Brumley Crossroads Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Brumley Crossroads Cemetery in Upshur County. Now, every good crossroads has a story, and this one starts where two old roads meet. The Cherokee Trace and the Jefferson-Quitman Road, two paths that pioneers, traders, and travelers wore into the East Texas earth, cross paths right here.

And near that crossing, somebody decided this ground was worth keeping. Mt. Gilead Primitive Baptist Church organized in 1848 and founded the cemetery.

That's where the story of this place truly begins, at least the part we can read. Because here's the thing about Brumley Crossroads Cemetery. Some of what's buried here is beyond reading now.

There is evidence of earlier burials, the marker tells us, in the form of illegible stone markers. Older than the oldest name we can make out. Older than memory.

The oldest legible gravestone belongs to Muzado Harriss, an infant, a child of one of the first families to settle this corner of Upshur County. Think on that a moment. The earliest name this ground is willing to give us is the name of a baby.

The grave markers themselves tell their own quiet story of this place across time, sandstone, iron ore, concrete, granite, whatever the land and the era had to offer. And the people beneath them span wars. Civil War veterans rest here.

So do veterans of the Spanish-American War, World War One, World War Two, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Generation after generation, this crossroads kept receiving them. Pioneer settlers and local residents alike, the famous and the forgotten, the named and the illegible.

Brumley Crossroads Cemetery, the marker says, represents a record of early pioneer settlement in Upshur County. That's the official word. But standing near those two old roads, looking at markers in sandstone and iron ore and granite, some readable and some long since gone to silence, you get the feeling it represents something harder to put into words than that.

What the marker says

BRUMLEY CROSSROADS CEMETERY LOCATED NEAR THE CHEROKEE TRACE AND THE JEFFERSON-QUITMAN ROAD, THIS HISTORIC CEMETERY IS THE FINAL RESTING PLACE FOR PIONEER SETTLERS AND LOCAL RESIDENTS. MT. GILEAD PRIMITIVE BAPTIST CHURCH ORGANIZED IN 1848 AND FOUNDED THE CEMETERY. THE OLDEST LEGIBLE GRAVESTONE IS THAT OF MUZADO HARRISS, AN INFANT OF ONE OF THE FIRST FAMILIES TO SETTLE HERE. THERE IS EVIDENCE OF EARLIER BURIALS IN THE FORM OF ILLEGIBLE STONE MARKERS. GRAVE MARKERS VARY FROM SANDSTONE, IRON ORE, CONCRETE AND GRANITE. BURIALS INCLUDE VETERANS FROM THE CIVIL WAR, SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, WWI, WWII, KOREAN WAR AND VIETNAM WAR. BRUMLEY CROSSROADS CEMETERY REPRESENTS A RECORD OF EARLY PIONEER SETTLEMENT IN UPSHUR COUNTY.