Dougherty Community Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. James W. Dougherty and his wife Isabella packed up their family and made the long journey from Kentucky to Texas in the late 1840s.

Now that is not a small undertaking. They weren't coming alone into the wilderness either. They joined the colony of Charles Fenton Mercer and put down roots right here in this part of what would become Rains County.

By 1851, James and Isabella had committed in the way Texans understand commitment. They bought 640 acres. James worked the land as a farmer and ran a tannery on top of it.

Six hundred and forty acres, two trades, a family. That is a full life by any measure. The years rolled on, and in 1877 it was their son Robert N.

Dougherty who stepped forward and did something quietly remarkable. He donated one acre of that land, right here at this site, for use as a community burial ground. One acre set aside so that neighbors, strangers, and kin alike would have a place to rest.

That kind of generosity has a way of outlasting almost everything else. The story doesn't end there either. In 1935, and again in 1964, two additional tracts of land were deeded to the cemetery association, both acquired from A.

V. and Della Terry. A place that started with one donated acre grew, piece by piece, the way good things in a community tend to. The Dougherty name is on this ground now in the most permanent way there is.

What the marker says

James W. Dougherty and his wife Isabella brought their family to Texas from Kentucky in the late 1840s. Joining the colony of Charles Fenton Mercer, they settled in this area. In 1851 they bought 640 acres here, where Dougherty was a farmer and a tanner. In 1877 their son Robert N. Dougherty donated one acre at this site for public use as a community burial ground. Two additional tracts of land, deeded to the cemetery association in 1935 and 1964, were acquired from A. V. and Della Terry. (1980)