Texas from eastern and southern parts of the United States, this burial ground is a reflection of 19th- and 20th-century settlement in this area of Van Zandt County.
Liberty Cemetery is located within acreage obtained by pioneer David Riley in 1851. According to local tradition, Riley was a charter member of the Liberty Baptist Church, which served the local community for about ten years in the mid-19th century. Riley may have sold or donated part of his land for use by the church and for this cemetery, but a missing volume of county deed records prevents clear documentation of such a land transaction.
The earliest documented grave is that of Watson McWilliams, who died in December 1855. Another gravestone, inscribed simply "first", provides no name or date, and a number of grave sites along the western boundary of the cemetery bear native red sandstone markers with no inscriptions.
By 1874 there were 25 known graves in the Liberty Cemetery, and at the turn of the 21st century, it contained more than 450 grave sites. The Liberty Cemetery Association maintains the burial ground and holds an annual reunion for friends and relatives of those buried in the pioneer cemetery.
FIRST - Classification Variable: Person or Group
Date of FIRST: 12/18/1855
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