City Cemetery

Duane's take

The official marker for Liberty's City Cemetery is the source of what I'm about to tell you, and I'll try to do it justice. Now, Liberty, Texas had been incorporated for eleven years when its trustees looked around in 1848 and said — somebody ought to do something about a proper burial ground. So they appointed a committee, the way towns do when they want something handled without too much argument, and that committee went out and found a four-acre tract of land.

That became the City Cemetery. Here's the thing, though. The local leaders made no provisions for selling burial plots.

None. Families just walked in and picked the sites of their choosing, and they marked them however they could — cypress pickets, iron pickets, whatever they had. And because of that, this place holds a good number of graves that nobody can name anymore.

Unmarked, unclaimed by history. The earliest known burial the record gives us is a child. Four-year-old Caroline A.

Lund, laid to rest in August of 1850. That fact sits quiet and heavy right at the beginning of this cemetery's story, and it deserves a moment. But the ground kept receiving Liberty's people, year after year.

Pioneer citizens. Community figures. War veterans.

Among those veterans are Franklin Hardin, born 1803 and died 1878, and Cornelius de Vore, born 1819 and died 1883 — both of them men who participated in the battle of San Jacinto. Think on that. Men who stood at San Jacinto are resting in this four-acre patch of Texas.

Also buried here is E.B. Pickett, born 1823 and died 1882, an early Texas statesman who served as president of the Texas Constitutional Convention of 1875. The kind of man whose decisions rippled out across the whole state.

By 1946, the cemetery had gotten crowded enough that Liberty had to open a new cemetery, southeast of town. The old City Cemetery is still in use today, but only for the families of those already interred here. It's not taking in strangers anymore — just keeping its own.

The gravesites are maintained by the Liberty Cemetery Association. And that four-acre tract, chosen by a committee back in 1848, still holds the names — and the nameless — of the people who built this town.

What the marker says

In 1848, eleven years after Liberty was incorporated, the town's trustees appointed a committee to select a suitable location for a community burial ground. Subsequently, this four-acre tract of land was chosen as the City Cemetery. Local leaders made no provisions for selling burial plots, so families were allowed to select the sites of their choice, often marking them with cypress or iron pickets. Although the graveyard contains numerous unmarked graves, the earliest known burial, that of four-year-old Caroline A. Lund, took place in August 1850. Many pioneer citizens of Liberty are buried here, as are a number of war veterans, including Franklin Hardin (1803-1878) and Cornelius de Vore (1819-1883), who participated in the battle of San Jacinto. Others buried in City Cemetery include E.B. Pickett (1823-1882), an early Texas statesman who served as president of the Texas Constitutional Convention of 1875. By 1946, crowded conditions in this graveyard necessitated the opening of a new cemetery southeast of town. Although still in use, burials at this site now are limited to the families of persons already interred here. The gravesites are maintained by the Liberty Cemetery Association. (1983) Historic Texas Cemetery medallion attached to post.