Arwine Cemetery

Duane's take

The official marker for Arwine Cemetery up in Tarrant County: here's how I tell it. Now, a lot of men came to Texas looking for something. Daniel Arwine came from Indiana in 1865, and whatever he was looking for, he seems to have found it because he stayed, and he left his mark on the land in about as permanent a way as a man can.

Arwine was born in 1830, and by the time he arrived in Texas he was already the kind of man who carried some weight to him. He served as a deputy U.S. Marshal, so he knew something about law, about order, about what holds a community together.

And maybe that's why, in 1879, he did what he did. He deeded six acres. Just gave them over; six acres set aside for a school, a church, and a cemetery.

One piece of ground meant to hold learning, worship, and the departed all at once. The schoolhouse pulled double duty, serving for worship services and gatherings, the way frontier buildings always had to earn their keep a few times over. But 1879 brought something else alongside that act of generosity.

That same year, Daniel Arwine's daughter Katy died. And Katy became the first burial in that cemetery her father had just deeded to the community. There's a weight to that you don't need me to dress up.

Now, the oldest stone in the cemetery belongs to a man named Enoch Sexton, who died in 1890, an uncle of Arwine's. First burial, oldest stone; those aren't always the same thing, and here they aren't. Daniel Arwine himself was laid to rest there too, along with his wife and his parents.

When you walk those 279 known graves, you're walking through a whole family's decision to put down roots and stay. Arwine died in 1887. The cemetery kept going.

Relatives and local Boy Scouts took on the work of maintaining the graveyard, keeping the grass back, keeping the memory legible. And in 1975, the Arwine Cemetery Association was organized, making official what neighbors had been doing out of respect for a long time. Six acres.

Deeded by one man with a badge and some foresight. Still standing, still tended, still holding its dead and their stories; right there in Tarrant County.

What the marker says

Pioneer Daniel Arwine (1830-1887) migrated to Texas from Indiana in 1865. A deputy U.S. Marshall, Arwine deeded six acres for a school, church and cemetery in 1879. The schoolhouse served for worship services and gatherings. First burial in this cemetery was Arwine's daughter Katy (d. 1879). The grave of Enoch Sexton (d. 1890), an uncle of Arwin, has the oldest stone. Arwine, his wife and parents are among those buried in the 279 known graves. Relatives and local Boy Scouts have maintained the graveyard. In 1975 the Arwine Cemetery Association was organized. (1977)