Crawford Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker at Crawford Cemetery has to say, and friend, it starts with a rockpile and a name chiseled in stone. Somewhere in this corner of McLennan County, there's a pile of rocks with two words scratched into it. H.

Kee. That's the first burial marker at this site, and behind those two words is a grief as old as the Texas frontier. Harvey Gilmore Kee was born in 1875 and was gone by 1876.

The son of Richard and Sarah Kee, who had come out to this area in the mid-1870s, settled here for a time, and then faced what so many settlers faced: losing a child far from anywhere that had a proper burying ground. Now, that's where a neighbor steps into the story. Uriah Tadlock, born in 1832, heard what that family needed.

He offered the use of one of his pastures for the child's burial. And then, right then and there, he did something more. He set aside three acres of land for a community cemetery.

Just like that, a grief became a gift, and a pasture became a place that would hold generations. Uriah was a Civil War veteran. He and his wife, Mary Ann Moore Tadlock, born in 1838, had bought this land along a cattle trail known as Tonk Creek Road back in 1870.

They weren't just passing through. They put down roots and pulled a community up around them. Constructing houses, constructing buildings, contributing land for the Methodist church, contributing land for the school.

Uriah even served as Crawford's postmaster in the mid-1870s. These two were woven into the fabric of Crawford's development from the very beginning. And here's the part that stays with you.

Tradition says that when Uriah dedicated that cemetery land, he did it with one condition: no one was to pay for a burial place. Not a cent. That was his understanding, and that was his gift.

Uriah passed in 1919. Mary Ann had gone before him, in 1888. And both of them are laid to rest here, in the very ground he set aside.

The cemetery didn't stay frozen in that original three acres. It grew, the way a community grows. Additional land came through purchases and gifts.

Loren and Aletha Allen gave land. A.O. Jordan gave land.

Earl Medford gave land. And the care of this place has been looked after by an association formed in 1923, and through a trust fund set up in 1972. Today Crawford Cemetery stands as a burial ground that chronicles the pioneers and families who settled and developed this corner of McLennan County.

Veterans are especially honored here. All of it anchored, at the very beginning, by a rockpile, a chiseled name, and a neighbor who believed that nobody ought to pay to lay their people down.

What the marker says

"H. Kee" chiseled on a rockpile marks the first burial at this site, that of Harvey Gilmore Kee (1875-1876), son of Richard and Sarah (Hughes) Kee, who settled in this area for a time in the mid-1870s. Neighbor Uriah Tadlock (1832-1919) offered the use of one of his pastures for the child's burial and at the same time set aside three acres of land for a community cemetery. Uriah, a Civil War veteran, and his wife, Mary Ann (Moore) Tadlock (1838-1888), who bought this land along a cattle trail known as Tonk Creek Road in 1870, are also laid to rest here. They were instrumental in Crawford's development, constructing a number of houses and buildings and contributing land for the methodist church and school. Uriah served as Crawford's postmaster in the mid-1870s. Tradition says he dedicated the land with the understanding that no one fwas to pay for a burial place. Today, the cemetery's care is overseen by an association formed in 1923 and through a trust fund set up in 1972. Additional purchased land and land gifts by Loren and Aletha Allen, A.O. Jordan, and Earl Medford, have allowed for needed expansion. Veterans are especially honored here in this burial ground that chronicles the pioneers and families who settled and developed this corner of McLennan County. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2001