FIRST -- Marked grave in Highland Cemetery, Melissa TX
N 33° 18.749 W 096° 34.232
14S E 726173 N 3688563
Robert Strother is the first person buried at Highland Cemetery with a tombstone, Melissa TX
Waymark Code: WMX6ZZ
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 12/05/2017
Views: 0
Collin County pioneer Robert Strother is the first person buried in a marked grave in Highland Cemetery northeast of Melissa TX.
His tombstone reads as follows:
"ROBERT STROTHER
Born
Nov. 28, 1785
Died
Jan. 21 1861
[epitaph illegible]"
From Find-A-Grave: (
visit link)
"Robert's grave is the oldest at Highland Cemetery. The following is from a post on ancestry.com (can't identify source): "R.F.'s burial site has been noted on a large bronze historical marker issued by the Texas State Historical Commission in front of the cemetery... He is, with his son Western Green Strother, the first Strother's to have settled in Texas in 1854. W. G purchased 1000 acres in Collin County, part of the Peters Colony .. R.F.'s ancestry is -Judd Strother b Feb 23, 1771 d Dec 15, 1857 -- Christopher Judd Strother b 1715 d 141 -- Jeremiah Strother b 1655 d 1741 -- William Strother the immigrant."
Robert was most likely a relative of French Strother of early VA."
The nearby state historic marker for the cemetery reads as follows:
"HIGHLAND CEMETERY
The Highland community was established in the mid-1800s as a stop on the stage route between Buckner (approximate 3 mi. W of the present site of McKinney) and Bonham. An early settler, Charles H. Wysong, donated 3 acres of land for a community church, school, and cemetery in 1858. The first marked grave, that of Robert Strother, is dated 1861. Many north central Collin county pioneers and their descendants are buried here. The graveyard is cared for by the Highland Cemetery Association, organized more than one hundred years ago. (1985)"
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