Dresden Cemetery

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of Dresden Cemetery, and it's one worth hearing slow. It starts with a man named Ethan Melton. Born in 1793, he came to this corner of what would become Navarro County in 1841 and put down roots deep enough to name a town after himself.

Melton, they called it. And in 1846, that little settlement earned something no other place in Navarro County could claim: the first post office in the whole county. First one.

That's not nothing. Now Melton was also a giving sort of man. He donated the original three acres of this cemetery to the community, and by 1850 that ground was already holding the departed.

Probably opened for burials in the 1840s, the marker says, which means people were being laid to rest here even before the deed was made official. The land, and the grief, came before the paperwork. By 1852, the settlement had gotten a little restless with its own identity.

Folks were calling it Melton, sure, but also Richland. Also, of all things, Spanky. A town trying on names like hats at a dry goods counter.

Then two men stepped in and settled the matter. Jacob Hartzell, born in 1790, ran an Indian trading post in the area, and Dr. W.

S. Robinson, born in 1823 and the town's very first doctor, the two of them together renamed the place Dresden. And Dresden it has stayed.

The cemetery itself is something to think on. The oldest marked graves carry stones pulled right from nearby Post Oak Creek, plain and honest, because that's what was at hand. Many graves have no marker at all.

Among the oldest marked ones is Barnett Hollingsworth, born in 1801, one of 48 Civil War veterans buried in this ground. And the Reverend James Johnson, born in 1803, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, his grave a quiet anchor in all that history. Right next door, close enough to hear the hymns, Dresden Methodist Church has been sitting on that adjacent site since the 1850s, serving as a community church all that time.

And then there's the Dresden Cemetery Association, founded in 1877. Their members have gathered annually every single year since. Not most years.

Every year. That is a particular kind of devotion. By 1976, the cemetery had grown from those original three acres Ethan Melton gave away to 17.09 acres, with over two thousand graves inside its bounds.

Ethan Melton himself lived until 1873. Jacob Hartzell until 1881. The town they helped build, though.

That pioneer village has vanished entirely. But the cemetery remains. Still used, the marker says, by descendants of the first settlers.

The town is gone, but the people who came from that place, they're still coming back to this ground. That's not a small thing. That's the whole story right there.

What the marker says

The pioneer town of Dresden was originally named for its founder, Ethan Melton (1793-1873), who settled here in 1841. The first post office in Navarro County was established in Melton in 1846. The original three-acre portion of this cemetery, probably opened for burials in the 1840s, was donated to the community by Ethan Melton by 1850. In 1852 the growing settlement, also called "Richland" or "Spanky," was renamed "Dresden" by Jacob Hartzell (1790-1881), who operated an Indian trading post, and Dr. W. S. Robinson (1823-87), the town's first doctor. Many of the early graves in Dresden Cemetery are unmarked or marked with plain stones from nearby Post Oak Creek. Among the oldest marked graves are those of Barnett Hollingsworth (1801-74), one of the 48 Civil War veterans buried here, and the Rev. James Johnson (1803-77), a Cumberland Presbyterian minister. Dresden Methodist Church, serving as a community church, has occupied a site adjacent to the cemetery since the 1850s. Care for the burial ground is provided by the Dresden Cemetery Association, whose members have met annually since its founding in 1877. The plot now (1976) covers 17.09 acres with over 2,000 graves. The pioneer village has vanished, but Dresden Cemetery is still used by descendants of the first settlers.