Echols Cemetery on Jennings Mountain

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of Echols Cemetery on Jennings Mountain, up in Henderson County. Now, before there was a cemetery with a name, there was a mountain with one. The C.B.

Jennings survey gives you the lay of the land, and Jennings Mountain rises right out of it, four acres of quiet ground that would come to hold more history than most places ten times its size. Richard O. Echols and Margaret Ann Williams Echols arrived here in 1877 and set to farming.

Richard, born in 1851, was by all accounts a man who took his place in a community seriously. He owned land, substantial amounts of it. He served as a school trustee.

He lent credit to his neighbors, which in a frontier settlement was the kind of thing that kept a community breathing. He was, in the language of the marker, civic-minded. That word carries weight out here.

But Richard died in 1905. And here is where the story takes a turn that a lesser teller might bury in a footnote. Margaret Ann Echols, born in 1859, did not simply carry on.

She established a bank. In Brownsboro. Focusing on agricultural financing.

She became, the marker says plainly, a successful businesswoman. And on March 8, 1926, she officially deeded the thirty-seven-acre cemetery to the community as a burial ground. Not a small gesture.

A legal act. A permanent one. Margaret lived until 1939, long enough to see what she had built outlast almost everything else around her.

Their children are buried there with them. Ira Armister Echols, born in 1897, served Henderson County as a commissioner from 1935 to 1942. Joe Lee Echols, born in 1892.

Callie Eastes, born in 1890. And four infants, unnamed, which is the kind of detail that reminds you what frontier life actually cost. Now, the first burial on that mountain.

That honor belongs to Agnes Merit Hall Hopson, born in 1813, wife of William Hopson, who died in 1870. She was there before the Echols family ever arrived, before the name was settled on the stone. The Barton family put deep roots into this ground as well.

John Chambers Barton, born in 1850, was the oldest son of Jeremiah Barton, an 1850s settler in the area. John's first wife, Catherine C. Echols, born in 1850, died in 1876, and their infant died that same year.

John's brother Ruben Cook Barton, born in 1857, died in 1899, rests there too. And many other Barton descendants. Among them, Isaac Anderson Barton, born in 1860, a man described as a mason, a farmer, a ginner, and the first mayor of Brownsboro.

He was a lifelong resident of that mountain and that town, and he lived until 1951. That is a life that spans from before the Civil War's memory faded to the middle of the twentieth century, all of it spent in one place, most of it buried in the work of building something. Many veterans rest on that mountain too, though their individual stories are not named here, only honored.

In 1958, an association formed to care for the cemetery. People decided, formally, that this place deserved tending. Four acres on top of Jennings Mountain.

Settlers and a banker. A mayor and a commissioner. Infants and elders.

Veterans and founders. All of them neighbors now, on a hill above Brownsboro, in Henderson County, where the ground has been keeping the story since 1870.

What the marker says

Located on the C.B. Jennings survey and atop Jennings Mountain, the four-acre Echols Cemetery was established as a local burial ground for settlers in Brownsboro. Richard O. Echols (1851-1905) and Margaret Ann (Williams) Echols (1859-1939) settled here in 1877 and farmed the land. Echols was a large property owner and civic-minded. He served his community as a school trustee and credit lender. Children Ira Armister Echols (1897-1977), a Henderson County Commissioner (1935-1942), Joe Lee Echols (1892-1943), Callie Eastes (1890-1979) and four infants are buried at Echols Cemetery with their parents. After Richard's death in 1905, Margaret went on to establish a bank in Brownsboro, focusing on agricultural financing, and became a successful businesswoman. On March 8, 1926, she officially deeded the 37-acre cemetery to the community as a burial ground. The first burial in the cemetery was that of Agnes Merit Hall Hopson (1813-1870), wife of William Hopson. Other burials include John Chambers Barton (1850-1919), the oldest son of Jeremiah Barton, an 1850s settler, along with the burials of John's first wife, Catherine C. Echols (1850-1876), and their infant (1876). John's brother, Ruben Cook Barton (1857-1899), and many other Barton descendants rest on the mountain, including lifelong resident, Isaac Anderson Barton (1860-1951), who was a mason, farmer, ginner, and the first mayor of Brownsboro. Many veterans are buried here. An association formed in 1958 to care for this historic cemetery. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2016