Beeson-Box Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now settle in, because this one reaches back a long way — all the way to 1840, when a man named Harston Wilson Beeson planted himself in Houston County as one of its very first settlers. First.

That's not a small thing in a land that was still working out what it even was. Beeson was here early, and he intended to stay. Twelve years later, in 1852, he bought land in this area from his neighbor, a man named John Box.

A neighborly transaction, land changing hands between two men who knew each other well enough to do business. But 1852 had something heavier in it too. That same year, John Box's son — William R.

Box, born in 1827 — passed away, and he was laid to rest on Beeson land, about three-quarters of a mile east of where that marker stands. That burial was the beginning. That's how a cemetery gets its first grave.

The ground became the Beeson-Box Cemetery, two acres of it, and over the years it would gather the weight of whole generations. Now, Harston Wilson Beeson wasn't a man to leave important things to chance. In 1878, he executed his will and officially set that two-acre graveyard aside.

His son George W. Beeson did the same in 1915 — put it in writing, made it permanent, made sure the land would hold its purpose. And what that ground holds is something.

Three Box brothers are interred there — all three of them veterans of the Battle of San Jacinto. Think on that for a moment. Then there are Civil War veterans Harston Beeson himself and his son Argyle, also resting in that same soil.

Soldiers and settlers and a family that kept its word across generations. And that last part still holds. Beeson descendants maintain their family burial ground to this day.

Some legacies don't need a monument to survive — they just need people who remember.

What the marker says

Harston Wilson Beeson, one of Houston County's first settlers (1840), bought land in this area from his neighbor, John Box, in 1852. The Cemetery was established on Beeson land about 3/4 of a mile east of this site with the burial of Box's son, William R. (b. 1827) in 1852. The 2-acre graveyard was officially set aside in wills executed by Beeson in 1878 and his son, George W., in 1915. Three Box Brothers (all veterans of the Battle of San Jacinto) and Civil War veterans Harston Beeson and his son, Argyle, are interred here. Beeson descendants maintain their family burial ground.