DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at Greenwood Cemetery has to say — and friend, this ground has got stories buried in it ten layers deep. It starts in 1877, when a man named J. M.
Cornes purchased four acres on this site. He teamed up with the county surveyor, a fellow by the name of A. S.
Taylor, and together they laid out what they called the Longview Cemetery, dedicating its streets to public use. The spot sat barely outside the city limits, just north of a subdivision that the International and Great Northern Railroad had platted three years earlier. Then in 1884, Cornes and Taylor came back and extended the cemetery all the way to Magrill Street, picking up a hundred and fifty-five feet of that railroad subdivision.
When all was said and done, the plots provided space for an estimated three thousand three hundred and ninety-two graves — and that's not even counting a Potter's Field. Now, before Greenwood was Greenwood, there was another burying ground in this part of the world — the Pioneer Boring and Leake Cemetery, sitting on what would become the east end of College Street. Most of the remains from that old cemetery were eventually reinterred right here.
The earliest headstone that came over from that graveyard belongs to Louisa Stroud, born 1820, died 1856. And the earliest marked grave original to this very site? That apparently belongs to little Ida Denny, 1874 to 1878.
Some of the quietest facts hit the hardest. In 1905, the cemetery got a new name — Greenwood — and that same year it was folded inside the city limits of Longview. Now let's talk about who's resting here, because that list is something else.
Somewhere in this ground lies a veteran of the War of 1812. Thirty-seven known Confederate veterans. A family that fell victim to the 1900 Galveston storm — carried all the way from that catastrophe to this quiet patch of East Texas earth.
And then there are three people buried here who didn't get to choose their moment. In 1894, the Dalton Gang — yes, the infamous Dalton Gang — rode on the First National Bank of Longview. Three people were killed in that robbery.
Three. They're here. Among the pioneers and prominent citizens, you've got O.
H. Methvin — the man known as the father of Longview, who deeded a hundred and fifty acres to the Southern Pacific Railroad for the townsite. You've got Bluford W.
Brown, who served as a state legislator and secured the very creation of Gregg County. And you've got Britton Buttrill — stagecoach stop operator out of Earpville, who went on to become a founding commissioner and the first treasurer of Gregg County. The marker puts it plainly: Greenwood Cemetery is a chronicle of the history of this area.
And standing out here on this ground, with all those names and years and stories pressed down into it, you'd be hard-pressed to argue the point.
What the marker says
In 1877, J. M. Cornes purchased four acres on this site and, with county surveyor A. S. Taylor, established "the Longview Cemetery," dedicating its streets to public use. It lay barely outside the city limits and immediately north of the junction subdivision platted three years earlier by the International & Great Northern Railroad. In 1884, Cornes and Taylor extended their cemetery to Magrill Street by acquiring 155 feet of the subdivision. Plots provided space for an estimated 3,392 graves exclusive of a Potter's Field. Most remains in the Pioneer Boring and Leake Cemetery (on what became the east end of College Street) were reinterred here. The earliest headstone from that graveyard is that of Louisa Stroud (1820-1856). The earliest marked grave original to this site apparently is that of Ida Denny (1874-1878). The cemetery was renamed "Greenwood " in 1905, the same year it was included within the city limits. Burials in Greenwood include a veteran of the war of 1812 and 37 known Confederate veterans. Also located here are the graves of three people killed during the 1894 robbery of the First National Bank of Longview by the infamous Dalton Gang, and those of a family that fell victim to the 1900 Galveston storm. Many pioneers and prominent citizens are interred here, including O. H. Methvin, who deeded 150 acres to the Southern Pacific Railroad for the townsite and is known as the father of Longview; Bluford W. Brown, who as state legislator secured the creation of Gregg County; and Britton Buttrill, the Earpville stagecoach stop operator who became a founding commissioner and first treasurer of Gregg County. Greenwood Cemetery is a chronicle of the history of this area. (2000)