Crosbyton Cemetery

Duane's take

The official marker is my guide on this one, and here's how I tell it. Out here on the South Plains, some of the most important ground a community ever claims is the ground set aside for its dead. The Crosbyton Cemetery has a story like that.

It was established in 1909, and before it was a cemetery, that land was part of something enormous. A 90,000-acre ranch, operated by the C. B.

Livestock Company. Ninety thousand acres. Let that roll around for a moment.

That is not a farm. That is a world. And one man with a significant stake in that world was Julian Bassett, part owner of the company.

Now, Bassett was also the man who donated the Crosbyton townsite itself. So when it came time for a burial ground, he gave that land too. The reason the giving happened when it did is worth knowing.

A cowboy on the ranch, a man named James Boggs, fell gravely ill. He was thought to be dying, and there was no proper place to lay him to rest. So Bassett gave the land.

As it turned out, James Boggs was not the first to be buried there. That distinction belongs to a child, eighteen-month-old Willie Oliver. Small and unnamed in history until you read the marker, and then you cannot forget the name.

In the years that followed, the cemetery received many of the early settlers who shaped this corner of Texas, people who were influential in the development of the area. Julian Bassett himself is among those interred there. The man who gave the land now rests in it.

The Crosbyton Cemetery stands as a reminder of the region's pioneer heritage, and that is exactly what it is. A place where a cowboy's illness started something, where a child was first laid down, and where the people who built this country eventually came to stay.

What the marker says

Established in 1909, this cemetery was once part of a 90,000-acre ranch operated by the C. B. Livestock Company. Julian Bassett, part owner of the company and donor of the Crosbyton townsite, also gave the land for this burial ground when James Boggs, a cowboy on the ranch, was ill and was thought to be dying. The first burial was that of 18-month-old Willie Oliver. Others interred here include Julian Bassett and many other early settlers who were influential in the development of the area. The Crosbyton Cemetery is a reminder of the region's pioneer heritage. 1984