Bolivar Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Bolivar Cemetery, out there in Denton County. Now, every story has to start somewhere, and this one starts with a doctor and a piece of high ground. In 1852, a man named Dr.

Hiram Daily laid out the town of Bolivar, and right alongside that founding, he set aside a burial plot on high ground nearby. That's the kind of forward thinking that tells you something about a man. He wasn't just building a town for the living.

The marker notes the site had probably been used as a burial ground for many years before anyone started keeping formal records. But the earliest marked grave they can point to belongs to a child named Zolly Cofer Waide, four months old, born and died in 1863. Pause on that a moment.

Four months. Some stories are short, and they matter just the same. Time moves on, as it does.

In 1876, a prominent Bolivar Masonic leader named G. A. Grissom died and was interred there.

And what happened after his burial is one of those quiet, dignified moments in community history. Bolivar Lodge No. 418, A. F. and A.

M., and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge No. 221 came together and purchased five new acres, folding in that existing graveyard, and set the whole thing aside for community burials. That same year, a decorative fence went up across the front. The community was staking a claim, saying: this place is cared for.

Over the years, many of the monuments you'd find there were erected by the Woodmen of the World organization. And the ground kept receiving its people. Then came 1892.

Nine adults and eight infants buried in a single year, many of them victims of a nationwide influenza epidemic. That's not a statistic you read past lightly. Seventeen souls in one year, a community grieving in waves.

And if that wasn't enough, 1918 brought another influenza epidemic, and another round of lives claimed. But here's the thing about Bolivar Cemetery. It never belonged to just one kind of person.

Farmers and ranchers rest there alongside business people, educators, physicians, and ministers. And veterans, veterans of the Mexican War, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Generation after generation, answering whatever call their era made of them, and coming home, in the end, to that high ground Dr.

Daily picked out back in 1852. Today the cemetery is operated by the board of trustees of the Bolivar Cemetery Association, and it continues to serve area residents, many of them descendants of the very people buried there. The marker calls it a record of the pioneer settlers of the area, and that's exactly right.

Out on that high ground in Denton County, the whole long story of Bolivar is written in stone, and it's still being written.

What the marker says

The town of Bolivar was laid out by Dr. Hiram Daily in 1852 with a burial plot on high ground nearby. Though the site had probably been used as a burial ground for many years, the earliest marked grave is that of 4-month-old Zolly Cofer Waide, who was born and died in 1863. G. A. Grissom, a prominent Bolivar Masonic leader, died in 1876. After his interment, Bolivar Lodge No. 418, A. F. & A. M. and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge No. 221 set aside five newly purchased acres, including the graveyard, for community burials. A decorative fence was installed across the front of the cemetery in that year. Many monuments were erected by the Woodmen of the World organization. Many of the nine adults and eight infants buried in 1892 were victims of a nationwide influenza epidemic. Another influenza epidemic in 1918 claimed more lives. Bolivar citizens of all walks of life were buried here. Some were members of farming and ranching families; others were business people, educators, physicians, and ministers. They include veterans of the Mexican War, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Operated by the board of trustees of the Bolivar Cemetery Association, the graveyard continues to serve area residents, many of whom are descendants of those who shaped the history of Bolivar and Denton County. The burial ground remains a record of the pioneer settlers of the area. (1998)