Content Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, best I can relay it to you. Out here in Runnels County, there's a little place called Content Cemetery, and it holds twelve graves from the nineteenth century, one of them known only to whoever's doing the counting. That's the kind of detail that stays with you on a long road.

The cemetery opened in 1883, and the first soul laid to rest there was a cowboy named James Hanna. That's how a cemetery gets its beginning, with one name, one burial, and a whole lot of quiet afterward. Six years later, in 1889, a Confederate veteran joined him.

John A. Hanna, who had served in Company A, Eighth Regiment, Texas Cavalry, Army of Tennessee, was buried there too. Now, James and John A. share more than a plot of ground and a surname.

Their sister Amanda also rests in that cemetery, along with her husband John Hardegree and two of their children. And there are three more, three infant grandchildren of John A. Hanna, tucked into that same piece of Runnels County earth.

Twelve graves, one family's grief and history written in stone and silence, and one marker that makes sure we don't just drive on past without knowing their names.

What the marker says

(with twelve 19th century graves - one unidentified) Opened 1883 with burial of a cowboy, James Hanna. Confederate veteran John A. Hanna, of Co. A, 8th regt., Texas Cavalry, Army of Tennessee, was buried here 1889. Their sister Amanda, her husband John Hardegree, and two children, and three of John A. Hanna's infant grandchildren also rest here. (1972)