Furneaux Cemetery

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of Furneaux Cemetery: and it starts, as so many Texas stories do, with a man who came a long way to find his place in the ground. William Furneaux was a native of England who made his way to Texas in 1857. He married a woman named Fanny Jackson; her family had come to Texas back in 1848, part of the Peters Colony.

So William had crossed an ocean, and Fanny's people had made their own long journey before him. Between the two of them, they had roots planted deep in Denton County soil. Now, when a man spends that kind of time working a piece of land, he starts to think about what ought to happen to it after he's gone.

William Furneaux had some thoughts on that subject. He had indicated (before he died) that a section of his farm should become a public graveyard. And in 1884, when Furneaux died, that wish was honored.

He was buried right there on that section he'd set aside, and just like that, a cemetery was born. The second soul to join him wasn't an old pioneer worn down by decades of hard living. It was seven-year-old Peter Husky, who died soon after Furneaux and was buried nearby.

Now, three of the graves in that cemetery do bear earlier dates; but the marker is careful to tell you those were moved here from other cemeteries. The ground itself only goes back to 1884. Peter Husky's father, William, wasn't a man to let grief sit idle.

With the cemetery now established, he donated part of his own land for use as a church site. A public meeting was held to discuss plans: laying out plots, building a sanctuary. People gathering to figure out how to honor the dead and build something for the living, all at once.

That's a very Texas kind of afternoon. Four years later, in 1888, a cemetery association was chartered, and the graveyard officially took the name it carries to this day: Furneaux Cemetery. The charter directors chosen were Joseph Morgan, W.

R. Dudley, John Jackson, V. S.

Dudley, and J. H. Furneaux; five names, set down in ink, making it official.

Out there surrounded by extensive farmland, the church and cemetery together came to be known as Cemetery Hill. It had a weight to it, a presence on that landscape. And then, in 1924, a tornado destroyed the frame church building.

Just like that, gone. The cemetery association acquired the land, and the hill kept its name even after the sanctuary that helped give it meaning had been swept away. Fanny Jackson Furneaux lived until 1917, long enough to see the place her husband had envisioned grow into something real.

And the Furneaux Cemetery went on to become the burial place for many area pioneers and their descendants; people who came from England, from the Peters Colony, from all directions, and ended up, one way or another, on Cemetery Hill.

What the marker says

William Furneaux, a native of England, came to Texas in 1857 and married Fanny Jackson (d. 1917), whose family had come to Texas in 1848 as part of the Peters Colony. This cemetery was established in 1884, when Furneaux died and was buried on a section of his farm he had indicated should become a public graveyard. Seven-year-old Peter Husky died soon after and was buried near Furneaux. Although three graves bear earlier dates, they were moved here from other cemeteries. With establishment of the cemetery, Peter Husky's father, William, donated part of his land for use as a church site. A public meeting was then held to discuss plans for laying out plots and building a sanctuary. A cemetery association was chartered in 1888, and the graveyard officially became known as Furneaux Cemetery. Charter directors chosen were Joseph Morgan, W. R. Dudley, John Jackson, V. S. Dudley, and J. H. Furneaux. Originally surrounded by extensive farmland, the church and cemetery sites became known as Cemetery Hill. When a 1924 tornado destroyed the frame church building, the cemetery association acquired the land. The Furneaux Cemetery is the burial place for many area pioneers and their descendants. (1984)