Dunn-Johnston Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Dunn-Johnston Cemetery out in Navarro County. Now, some stories begin with a single family and quietly grow into something bigger than any one name carved in stone. This is one of those stories.

It starts back in 1832, when James and Isabella Dunn, Isabella born a Caufield, loaded up their children and came to Texas. That was early days, friends. Texas was still a wild proposition back then, and the Dunns arrived ready to stake a claim on it.

Their son, James Dunn, Jr., grew up, found himself a wife, Missouri Ann McGray, and in 1850 the two of them pulled up from Robertson County and resettled in Navarro County. And they didn't make that move alone. James brought along his cousin, David J.

Johnston, and that detail matters, because this story belongs to both families before it's done. They put down roots, and sometime in the 1850s a log schoolhouse rose up nearby, known simply as Dunn's Schoolhouse. A schoolhouse means neighbors.

It means children. It means a community takin shape out of raw land. Now here's where the story turns solemn, as it always must.

The earliest burial in this cemetery is James Dunn, Jr. himself, who died in 1865 and was laid to rest right there on his own property. Six years later, in 1871, his wife Missouri Ann was buried beside him. Side by side, the way they'd made the journey.

And the Johnston family is here too, a number of them resting in unmarked graves, their names not carved anywhere a traveler can read them today. But they're here. The Dunn-Johnston Cemetery stands as the final resting place for some of the earliest settlers of the Eureka area.

Two families, one piece of ground, and a record that goes all the way back to 1832. That's a long memory for a quiet patch of Navarro County earth.

What the marker says

James and Isabella (Caufield) Dunn and their children came to Texas in 1832. Their son, James Dunn, Jr. And his wife, Missouri Ann (McGray) Dunn, moved to Navarro County from Robertson County in 1850 along with Dunn's cousin, David J. Johnston. In the 1850s, a log schoolhouse known as Dunn's Schoolhouse was built nearby. The earliest burial is that of James Dunn, Jr. Who died in 1865 and was buried on his property. His wife, Ann was buried next to him when she died in 1871. Members of the Johnston family are also buried here in a number of unmarked graves. This historic cemetery is the final resting place for some of the earliest settlers of the Eureka area.