Harmony Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Harmony Cemetery, out there in Parker County. Now settle in, because this one starts, as so many good Texas stories do, with a burial. The Harmony community had a vision, a gathering place, a common ground for folks to come together.

And the way that vision took root was when Mary Green was laid to rest here. Mary Green, born in 1802 and gone by 1869, mother to Rufus S. Green, a Civil War veteran.

That's where it all began. Her burial was the founding act. Rufus and his wife, Mary A.

Green, went ahead and purchased the acreage, made it official, put the land under family hands. But land has a way of moving in Texas, passing from one set of hands to another, carrying its history right along with it. Green sold a section of that property, the part that included the burial ground, to the DeBusk family.

The DeBusks, in turn, deeded it over to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Now here's where it gets interesting. The church never built on the site.

Not a single structure. You might think that would be the end of the cemetery's story, land held by a church that never showed up to build. But that ground had already claimed something the deed couldn't touch.

The community kept right on using it. Families kept right on burying their people there. Relatives and descendants of the Green family found their rest in that soil.

Many of the founding members of the local Baptist Church are buried there too, alongside other pioneer families whose names and lives are now chronicled in the very earth of the Harmony community. A cemetery that started with one mother's burial, passed through families and a church that never came, and ended up holding the whole story of a community. That's Harmony Cemetery.

Still out there. Still keeping the record.

What the marker says

Originally conceived as a gathering place for the Harmony community, the Harmony Cemetery was established when Mary Green (1802-1869), mother to Rufus S. Green, a Civil War veteran, was buried here. Rufus and his wife, Mary A. Green, purchased the acreage. Later, Green sold a section including the burial ground to the DeBusk family, who then deeded the land to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Although the church never built on the site, the cemetery continued to be used as the community burial ground and includes relatives and descendants of the Green family. Many founding members of the local Baptist Church are buried here, along with other pioneer families, which chronicles the heritage of the Harmony community. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY - 2016