Cooper Creek Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to honor every word. You're rolling through northeast Denton County now, and if you look out past the fence line, you're looking at one of the last pieces of a world that goes back further than you might expect. This is Cooper Creek Cemetery, and the ground here has been holding stories since before the Civil War came through and changed everything.

The community itself took root in the 1860s, when settlers, including the Farris and Skaggs families, came out to this corner of northeast Denton County and started putting down something permanent. First came the farms. Then, the way it always goes with folks who intend to stay, came the need for a cemetery, a school, and churches.

The kind of needs that say: we're not leaving. A deed from 1878 puts the establishment of Cooper Creek Cemetery right here on this site, in writing, official as anything. But the ground itself had already been receiving the departed before that deed was ever signed.

The earliest marked grave belongs to Richard Kale, who died February 9, 1872. Six years before the paperwork. That tells you something about how these communities actually worked.

The markers and the deeds came along behind the living and the dying, trying to catch up. Walk through this cemetery and you're walking through the civic memory of Cooper Creek. The first trustees of Cooper Creek School, James Farris, J.A.

Templeton, and David Argo, all three of them are here. The people who decided there ought to be a school, who put their names on it, who made it real. And then there are the veterans.

David Payne served in the 29th Texas Cavalry during the Civil War. Lieutenant L.H. Owen came back from World War II with an Air Medal and an Oak Cluster to his name.

Both of them honored here in the same ground. Now here's something worth slowing down for, because it's rarer than it ought to be. Cooper Creek Cemetery is not segregated by race or religion.

In a time and a region where that was far from guaranteed, the graves of Hispanic residents, Tiburcio Menchaca, the Villanueva family, lie close to their Anglo neighbors. The ground does not draw the lines that the living so often did. For more than a hundred years, the Cooper Creek Community has taken pride in overseeing this place.

They've preserved the fencing, the concrete curbing around family plots. They've held decoration days and fundraisers to keep it all standing. Today the Cooper Creek Cemetery Association carries that work forward, caring for and maintaining a cemetery that still, even now, continues to serve area residents.

The community buried its people here, then turned around and protected the place where they lay. That's not just history. That's a promise kept, generation after generation, in northeast Denton County.

What the marker says

This burial ground is one of the last remaining remnants of a small rural community that dates back to before the Civil War. Settlers, including the Farris and Skaggs families, came to northeast Denton County in the 1860s. Like many rural areas, as the number of farms grew, the community found the need to establish a cemetery, school, and churches. A deed from 1878 evidences the establishment of the Cooper Creek Cemetery on this site. The graves in Cooper Creek Cemetery chronicle the history of the community. The earliest marked grave is of Richard Kale, who died February 9, 1872. Local residents, civic leaders and early settlers are buried in the cemetery. Cooper Creek School's first trustees, James Farris, J.A. Templeton, and David Argo, are buried here. The cemetery also includes veterans of war. David Payne, who served in the 29th Texas Cavalry during the Civil War, and Lieutenant L.H. Owen, an Air Medal and Oak Cluster recipient of World War II, are both honored here. Unlike many cemeteries, the Cooper Creek Cemetery is not segregated by race or religion. The graves of Hispanic residents, such as Tiburcio Menchaca and the Villanueva family, lie close to their Anglo neighbors. Cooper Creek Community has taken much pride in overseeing the cemetery for more than a hundred years. Residents have preserved important features of the cemetery, such as fencing and concrete curbing around family plots, through decoration days and fundraisers. Today, the Cooper Creek Cemetery Association cares for and maintains the cemetery, which continues to serve area residents.