Harris Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Harris Cemetery in Caldwell County. Now settle in, because this one starts with hope and ends with something harder to sit with. Sidon H.

Harris and his family came to Texas in 1851. They were part of that great wave of folks putting down roots in new soil, figuring out where they'd plant themselves for good. By 1856, they'd made their way to this particular stretch of Caldwell County.

Sidon and his wife Amanda bought two parcels of land. Two parcels. They were building something.

A life, a place, a future with their name on it. Then 1861 came, and Sidon died. And that land became more than a homestead.

It became a place to hold the people they'd lost. The family cemetery began right there, with Sidon. If that were the whole story it'd be heavy enough.

But the year after that, 1862, two Harris children were buried in that same ground. Two children. One year.

And then Amanda herself followed in 1866. The family that had arrived in Texas full of forward motion had, in the span of a few years, left behind more in that cemetery than most folks like to reckon with. Time moved on the way it does.

Descendants eventually sold the land. But here's the thing, and it matters: they sold it with an understanding. The cemetery would be maintained.

That was the agreement. That was the promise the land carried when it changed hands. Then 1984 arrived, and the cemetery was destroyed.

The original grave markers, the ones that had stood over Sidon and Amanda and those two children since the 1860s, were gone. Replacements went in after that. But a replacement is not the same as the thing itself, and anyone who's ever lost something irreplaceable already knows that.

This cemetery, even in its altered state, reflects the history of an early Caldwell County family. People who came in 1851, put down roots in 1856, and left more of themselves in this ground than they ever could have planned.

What the marker says

Sidon H. Harris and his family arrived in Texas in 1851, and moved to this vicinity in 1856. Harris and his wife, amanda, bought two parcels of land, and this family cemetery was begun when Sidon died in 1861. Two Harris children were buried here in 1862, followed by Amanda in 1866. Descendants later sold the land, with the understanding that the cemetery would be maintained. Destruction of the cemetery in 1984 led to the replacement of the original grave markers. The cemetery reflects the history of an early Caldwell County family. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986