Brad Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm passing it right along to you. There's a cemetery out in Palo Pinto County that's been collecting names and stories since before most of the county had a name itself, and the way people say it started, well, it started with a girl nobody knew. According to local tradition, a young girl died as her family was traveling past Thomas Lindsey's land, sometime in the 1870s.

Passing through. Didn't make it. And so they left her there, in the ground on Lindsey's property, which is about as lonesome a beginning as a cemetery can have.

Then, a short time later, Lindsey buried his own sister near that girl's grave. Two strangers in death, one of them never even had a chance to stay. That's how the ground began to hold people.

The earliest marked grave belongs to Tump Mapes, June to October of 1877. Four months on this earth, and a stone to prove it. The place went by Lindsey Cemetery for a while, which made sense, given how it started.

Then in 1911 the land was deeded to William and Ada Graves, and right around that same time folks had taken to calling it Ioni Cemetery. Names change. Land changes hands.

In 1929 the land was conveyed to trustees by the names of Cozby, Fitzgerald, and Slemmons. And then somewhere in the 1940s it became Brad Cemetery, and Brad Cemetery it has stayed. The association was incorporated in 1973, and today that ground holds more than four hundred graves.

What started with a girl no one could name has grown into a place that remembers everyone.

What the marker says

According to local tradition, a young girl died as her family traveled past Thomas Lindsey's land in the 1870s. A short time later, Lindsey buried his sister near the girl's grave. The earliest marked grave is that of Tump Mapes (June-October 1877). The Lindsey Cemetery was deeded to William and Ada Graves in 1911, shortly after the site became known as Ioni Cemetery. In 1929 the land was conveyed to trustees Cozby, Fitzgerald, and Slemmons; it became known as Brad Cemetery in the 1940s. The cemetery association was incorporated in 1973. With more than 400 graves, the cemetery continues to serve the people of the area. (1998)