DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Bourland Cemetery, just outside Keller, Texas. Now settle in, because this one starts with a man who carried a whole life's worth of distance before he ever put a shovel in the ground. Aurelius Delphus Bourland — and that is a name that sounds like it was carved out of hardwood — was born in 1840 in North Carolina.
He came through the Civil War as a veteran, and by 1873 he had made his way to this particular patch of Tarrant County and bought land right here. A farmer and a Primitive Baptist preacher both, which means he worked the earth six days and spoke for eternity on the seventh. Now, Bourland didn't set out to build a public cemetery.
He set this ground aside first as a family cemetery — just his people, quiet and close. The earliest marked grave belongs to his grandson, A. Delphus White, who died in 1886.
That's the oldest stone here that still speaks. But here's where the story opens up wider. By 1899, Aurelius Delphus Bourland — who'd be sixty-four years old now, and who'd already outlived at least one grandchild — made a decision.
He sold two and a half acres, including those very grave sites, to the residents of Keller, sitting just a mile and a half to the southwest. Sold it to them for use as a public burial ground. A private grief, offered out to a whole community.
The cemetery kept growing in generosity long after Bourland himself passed in 1904. His families gave additional land in 1947. Then in 1977, the family of A.B.
Harmonson, who lived from 1891 to 1967, gave land as well — folks tending to something that outlasted them all. And that gateway you see standing at the entrance? That was built in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration.
Stone and mortar set during hard times, still holding. A North Carolina boy bought this ground in 1873. A community has been laying its people to rest here ever since.
What the marker says
Aurelius Delphus Bourland (1840-1904), a North Carolina native and a veteran of the Civil War, bought land here in 1873. A farmer and Primitive Baptist preacher, he first used this site as a family cemetery. The earliest marked grave is that of his grandson A. Delphus White, who died in 1886. In 1899 Bourland sold 2.5 acres, including the grave sites, to the residents of Keller (1.5 mi SW) for use as a public burial ground. Additional land was given by the families of Bourland in 1947 and A.B. Harmonson (1891-1967) in 1977. The gateway was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1935. (1981)