DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just as it stands. Out here in Fannin County, there's a cemetery with a name, a mystery, and a story that starts before most of Texas knew it was Texas. They call it Carson Cemetery — and according to local oral tradition, that name comes from a man named John Carson, who once owned the land right next door.
Now, whether you believe oral tradition or not, that's what the old-timers have passed down. The ground itself, though, tells a harder story. Some sources say there was already a grave here before 1842.
Others say the first burials came out of tragedy — an Indian raid on the nearby home of Dr. and Mrs. W. M.
Hunter. Three people died in that raid. Mrs.
Minerva Hunter. Her young daughter Elizabeth. And an African American maid whose name, the marker is careful to tell us, is unknown.
That absence sits there on the page — and it ought to sit with you a moment too. Three lives. Three graves, or near enough.
One name lost to time. By 1878, the cemetery had taken on a more formal shape — trustees had acquired title to the land, and more acreage was added after that. Among those who came to rest here are the land donors Mr. and Mrs.
W. E. Alderson, Mr. and Mrs.
W. R. Luton, and T.
M. Newell. But here's the detail that stops you cold.
Minerva Hunter's grave wasn't marked until 1942 — a full century after her death. A hundred years of unmarked ground before someone finally put a stone to her name. The cemetery endures.
The names, most of them, endure with it. And at least one, finally, got the marker she'd been waiting on for a century.
What the marker says
According to local oral tradition, this cemetery was named for John Carson, who once owned the adjacent land. Some sources say one grave was in existence before 1842; others maintain the first graves date to an 1842 Indian raid at the nearby home of Dr. and Mrs. W. M. Hunter. The three victims of the raid were Mrs. Minerva Hunter, her young daughter Elizabeth, and an African American maid whose name is unknown. By 1878, the cemetery trustees acquired title to the land and they later added more acreage. Among those buried here are land donors Mr. & Mrs. W. E. Alderson, Mr. & Mrs. W. R. Luton, and T. M. Newell. Minerva Hunter's grave was marked in 1942, a century after her death. (1974, 1998)