DUANE
Duane's take
Now, what I'm about to tell you comes straight from the official marker for Concord Cemetery — this is my telling of it. Out in northern Austin County, on a quiet stretch of 3.4 acres, there's a cemetery that has been holding the stories of the land since 1870. Concord Cemetery — sometimes called the Concord Church Cemetery — was founded by the Concord Christian Church, and it remains part of that church to this day.
The kind of place where the past doesn't stay quiet if you know how to listen. The earliest known grave belongs to Dr. Buell Eastman, born in 1807, a Confederate veteran and an early Austin County resident.
He died on December 2, 1870 — the very same year the cemetery was founded. First in, you might say, and the ground has been keeping company ever since. Now, one of the men who helped bring this cemetery into being was John Wesley Collins, born in 1804 and buried here himself when he passed in 1882.
One of the founders, lying among the people he helped make a place for. His family is there with him. That's the kind of continuity that makes a cemetery more than just a field.
And it is full of families. The Creath family. The Bouldins.
The Dabneys. The Eastmans. The McNutts.
Pioneer names, every one of them, early settlers to the area who put down roots in Austin County and never quite left — not even after leaving. The McNutts deserve a moment all their own. The ones buried at Concord are descendants of Robert McNutt, who came to Texas in 1834 after receiving headright grants in Austin and Williamson counties.
He and his family settled in Austin County. And when the battle of San Jacinto came, Robert McNutt was placed in command of the baggage guard and the ammunition. He was responsible for the wounded and the sick.
Not the glory post, maybe, but the kind of post that holds everything together when everything else is on the line. Generations later, the last known burial at Concord took place in 1973, when Arthur Guy McNutt was laid to rest beside his wife. From Robert McNutt arriving in Texas in 1834 to Arthur Guy McNutt in 1973 — that family threaded through more than a century of this cemetery's story.
The gravestones themselves speak in different materials and different inscriptions, a variety that reflects a whole parade of lives. Some mark military service. Some mark membership in fraternal organizations.
Civil War veterans Japhet Collins and Robert A. Husk are here. And from the First World War, Monroe Terrell Lynn and Horace Haley McNutt.
But here's the thing about a cemetery that old, tended by memory alone — the brush doesn't wait on anyone. Over the years, Concord became overrun, and some of the tombstones were lost to the tangle. Names, swallowed up by time and vegetation.
Then, in 2010, a volunteer group came out and cleared it. Many of them were descendants of the very families buried beneath their feet. They gave the place back to itself.
That's Concord Cemetery. Founded in 1870, still standing. Some of the names are gone, but the ones that remain — they've earned their place in the record.
What the marker says
Founded by the Concord Christian church in 1870, Concord Cemetery (also known as the Concord Church Cemetery) sits on 3.4 acres of land in northern Austin County and is part of the Concord Christian Church. The earliest known grave is that of Dr. Buell Eastman (1807-1870), a confederate veteran and early Austin County resident, who died on December 2, 1870. John Wesley Collins (1804-1882), an early settler to the area and one of the founders of the Concord Cemetery, is buried here along with his family. Other pioneer families such as Creath, Bouldin, Dabney, Eastman and McNutt are buried at this historic cemetery and are early settlers to the area. The McNutts buried at Concord Cemetery are descendants of Robert McNutt who came to Texas in 1834 after receiving headright grants in Austin and Williamson counties; he and his family settled in Austin County. During the battle of San Jacinto, McNutt was placed in command of the baggage guard and ammunition, and was responsible for the wounded and sick. The last known burial occurred in 1973 when Arthur Guy McNutt was buried beside his wife. The landscape of the cemetery is traditional with a variety of gravestone materials and inscriptions. Some gravestones indicate military service or involvement with fraternal organizations, such as civil war veterans Japhet Collins and Robert A. Husk and WWI veterans Monroe Terrell Lynn and Horace Haley McNutt. Over the years, the cemetery became overrun by brush and some of the tombstones were lost. In 2010, the cemetery was cleared by a volunteer group, which included many descendants of buried family members.