Grounds Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Houston County, there's a piece of ground that's been holding memory since 1860, and the story starts even earlier than that. George Grounds, born in 1803, and his wife Catherine, born in 1810, she being a Rice before she was a Grounds, settled into this area around 1829.

Now, they weren't coming into entirely unfamiliar territory. Catherine's brother, Joseph R. Rice, Senior, had already put down roots about five miles southwest of this very site back in 1828.

So the family was pulling itself together out here, staking its claim on East Texas soil, one homestead at a time. George and Catherine arrived, and the land started filling in with kinfolk. That's the kind of beginning that tells you something about the people involved.

They weren't wandering. They were planting. Then comes the year 1860.

George Grounds, born 1803, passed from this world, and with his burial, this cemetery was established. The ground that had sustained him became the ground that received him. By 1883, the graveyard had been legally set aside, recognized and protected, a proper place for the dead to rest undisturbed.

The marker tells us it contains mostly Grounds family members, and that it stands as representative of the historic family cemeteries of East Texas. Those quiet little plots tucked into the trees, holding generations, marking the shape of lives lived far from any headline. There's one more detail worth noting.

George Grounds' original grave marker was red sandstone. It stood out there for well over a century, marking the spot where the whole cemetery began. In 1993, that original stone was replaced with a granite headstone.

The man who started it all finally got a new marker. The cemetery, though, that started with him and Catherine's family in 1860, that's still there, still keeping its promises.

What the marker says

George (1803-1860) and Catherine (Rice) Grounds (1810-1880) settled in this area about 1829. Their arrival coincided with that of Catherine's brother, Joseph R. Rice, Sr., who settled his family about 5 miles southwest of this site in 1828. This cemetery was established in 1860 with the burial of George Grounds. By 1883 the graveyard had been legally set aside. It contains mostly Grounds family members and is representative of historic family cemeteries in East Texas. George Grounds' original red sandstone grave marker was replaced with a granite headstone in 1993.