Hart-Herrington Cemetery

Duane's take

The way the marker at Hart-Herrington Cemetery tells it, here's the story as Duane has it for you today. Two men, born in Georgia, neither one knowin the other yet. William Henry Hart came into the world there in March of 1804.

Hampton Jackson Herrington followed in 1817. Now, the way life has a habit of arranging things, those two would become family. Hart married Sarah Granberry Herrington, and just like that, he was brother-in-law to the man everybody called Hamp.

Hamp Herrington had a life story of his own unfolding in the meantime. He married Rachel Overstreet in 1838. Then Rachel died, and Hamp married her sister, Elizabeth Overstreet, in 1845.

Two sisters, one man, and a grief in between. The marker doesn't dwell on it, but you can. By 1853, both families had pulled up stakes and headed west, to the East Texas community of Providence.

That same year, Hart was chosen as a delegate from Jefferson County to help select a nominee for congressman for East Texas. The man was barely settled and already he was doing the work of building something. Then in 1854, Hart and Herrington together purchased eighty acres of the W.

M. Bumstead survey. Eighty acres.

And part of that land, even from the beginning, was set aside for a cemetery. Think about that. Before the county even had a name, these two men looked at their land and made room for the end of things.

Hardin County was created in 1858, and when the people needed someone to hold the county's money, they elected William H. Hart as county treasurer. And who became the first chief justice, the first county judge?

His brother-in-law, Hamp Herrington. Two men from Georgia, now running the newest county in East Texas. But William Henry Hart died in 1861.

His body was interred near this site, and that act, that quiet burial, formally established the cemetery. The ground that had been set aside now had its first occupant. For eleven years, Hart lay there more or less alone.

Then in 1872, a woman named Sarah Ann Teel of Saratoga became the next burial in that ground. And time kept moving. Sarah Herrington Hart, William's wife, was laid beside her husband in 1896.

Hamp Herrington, the first county judge, the brother-in-law, the man who'd shared that eighty-acre purchase and that long journey from Georgia, he served the people of Hardin County until his own death in 1899. Today, nine graves are marked in Hart-Herrington Cemetery. Eight of those nine belong to relatives of William and Sarah Hart or Hampton and Elizabeth Herrington.

The families that came here together, stayed here together. Believed to be the second graveyard established in all of Hardin County, Hart-Herrington Cemetery is still standing as a chronicle of the pioneers of East Texas. Two men from Georgia picked out some land, set a portion of it aside, and without quite meaning to, handed down a record that outlasted them both.

What the marker says

William Henry Hart was born in Georgia in March 1804. Hampton Jackson Herrington was born in the same state in 1817. Hart married Sarah Granberry Herrington, becoming "Hamp" Herrington's brother-in-law. Herrington married Rachel Overstreet in 1838; after Rachel's death he married her sister, Elizabeth Overstreet, in 1845. The Hart and Herrington families moved to the East Texas community of Providence in 1853. In that year Hart served as a delegate from Jefferson County to select a nominee for congressman for East Texas. Hart and Herrington purchased eighty acres of the W. M. Bumstead survey n 1854. A portion of that land was to be set aside for a cemetery. When Hardin County was created in 1858, William H. Hart was elected county treasurer and his brother-in-law, "Hamp" Herrington, became the first chief justice (county judge). William Hart died in 1861 and his body was interred near this site, formally establishing the cemetery. The next burial was that of Sarah Ann Teel of Saratoga, who died in 1872. Sarah Herrington Hart was buried beside her husband in 1896. Hampton Herrington served the people of Hardin County until his own death in 1899. Of the nine marked graves in Hart-Herrington Cemetery, eight are those of relatives of William and Sarah Hart or Hampton and Elizabeth Herrington. Believed to be the second graveyard established in Hardin County, the Hart-Herrington Cemetery remains as a chronicle of the pioneers of East Texas.