DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some families just pass through a place and leave barely a footprint. And then there's the Buckners.
John S. Buckner was born in 1806, and he packed up his life in Georgia — wife Mariah T., sons Arthur Washington and Mumford Jackson, the whole outfit — and made his way to this corner of Rusk County before 1850. Settled in.
Dug roots so deep that a piece of ground out here still carries the family name. As the family grew, and the community around them grew, this site was set aside as a burial ground. And John himself — the man who led that journey out of Georgia — was one of the first to be laid to rest here, in 1870.
Both of his sons served the Confederacy during the Civil War. Mumford, born 1831, enlisted in Johnson's Brigade, 1st Regiment, Texas Mounted Volunteers, and later served in the Texas Cavalry. Arthur, born 1828, went a different direction — Company C, 1st Texas Infantry.
And here's where the story gets quiet for a moment. Arthur Washington Buckner was at Appomattox, Virginia, on April 9, 1865. The day Robert E.
Lee surrendered. He came home. Went back to Pinehill.
Back to business — a sawmill he ran with his father, a general store, a cotton gin. A man who had stood at the end of a war and chose to build things. Arthur died in 1894.
Mumford in 1872. Mariah in 1874. The generations kept coming.
And one of them — one of Arthur's daughters — deserves her own moment around this fire. May Buckner Hillin was born in 1869. She lived all the way to 1966.
And somewhere in the middle of all those years, in 1892, something happened in Pinehill that she apparently decided was not going to stand. A man was stabbed at a local drugstore. A drugstore that, it turned out, was secretly selling whiskey.
Now, you can imagine how that news traveled. May Buckner Hillin did not write a letter about it. She did not lodge a complaint.
She led the women of Pinehill to that site, and they broke up the whiskey containers. With axes. That's the kind of woman the Buckner family produced.
The cemetery that bears their name chronicles these pioneers, these veterans, and the generations that followed — all of them woven into the development of the Pinehill area and Rusk County. A trust fund created in 1974 provides for its upkeep to this day. Some families pass through.
The Buckners stayed — and this ground remembers every one of them.
What the marker says
John S. Buckner (1806-1870), his wife, Mariah T. (d. 1874), and their two sons, Arthur Washington (1828-1894) and Mumford Jackson (1831-1872), traveled from Georgia and settled in this area before 1850. As the family and community grew, this site was set aside as a burial ground. John was one of the first to be laid to rest here in 1870. Both Buckner sons served the Confederacy during the Civil War. Mumford enlisted in Johnson's Brigade, 1st Regiment, Texas Mounted Volunteers, and later served in the Texas Cavalry. Arthur was part of Company C, 1st Texas Infantry and was at Appomattox, Va., on April 9, 1865, when Robert E. Lee surrendered. He returned to his business in Pinehill where he ran a sawmill with his father, as well as a general store and cotton gin. One of his daughters, May Buckner Hillin (1869-1966), is remembered for her response to an 1892 incident in which a man was stabbed at a local drugstore that secretly sold whiskey. She led the women of Pinehill to the site, where they broke up the whiskey containers with axes. The Buckner Cemetery chronicles these pioneers, veterans and generations that have contributed to the development of the Pinehill area or Rusk County. A trust fund created in 1974 provides for its upkeep. Historic Texas Cemetery – 2001