Greenwood Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's the story as the official marker tells it, straight off the stone at Greenwood Cemetery in Gonzales County. Now settle in, because this one goes back a good ways. James Jackson Hodges was born in Tennessee in 1828, and he came into this world carrying some serious Texas pedigree before Texas was even Texas.

His grandfather, James Hodges, Sr., was a delegate to the 1835 convention at San Felipe de Austin. That's the kind of family tree that puts roots deep in the soil before the soil has a name. James Jackson married Martha Pritchett in 1849, and the two of them settled into this corner of Gonzales County and got to work.

They built the local schoolhouse, which pulled double duty as a Cumberland Presbyterian Church. One building, two purposes. That's the Texas pioneer way.

Now here's where the ground itself starts telling the story. The oldest burial on this site belongs to Martha's uncle, John Pritchett, a veteran of the War of 1812, interred here in September of 1856. Other family members followed, claimed by time one by one, laid to rest in the same patch of earth long before it had any official standing as a community cemetery.

Then, in 1896, James Jackson Hodges made it official. He deeded one point four six acres of land for a community cemetery. Just over an acre and a half of ground set aside to hold memory.

And hold it, it has. Nine of James Jackson and Martha's twelve children are interred here. Nine.

Out of twelve. That is not a footnote. That is a weight this ground carries quietly.

James Jackson himself passed in 1902. A cemetery association formed in 1969 took up the work of caring for this place, and they carry on still. The marker calls it a chronicle of area pioneers, and that is exactly right.

Every stone here is a sentence. Every name, a chapter.

What the marker says

James Jackson Hodges (1828-1902), born in Tennessee, was a grandson of James Hodges, Sr., a delegate to the 1835 convention at San Felipe de Austin. James Jackson Hodges married Martha Pritchett in 1849. They settled in this area and built the local schoolhouse, which also served as a Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The oldest burial on this site is that of Martha's uncle, John Pritchett, a veteran of the War of 1812 who was interred here in September 1856. Other family members were buried here before Hodges deeded 1.46 acres of land for a community cemetery in 1896. Nine of James Jackson and Martha Pritchett Hodges' twelve children were interred here. A cemetery association, formed in 1969, continues to care for the cemetery, which remains a chronicle of area pioneers. (1999) Historic Texas Cemetery.