Acrea Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, in my own words. So picture Erath County, sometime around 1857 or 1858. A man named John Wright is passing through, heading west, and he stops for a time.

He never makes it any farther. According to oral history, Wright died somewhere nearby, and a landowner named Clayborn Oxford did something quietly generous. He donated the land so John Wright could be buried right there on that site.

A traveler, resting at last, on a stranger's gift of ground. Now, the earliest marked grave in that cemetery is not John Wright's. It belongs to Oxford's own infant grandson, a boy named William, buried in 1859.

That little grave, etched into the record before almost anything else, tells you how quickly life and loss were stacking up in that stretch of Texas. The graveyard went by Oxford Cemetery back then, named for the family that had given it a start. And in 1888, the Oxford family deeded that ground over to Erath County, so the area settlers could use it.

The land passed from a family's keeping into the community's hands. Over time, the cemetery took on the name of the surrounding community, Acrea. Not Oxford anymore.

Acrea. The place had grown into something bigger than one family's name. And here is the part that lands quietly, the way the best endings do.

Descendants of the Oxfords and other pioneer families are still out there. Still maintaining that cemetery. Still using it.

A traveler stopped on his way west in 1857 or 1858, a grandfather donated a piece of earth, a baby named William was laid to rest in 1859, and the ground has been tended ever since. Some places just hold.

What the marker says

According to oral history, John Wright, who stopped for a time in Erath County on his way west, died nearby in about 1857 or 1858. Landowner Clayborn Oxford donated the land for Wright to be buried on this site. The earliest marked grave is that of Oxford's infant grandson William, who was buried in 1859. The graveyard, then known as Oxford Cemetery, was deeded to Erath County by the Oxford family in 1888 for use by area settlers. Over time the cemetery took on the name of the surrounding community, Acrea. Descendants of the Oxfords and other pioneer families continue to maintain and use the cemetery. (1999)