DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker for the Cemetery for Old Harrison Chapel tells it this way, and I'm just the one passing it along. Out here in Bowie County, there's a five-acre patch of ground that holds about a hundred graves, a whole vanished town's worth of memory, and the names of people who were already living history before Texas was even a state. Let me set the scene.
The year is 1840. The Republic of Texas is a raw, uncertain thing — a country unto itself, carving order out of wilderness. And into this frontier come Charles Moores, born in 1776, and his wife, Mary Harrison.
Pioneers of the Republic. They found what would become this burial ground, this community, this corner of Bowie County. Now, Mary Harrison Moores — her family came from South Carolina, and it was her parents' name that went on the chapel.
Harrison Chapel. An all-faiths house of worship where circuit riders came and served, because out on the frontier you took your preacher when the road brought him. That chapel is gone now.
Extinct, as the marker puts it. The cemetery is what remains. And what a cemetery it is.
Mary herself, and Charles Moores — both of them children of soldiers who fought in the American Revolution. Willis Whitaker, buried here, same distinction. Three people in this ground whose fathers helped birth a nation, and then they came out to help settle another one.
That's not where the remarkable stops. Three of Charles Moores' sons became Texas Rangers. Three.
And four men resting in this cemetery held Republic of Texas headrights — land grants from a sovereign republic that no longer exists. You walk among these graves and you are walking through layers of American history stacked one on top of another. There was a town here once.
Mooresville, about a mile to the north. It had its own post office, running from 1841 all the way to 1866. Moore's Landing sat on the Sulphur River.
A community with commerce, with faith, with family. The cemetery was restored in 1967, and now — now it is the only evidence that Mooresville ever existed at all. The town is gone.
The chapel is gone. The post office is gone. The landing on the Sulphur River is a memory.
But a hundred graves don't lie. And out here in Bowie County, this five acres of ground is doing what it always did — holding the story, for anyone willing to stop and listen.
What the marker says
Founded 1840 by Republic of Texas pioneers Charles Moores (1776-1852) and wife, Mary Harrison. Extinct all-faiths chapel, where circuit riders served, named for her parents (of South Carolina). This 5-acre family-community burial plot contains about 100 graves. Mary, Charles Moores, and Willis Whitaker were children of American Revolution soldiers; 3 of Moores' son were Texas Rangers; 4 men buried here had Republic of Texas headrights. Cemetery, restored 1967, is now only evidence of Mooresville (1 mi. N), post office 1841-1866. Moore's Landing was on Sulphur River. (1968)