Grave of Elizabeth Crockett

Duane's take

Now, I'm tellin' this one straight from the official marker, every word of it. Out here in Hood County, Texas, there's a grave. And not just any grave.

This is the resting place of Mrs. Elizabeth Crockett, wife of David Crockett. Let that settle for a moment.

Elizabeth was born on May 22, 1788, in Buncombe County, North Carolina. She and David Crockett were married in 1816, over in Lawrence County, Tennessee. And she lived long enough; longer than most folks imagine when they think of that name; to make her way to Texas, where she died on January 31, 1860, at an age the marker records as 72 years.

Now here's where it gets interesting, and the marker itself owns up to it without flinching. Those figures: the death date and the age: are incorrect. The marker says so plain as day, and points you to companion markers, numbers 6256 and 6257, standing right and left, where the fuller reckoning lives.

What those corrections are, well, that's a story the marker holds close and doesn't spell out here. What this stone does give you is a woman who carried one of the most famous names in Texas history, who was born in 1788, who died in what was then Johnson County and is now Hood County, and who was laid to rest in this ground in 1860. The year 1911 is etched here too, quiet on the rear of the marker, alongside the single word that needs no introduction in this state: Crockett.

She made it to Texas. And Texas kept her.

What the marker says

Mrs. Elizabeth Crockett, wife of David Crockett, born in Buncombe Co., NC, May 22, 1788, married to David Crockett in Lawrence Co., Tenn., 1816; died in Johnson Co.--now Hood Co.--Jan. 31, 1860, age 72 years. (death date and age are incorrect, see marker #6256, 6257 (On right and left sides) 1788 1860 1911 (Rear) Crockett