Catholic Cemetery

Duane's take

The way I hear it told, this comes straight from the official marker record, so let me give it to you just as it stands. Now, Liberty, Texas has roots that run deep and roots that run French, and nowhere does that truth sit quieter or speak louder than at the Catholic Cemetery on the edge of town. Let's go back to 1853.

Twenty-two years had already passed since Francisco Madero founded the Villa de la Santissima Trinidad de la Libertad, the place that would become the town of Liberty. By 1853, that town was putting down its bones, and a man named Reverend Petrus Marie LaCour came riding into the picture. A native of France, he took on the role of first pastor of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church.

First. That word carries weight. Acting on behalf of the Galveston Diocese, Reverend LaCour purchased a particular piece of ground that same year, 1853, from Pickney L. and Therese A.

Palmer. The purpose was plain and serious: a burial ground for the Catholic settlers of Liberty County. A few gravesites were already there when the land was set aside as a Catholic cemetery.

A few souls already resting, already waiting for the rest of the story to arrive. And arrive it did. Because this ground would become the final home for a whole world of pioneer French Creole settlers, families that had made their way to this region from Louisiana in the mid-nineteenth century.

Families with names that still ring through Liberty County if you know how to listen. LaCours, Gillards, Baillios, DeBlancs, Desrayouxs, Dugats, Fortiers, Benoits, Cannons, Joffrions, and Rachals. Related families, intertwined lives, buried side by side in the oldest Catholic cemetery in Liberty County.

These weren't just names on stones. These were the early business leaders, the civic leaders, the professional people who shaped Liberty and left their mark on the area's social and religious customs in ways the marker calls dramatic. That's the marker's word, and I think it earned it.

Here's the thing that makes you stop and breathe a little. Descendants of those same pioneer families still serve as active members of this community today. The roots didn't just hold, they kept growing.

So when you pass by this cemetery in Liberty County, you're passing by more than a burial ground. You're passing by the oldest Catholic cemetery in the county, a place that started with a French priest, a land purchase, and a few quiet gravesites in 1853, and grew into a testament to every family that came up from Louisiana looking for something worth building. They found it.

And they're still here.

What the marker says

In 1853, twenty-two years after Francisco Madero founded the Villa de la Santissima Trinidad de la Libertad, now the town of Liberty, the Rev. Petrus Marie LaCour came to this area. A native of France, he served as the first pastor of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Acting on behalf of the Galveston Diocese, he purchased this site in 1853 from Pickney L. and Therese A. Palmer as a burial ground for Catholic settlers of the county. A few gravesites were located here when the land was designated a Catholic cemetery. Many of the early graves are those of pioneer French Creole settlers, members of related families that migrated to the region from Louisiana in the mid-nineteenth century. Early residents interred here include LaCours, Gillards, Baillios, DeBlancs, Desrayouxs, Dugats, Fortiers, Benoits, Cannons, Joffrions and Rachals. Their influence as early business, civic and professional leaders had a dramatic impact on Liberty and on the area's social and religious customs. Descendants of the pioneers still serve as active members of the community. The oldest Catholic cemetery in Liberty County, this site now serves as a historic reminder of the region's rich heritage.