DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at Covington Cemetery has to say — and friend, this one's worth pulling over for. Way out on the Blackland Prairie of north central Hill County, there's a cemetery that's been keeping watch since the mid-1800s. And the story of how it got there begins, as so many Texas stories do, with somebody loading up everything they owned and heading west.
In the early 1850s, a man named James Jackson Gathings made that journey — out of Mississippi and into Texas. He didn't come light, either. He brought his family, his slaves, and enough livestock and essentials to carve a whole new life out of that prairie.
In May of 1853, he put down roots the official way: he purchased 3,136 acres on Aquilla Creek. That was the first recorded land purchase James made in Hill County. Three thousand, one hundred and thirty-six acres.
The man was not thinking small. Then, in 1854, his younger brother Philip Gathings followed suit — purchasing 1,471 acres right next to James. Two brothers, side by side on the Blackland Prairie, and together they built two large plantations for agriculture and raising stock.
Now James, it seems, had a gift for thinking bigger than himself. He designated one hundred acres of his land to be laid out in lots — one to five acres apiece — for the town of Covington. He installed a steam mill, a saw mill tannery, a wood shop, a cloth loom, and brick yards.
The brothers donated ten acres for a church and the Gathings Male and Female College — the first college in all of Hill County. A town. A college.
A church. Built by two brothers from Mississippi on land they'd only just bought. Now here's where the story turns, and turns hard.
The earliest marked grave in the Covington Cemetery belongs to a young man named Joseph Patterson Wier. He was James Gathings' son-in-law. Joseph was killed during the Civil War, at the Battle of Yellow Bayou, in Louisiana.
He was initially buried near that battlefield — far from home, far from Covington, far from the family he'd married into. James Gathings would not leave him there. He had Joseph's body brought home and reinterred on the highest elevation in the cemetery.
The highest ground. For a man who knew how to build things, that was one final, deliberate act of devotion. Today, the Covington Cemetery covers 7.5 acres and holds almost 2,500 marked graves, all maintained by the Covington Cemetery Fund.
In 1970, three women — Allie Plumlee, Lucille Cowley Williams, and Wileta Gathings McCall — organized the townspeople to clean and restore what time had worn down. And surrounding it all is a native rock wall, a distinguishing feature that marks the boundary between the road and all those who rest inside. Pioneers, planters, soldiers brought home from distant battlefields.
The Covington Cemetery holds them all — on the highest ground it's got.
What the marker says
Established in the mid-1800s, the Covington Cemetery honors the memory of early Texas pioneers of Hill County and their descendants. In the early 1850s, James Jackson Gathings (1817-1880) moved from Mississippi to Texas, bringing his family, slaves, and enough livestock and essentials for creating a new life on the Blackland Prairie of north central Texas. In May of 1853, he purchased 3,136 acres on Aquilla Creek, which was the first recorded land purchase James made in Hill County. In 1854, James' younger brother, Philip Gathings (1819-1895), purchased 1,471 acres adjacent to his brother and together they developed two large plantations for agriculture and raising stock. James designated one hundred acres of this land to be laid out in lots of one to five acres for the town of Covington. He installed a steam mill, saw mill tannery, wood shop, cloth loom, and brick yards. The brothers donated 10 acres for a church and the Gathings Male and Female College, the first in Hill County. The earliest marked grave in the Covington Cemetery is for James Gathings' son-in-law, Joseph Patterson Wier (1831-1864), who was killed during the Civil War, at the Battle of Yellow Bayou in Louisiana. Joseph was initially buried near the battlefield. James had Joseph's body brought home and reinterred on the highest elevation in the cemetery. The cemetery includes 7.5 acres and almost 2,500 marked graves maintained by the Covington Cemetery Fund. In 1970, Allie Plumlee, Lucille Cowley Williams and Wileta Gathings McCall organized the townspeople to clean and restore the cemetery. A distinguishing feature of the cemetery is the native rock wall surrounding the property. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2017