Elm Grove Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Elm Grove Cemetery, out in Van Zandt County. Now, some places earn their history slow, one quiet acre at a time. And that's exactly the kind of story we've got here.

It starts with a man named Anthony Hyde, an early community leader out in the Elm Grove area. Back in 1881, Hyde donated this very property, set it aside for a local school and a church. That's the kind of gesture that plants roots.

But land has a way of becoming something you didn't quite plan for. By 1883, just two years after Hyde made that donation, the ground was first used as a cemetery. And here's the part that'll settle heavy on you, the very first burial was his own grandchild.

There's a weight to that. A man gives land hoping to build something up, and then the earth takes the youngest member of his family. Hyde didn't walk away from that place, though.

In 1886 he came back and gave an additional five and a half acres to the cemetery. More ground. More room for the people who would follow.

By 1895 a cemetery committee had formed, and they named a man called M. Johnson as the first official caretaker, someone to tend what had grown into something lasting. Then in 1900 the Elm Grove United Church moved onto adjacent land, settling in right next door, the way churches and cemeteries so often find each other across a fence line.

Today Elm Grove Cemetery holds the remains of pioneer settlers and prominent members of both the Elm Grove and Roddy communities. Anthony Hyde set out to build a school and a church, and what endured longest was the ground itself, keeping watch over the people who made those communities real.

What the marker says

Early Elm Grove community leader Anthony Hyde originally donated this property as land for a local school and church in 1881. It was first used as a cemetery in 1883 for the burial of his grandchild. In 1886 Hyde gave an additional five and one-half acres to the cemetery. A cemetery committee formed in 1895 named M. Johnson the first caretaker. In 1900 Elm Grove United Church moved to adjacent land. This cemetery is the burial ground of pioneer settlers and prominent members of the Elm Grove and Roddy communities.(1983)