Gholson Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out here in McLennan County, there's a piece of ground that's been holding the stories of a community for a long, long time. The Gholson Cemetery.

And like most things that matter, it started small. The year was 1871, and a pioneer couple, Thomas W. and Charlotte Rozell, buried their infant daughter here. That's how ground becomes sacred.

Not with ceremony, not with a deed, just with grief and a family that had no other choice but to lay their child down and mark the spot. Before anything was official, before any two acres were set aside, this was already a place of remembrance. The oldest marked grave belongs to Sarah Kiker, born in 1802, died in 1877.

She's been keeping watch over this place longer than most. Then came 1885, and a man named W.F. Umberson decided to make it permanent.

Now, Umberson was no newcomer. He had settled in this area before the Civil War, which tells you something about his roots in this soil. He set aside two acres, dedicated them as public burial ground for the Gholson community.

A gift, plain and simple, from a man who understood what a community needs. And sitting right there on that same property was a one-room building they called the Kellum School. Small enough for a single room, big enough to hold lessons on weekdays and church services whenever the community needed a place to gather.

One building doing double duty, the way things had to be on the Texas frontier. The years kept moving. In 1925, a cemetery tabernacle was built, giving folks a proper place to come together among the stones.

And in 1950, additional land was acquired, because a community that endures keeps growing, even in its resting places. From one infant's grave in 1871 to a living, breathing piece of McLennan County history. That's the Gholson Cemetery.

Some ground just refuses to be forgotten.

What the marker says

This site was first used as a cemetery in 1871 when the infant daughter of pioneer area settlers Thomas W. and Charlotte Rozell was buried here. The oldest marked grave is that of Sarah Kiker (1802-1877). In 1885 W.F. Umberson, who settled in the area before the Civil War, set aside two acres here as public burial ground for the Gholson Communty. Located on the property was a one-room building, The Kellum School, which was also used for local church services. A cemetery tabernacle was built in 1925 and additional land was acquired in 1950.